47RE Upgrades Done - But It Beat Me!

[JHZR2]

Started at 2pm, finished just before 2am... wanted to be done so not distracted or lingering amidst the business of the week.

Today I installed:
-Sonnax Manual Valve
-Sonnax Pressure Regulated Lube Valve
-Sonnax billet accumulator
-Sonnax super hold servo
-Engineered Diesel HD band strut
-Adjust bands
-Replace filter

It kicked my butt, bad. Like ridiculously, where every step had something go wrong, and all things you can’t make up. Idiotic stuff like a valve body bolt falling through the 1//“ drain hole in my 23 qt drain pan and getting lost inside with no way to access.

It probably would have been more fun had I started at 9am. I’m very defeated right now. Not that I ever liked working on ATs...

Discussions of the material shed by the AT can be found here:

47RE Pan Drop - concerns?

Pulled the AT pan on my 96 Ram CTD. Was surprised to see a new style filter on there, though apparently they can be interchanged?? Had a look at the bottom of the pan, not terrible, but a decent amount of silver. Should I be concerned? Rebuild has less than 20k miles. It really does...

bobistheoilguy.com

Of course pulling the valve body out, the electrical connector broke... but beyond that it was pretty easy, though heavy and messy, to work with.

I cleaned the VB of dark residues and swapped the manual valve and pressure regulated lube valve. One looked very close to what came out, the other not so much.

The accumulator piston wasn’t hard. But I tried removing it to reseat it and damaged the finish.

 

[JHZR2]

The band strut comes off to do the servo. The servo had poor instructions, and I messed up the Teflon seal real bad.

It’s different than Oe. You put the piston liner (top right) in the bore, it seals with two prongs, and then the servo with extra prongs then goes in that. That’s why though I messed up that Teflon seal I wasn’t terribly concerned. It will still seal much better than before.

Note how bad I scratched it up trying to get it seated and clipped in with the retaining ring.

And I also damaged the finish on the accumulator piston trying to remove and reseat it.

Finally the strut band. I got one somewhat heavier.

Adjusted the bands in the transmission, get the valve body, parking rod (I think), Jesus clip, etc. on. Then new filter, clean pan, and Walmart Supertech ATF+4.

Didn’t damage any electronics that I can tell. Neutral safety switch allows cranking in correct positions only.

Tomorrow will be the road test I hope.

Doing this all on my back was not fun.

But got it all done after a very long time working.

 

[ctechbob]

Braver than I. Here's to your road test, hope it goes well for you!

 

[demarpaint]

I hope all goes well for you with the road test. Fortunately I have never had to dig that deep into a transmission. The one time I almost had to my buddy @Trav hooked me up.

 

[JHZR2]

Attempt at road test resulted in no ability to move at all after a few minutes of idling in neutral.

I got 2 gallons out and only put in ~6 qts so hoping that’s all it is...

 

[SatinSilver]

Good job and hopefully just needs two more quarts of atf to drive again. If not I’m sure clinebarger or Trav can help.

 

[supton]

Attempt at road test resulted in no ability to move at all after a few minutes of idling in neutral.

I got 2 gallons out and only put in ~6 qts so hoping that’s all it is...

2 quarts low, I'd think it'd do something. [Edit: I mean, it would move but not be happy, or otherwise do something other than nadda.]

If nothing else I applaud your attempt! Hopefully Cline, Trav, et al will be along before long.

 

[wwillson]

Calling @clinebarger @Trav

 

[zrxkawboy]

Pour in 2 more quarts and let’s go for a drive!

 

[JHZR2]

Good job and hopefully just needs two more quarts of atf to drive again. If not I’m sure clinebarger or Trav can help.

2 quarts low, I'd think it'd do something. [Edit: I mean, it would move but not be happy, or otherwise do something other than nadda.]

If nothing else I applaud your attempt! Hopefully Cline, Trav, et al will be along before long.

Pour in 2 more quarts and let’s go for a drive!

It’s actually more than that. To make the pan drop cleaner I sucked out about 2qts via the dipstick. So 10qts out for a VB pull, only ~6 in. That’s decently low...

Actually it’s more than that. I pulled 2 quarts out the dipstick before dropping the pan, didn’t count on them. So the VB removal is more like 10.

 

[JHZR2]

It lives! At least enough to back down the ramps and roll forward and back. Later I’ll try for a real road test.

 

[wwillson]

It lives! At least enough to back down the ramps and roll forward and back. Later I’ll try for a real road test.

What made it go?

 

[JHZR2]

What made it go?

About $20



Four quarts of ATF+4...

 

[OVERKILL]

Wow, what an ordeal!

 

[JHZR2]

Wow, what an ordeal!

Yeah, moral of the story is that working on ATs sucks. And doing it on your back under a vehicle is worse!

oh, and that you should really measure how many quarts you took out, to put the right amount in

Now here’s to hoping I didn’t bust anything too badly... Road test tonight!

I did drive my Chevy truck today. I’ll say that my 47RE shifted smoother and better than my 4L60E. Here’s to hoping it still shifts so nice!

 

[Trav]

My concern is the buggered teflon seal, are you sure that is not going to be an issue?

 

[JHZR2]

My concern is the buggered teflon seal, are you sure that is not going to be an issue?

It may. Time will tell.

I wasn’t terribly concerned because the original servo only had one seal, while this has a piston sleeve with two seals, four seals on the servo piston, etc.

I figure that most seals are these scarf cut design, so the damage looks a lot like a scarf cut seal, in a perfectly mated bore. You can see it was sort of flattened out when I got it straight, and I got it better/smoother than this:

The seal goes into a bore that Sonnax provides, not just a random bore in the AT. Installed:

So im hoping that the net result, even is there’s a bit of leakage, is that it’s less than the OE unit, and the clamping force is higher than OE. I’m not trying to do huge amounts of extra HP, so my hope is less net leakage and better overall longevity.

Sonnax claims:

Sonnax 2nd Gear super hold servo kit 22301B-01K is the largest and most leak-free servo available for Chrysler 46RH/RE, 47RH/RE, 48RE and A727 units. It reduces the need for aggressive lever ratios, excessively high line pressure and other radical modifications to achieve firmer shifts. Sonnax's exclusive servo design features rubber and PTFE seals that enhance positive sealing and prevent case wear. The overall result is more holding force in 2nd, firmer 1-2 shifts and 2-3 shifts that become firmer under load.

• Easy-to-install servo improves 1-2 & 2-3 shifts
• 16% More apply area for more band holding power
• 15% Less leakage than other designs
• Anodized aluminum for increased durability

If the Teflon seal gap causes some leakage, I assume it will still be better (
If it doesn’t work out, I think the section of the VB with the servo can be removed separately, and may let me replace seals with just a pan drop and removal of that section. Not desirable, but much less work.

Here’s to hoping I didn’t do something wrong, and I don’t grenade it when taking it out tonight

 

[SatinSilver]

All of the parts pictured look like high quality and heavy duty. Will keep fingers crossed it works perfectly. I'm thinking it will but never know with complex transmissions.

 

[meep]

Those are some great pics. You went deep bitog brother! I agree, if the old seal is shot, the Teflon seal, even if compromised is behind the snap seal... so it’s not the only link in the chain. I’d be curious from a design perspective how each seal behaves differently.... ie., why did they need both and both kinds.

either way, solid work for being on your back and having a go of it. I can’t wait to read more after you’ve given it a shake down!

 

[bbhero]

Yeah I hope after 12 hours of tough circumstances and hard work it runs strong and right.

And like we all can learn to remember... Oil amount certainly can matter a lot.

My neighbor Holly had a VW that wasn't running right ... After it had been worked on. Turned out it was 1 quart low on transmission fluid. And after that it ran just fine.