46RE shift kit Q

Hi all,

Good to be here, looks like a pretty active site with lots of good info. For some reason the search function is inop, probably due to the work computer.

Anyway, I'm looking for some information regarding 46re and shift kits. Going to be rebuilding the trans within the next few weeks and have purchased the sonnax sure cure kit. I'm also wanting to couple this kit with a shift kit to firm up the 1-2 and 2-3 shift. The sonnax kit addresses everything except the first two shifts. One person on another forum suggested using the transgo jr kit as a guide to drill the plate, but to follow the sonnax directions for everything else, seems like a good approach? Has anyone drilled the separator plate along with installing the sure cure kit?

Thanks!

Drilling the plate will increase line pressure during shifts, and it's pretty forgiving. I highly doubt you'll mess anything up. I used a Fairbanks 10518 kit on mine, and you can see how that turned out with this video: https://youtu.be/qEr8rbN8JiQ

You can also adjust the pressure regulator screw, that's another way to make overall shift firmness better. Mine chirps the tires and squeaks the accessory belt typically during the 1-2 shift, throws you back in the seat, and yeah it's quite a monster. If you're doing research on these, search up valve body mods for the old 727 transmissions. The 46RE is extremely similar other than the additional things like the electronic governor, overdrive section, and lockup. In fact, a lot of parts are interchangeable. You'll find that there a lot more hotrodders working on the 727s since they're common in older, classic mopars. I recommend getting a better front and rear servo and replacing the accumulator piston with an older aluminum one. Also, check your front band before you tear into the valve body. If it's worn out, I wouldn't bother working on the valve body until you have the whole transmission out and you're rebuilding it. That's what I ended up doing. And it got worse for me since my rear servo decided to crack on me and get into a bind, which caused reverse to fail and added about $150 to the rebuild. I did it myself because people told me I couldn't because I'm 17. But it turned out very well and I'm sure it'll handle around 800hp with no problems.

Ive already removed the trans and dismantled it, looks to be in great shape. Havent been able to finish disassembly of the VB yet. I bought just about all the necessary upgrades needed for a durable trans, red altos, upgraded band, servos, accumulator, etc. I will be drilling the separator plate for the better shifts, should not clash anything else. Going to start assembly this weekend...

Sounds like you're on the right track. Red altos are good, I'm not actually running any altos in mine, I'm running red raybestos clutches and GPZs in the overdrive section. But Alto Reds are pretty much the best from what I've heard. If I were you I'd go a little crazy on the valve body, my transmission is a lot of fun since I did. I don't know your personal preferences though. Did you get the Superior billet servos?

Im not looking for shifts that will break a U joint, just something with a little more kick. The truck(SS/T) is mainly used to haul stuff on occasion, and short trips around town. Once finished this trans should last a long time, and I have no plans to add any more power in front of it, I wish I could, but the GN is the race car.

I doubt you'll break any U joints, upping the line pressure and doing the sure cure kit will definitely hop things up without tearing anything up. Keep the springs in the accumulators, they'll keep things from being too hard. End goal with this stuff is getting the fastest shifts possible without much hardness. Mine seems to be pretty good at doing that, WOT shifts aren't bone rattling, but chirp the tires. Funny thing is that, I was just cruising, very slowly accelerating from a stoplight when it turned green, and the 1-2 shift chirped the tires then, yet it didn't even shift "hard". I laughed. The 1-2 shift is pretty hard on mine since I have the accumulator blocked. There's SO many tweaks you can do with this sort of stuff to suit your preferences. I.e. you can make it chirp the tires going into drive if you're crazy enough, destroy your drivetrain, etc, lol. I have the 1-2 checkball and reverse checkball removed. It very enthusiastically goes into reverse. My U joints have held up just fine though so far.

Im not going to remove any check balls or plug any accumulators. My wife drives this truck too so there is no need to have really hard shift. Between the sure cure kit and drilling the transfer plate, the shifts will be plenty firm. This build is a good refresher, considering I will be building a full race billet 2004R once this is done.

Finished up today! For some reason the crank position sensor started to fail and caused the engine to run poorly, small set back but fixed now.



Some notes:



The transmission operates without any issue, although I only tested it up to about 50mph, but OD works and the TCC operates as it should.



First to second gear shift is about the same as before, I figured drilling the transfer plate would make it more a firm shift, but it's still good. I may go back and remove the check ball for that shift sequence at a later date.



Second to third gear shift is nice and firm, no binding, no flare. I was a little worried since I added a clutch and steel to the direct drum, and had the pressure plate turned down a bit. We shall see if this holds up. TCC lock is nice and firm in third as well.



Third to Fourth is nice and firm too, my measurements must have been somewhat accurate(for the selective spacer), even with the added clutch and steel. TCC lock is nice and firm.



I notice the soft "garage shift" into forward gears after adding the #7 check ball. Im used to the firm shift so it took me a second after bracing for a firm shift that it was in gear. No issues, works as it should.



I retained the OEM pressure regulator spring and added a shim that was included in the sure cure kit, the trans shifts just a tad higher than before, maybe by 200 RPMs or so, which is what I wanted.



I did have to add some shims for the front/rear planetary gears to tighten it up, it was within spec but I wanted it closer to the tighter region of the specification.



Endplay was a little loose for my liking, even though it was at .068" and within spec, I did some math and shimmed the washer in between the turbine shaft and intermediate shaft, endplay is right at .023".



I'm really happy that everything jives and the trans didn't self destruct within the first mile. Like I stated above, I may go back into the valvebody and drill out the 1-2 shift hole or remove the check ball all together.



For reference I coupled the sonnax sure cure kit with the transgo JR shift kit, and there appears to be no conflict with the hydraulics, such as binding or flare between shifts.



Thanks for reading!

Good to see you followed up.
My question is were you driving normal or did you have your foot in it? My TransGo JR kit is only marginally firmer then stock when driving with small throttle inputs, if I stomp it, you KNOW it's shifting.

Mostly normal driving, cops on base don't take to kindly to reckless driving acts lol. I did stomp it once while on the backside of the base, the 1-2 shift felt a little better than before, but not as firm as I would like.

Well, I spoke too soon. O/D doesn't work properly. Took it out on the highway today and O/D slips, barely engages. F*** me running. I can feel it engage but as soon as I step on the throttle it slips. So this weekend Im going to pressure test the O/D apply circuit and see where the pressure is at. Only part I didn't check was the OD piston retainer, for the orifice valve, which could have been the whole cause in the first place. Which means the damn thing may have to come back out again. I cant think of anything else that could be wrong right now, other than something goofed in the valve body. Burns my a$$ because I checked, double checked, and checked again for anything out of spec or out of place, except that damn piston retainer.

Well **** sounds like you're going to be dropping the pan again. Might need a new solenoid.

I hope its going to be that simple, I could live with that lol

34blazr said:

Well, I spoke too soon. O/D doesn't work properly. Took it out on the highway today and O/D slips, barely engages.

Click to expand...

And you didn't even tell me about this? Really though, that sucks. Mine slams into overdrive, it's hilarious. When I tore apart my valve body the first time I found the OD accumulator spring broken into three pieces but I still had overdrive back then.

samxthomas said:

And you didn't even tell me about this? Really though, that sucks. Mine slams into overdrive, it's hilarious. When I tore apart my valve body the first time I found the OD accumulator spring broken into three pieces but I still had overdrive back then.

Click to expand...

I knew it would be a lengthy conversation, and I work during the week sooooooo

Update:



Bought a 200 psi gauge and some high pressure hose, tested the OD circuit and it was only at ~38 psi, normal is 68-72 psi. Moved the gauge over to the accumulator port to test the base idle line pressure and it was a little low, about 55 psi. Dropped the pan and to my surprise I notice right away that there were a couple of the small bolts that had come loose, on the governor housing. Then I looked at the 3-4 accumulator housing and one of the small bolts was loose, not even in contact with the plate, the rest I could unscrew by hand, WTF. I checked the rest of the bolts and they were all tight. So I just took the VB off completely to disassemble and check everything over again, and clean it up just in case some dirt got in there. Also removed the #6 check ball, I want the 1-2 shift to be really firm. Going to turn the pressure valve in and set it at about .340" to boost the line pressure up a little bit, currently its set at .320". My wife talked me into removing the OD assembly to check the clutches and steels since there may have been damage from the slipping, and she said if there was even a little bit just to buy all new OD clutches, her logic was to make sure everything was perfect since I spent all this time and money on the rebuild. I like her logic. Picked out the alto power pack which would add another 2 clutches and steels, 7 total. So with the OD assembly removed I took out the OD brake clutches and they all were in perfect shape, nothing wrong whatsoever. I did find that one of the sun gear bushings was a little snug on the intermediate shaft, it had self clearanced so that would explain the little bit of copper/aluminum glitter in the bottom of the pan. When I installed the bushings I didn't have the right size tool so one of the edges got a little tweaked.



I could have swore I had tightened all the VB bolts, but since Im easily distracted I would doubt that I missed those. Either way this time Im going to make sure everything is torqued, and check three more times. Going to pick up a new filter and trans fluid tomorrow and put it back together, hopefully for the last time.

Well, that was a full 24 hours ago by my clock.

Is it back to hitting off tooth rattling shifts?

Unfortunately, no. Went to install the OD unit and it would not go all the way back on. For some reason the planentary and sprag splines twisted so it needs to be re-aligned. That would explain why it was difficult to remove. I don't have an alignment tool and used the intermediate shaft to align everything, there's no way in hell I am removing the trans and disassembling it again just to align the OD assembly. So today Im taking it down to a shop and hopefully they will have some time to fix it, and do it for a good price. Anything more than 20 bucks and I will just buy an alignment tool and do it next weekend.

Alright! Found a shop that would re-align the OD assembly today at lunch time, 10 minutes and 20 bucks later it was ready to go. After work I put it all together and took the truck for a drive. Shifts into OD nice and firmly, no slipping.

https://www.facebook.com/blazer660/videos/10207133455441144/?pnref=story





I didn't check the line pressure but I set the gap right at .350", and removed the #6 check ball, which forces line pressure through a smaller orifice to soften the 1-2 shift. It's a nice aggressive shift at WOT, but not too hard, the accumulator is doing its job. All shifts are perfect, now I need to get it to the exhaust shop

Looks GOOD.


Now to get the videos of it barking off awesome shifts.