After putting this off for about 9 months longer than I had planned to, I dug into my transmission swap today.
For some background: My truck was apparently born with genes that reject 4L30Es. I bought the truck with 160k miles. At around 140k miles the previous owner had a transmission rebuilt to the tune of $2500. In the first of two trips to Joe's house where I've lost transmissions, the transmission in my 94 Trooper failed at 193k miles. Yuck. My best guess is that the pump failed. I was driving along the highway and noticed that something was funny. as I slowed I watched the trans temp gauge rise up into the 300+ degree range. It was done.
I drive around 25k miles per year so I decided that I would not opt for another $2500 rebuild. I bought a $500 ebay transmission from a 99 Rodeo and spent another $250 on misc parts during the swap. The swap also necessitated replacing most of the exhaust system because of how it came apart during the swap.
I'm worried that this one is going to die as well. I can easily heat it up into the 225-250 degree range and it has some shift flare between 1 and 2.
The options are few for swaps. A 700R4 can be made to fit. The biggest problem with them is that they were never put in an Isuzu so there are some custom parts that need to be worked out. The transfer case for one. Andre used the Dana 300 in his. He did have clearance problems with the torsion bar though. Another option is the mau5 5-speed. I'm ok with that, but I do prefer the auto off-road and my wife has a thing about no cars with more than two pedals. She is very understanding and flexible regarding this hobby, so I'm happy to abide by her request. (I'd break the request for a diesel G-Wagen though).
I've selected another transmission though. I picked the Aisin A340H. It has been used in a number of vehicles including 1st gen Troopers, a bunch of Toyotas, Jeeps, etc. I picked one from a Trooper because of it's low low-range. Somewhere around 2.6 or 2.7 to one.
To mate this to the 6VD1 I was able to use the bell housing from a 2004 Isuzu Rodeo. Isuzu went back to the A340 for the 2004 Rodeo (after leaving GM ownership behind). It wasn't a cheap item but it makes things fit. I'm also using the crank spacer from a 2.6L Trooper. This is what centers the torque converter on the crankshaft.
For control I'll be using buttons initially. One for upshift and one for downshift. I have a TCM from a first gen Trooper and I might wire it up some day. Then again I might not care.
So this morning I dug in. Things went much faster this time. Unlike last time I didn't have to remove the exhaust. Not even one bolt. I had the shop that built it run the pipe around behind the transmission, instead of crossing under it. I also didn't remove the starter. That saved the good part of an hour itself.
Before removing it I used a magnetic angle meter to measure the angle of the output flange. This is so that I can get the new output flange at the same angle and hopefully not have any driveshaft vibes.
I was able to access the torque converter bolts by removing the dust shield from the bell housing. To do that I had to remove the brace on the passenger side of the engine. This brace bolts to the side of the block with 2 bolts and the transmission with one or two bell housing bolts.
So now I have the transmission out.
Let me tell you about mud though. There was more oily mud than you can shake a stick at. It will make me think twice before I hit the mud holes again.
After it was out I decided to get into some of the wiring. I pulled the stock harness apart so that I could find things like the O2 sensor wires and speed sensor wires. I still need to dig out the 4wd light wires and the wires for the various gears (most notable reverse which controls the backup lights). Here are two of the three harnesses for the old transmission:
After a shower and some dinner I'm going to go out and start taking apart the console. I'll continue to post as this project progresses.
-Tad
For some background: My truck was apparently born with genes that reject 4L30Es. I bought the truck with 160k miles. At around 140k miles the previous owner had a transmission rebuilt to the tune of $2500. In the first of two trips to Joe's house where I've lost transmissions, the transmission in my 94 Trooper failed at 193k miles. Yuck. My best guess is that the pump failed. I was driving along the highway and noticed that something was funny. as I slowed I watched the trans temp gauge rise up into the 300+ degree range. It was done.
I drive around 25k miles per year so I decided that I would not opt for another $2500 rebuild. I bought a $500 ebay transmission from a 99 Rodeo and spent another $250 on misc parts during the swap. The swap also necessitated replacing most of the exhaust system because of how it came apart during the swap.
I'm worried that this one is going to die as well. I can easily heat it up into the 225-250 degree range and it has some shift flare between 1 and 2.
The options are few for swaps. A 700R4 can be made to fit. The biggest problem with them is that they were never put in an Isuzu so there are some custom parts that need to be worked out. The transfer case for one. Andre used the Dana 300 in his. He did have clearance problems with the torsion bar though. Another option is the mau5 5-speed. I'm ok with that, but I do prefer the auto off-road and my wife has a thing about no cars with more than two pedals. She is very understanding and flexible regarding this hobby, so I'm happy to abide by her request. (I'd break the request for a diesel G-Wagen though).
I've selected another transmission though. I picked the Aisin A340H. It has been used in a number of vehicles including 1st gen Troopers, a bunch of Toyotas, Jeeps, etc. I picked one from a Trooper because of it's low low-range. Somewhere around 2.6 or 2.7 to one.
To mate this to the 6VD1 I was able to use the bell housing from a 2004 Isuzu Rodeo. Isuzu went back to the A340 for the 2004 Rodeo (after leaving GM ownership behind). It wasn't a cheap item but it makes things fit. I'm also using the crank spacer from a 2.6L Trooper. This is what centers the torque converter on the crankshaft.
For control I'll be using buttons initially. One for upshift and one for downshift. I have a TCM from a first gen Trooper and I might wire it up some day. Then again I might not care.
So this morning I dug in. Things went much faster this time. Unlike last time I didn't have to remove the exhaust. Not even one bolt. I had the shop that built it run the pipe around behind the transmission, instead of crossing under it. I also didn't remove the starter. That saved the good part of an hour itself.
Before removing it I used a magnetic angle meter to measure the angle of the output flange. This is so that I can get the new output flange at the same angle and hopefully not have any driveshaft vibes.
I was able to access the torque converter bolts by removing the dust shield from the bell housing. To do that I had to remove the brace on the passenger side of the engine. This brace bolts to the side of the block with 2 bolts and the transmission with one or two bell housing bolts.
So now I have the transmission out.
Let me tell you about mud though. There was more oily mud than you can shake a stick at. It will make me think twice before I hit the mud holes again.
After it was out I decided to get into some of the wiring. I pulled the stock harness apart so that I could find things like the O2 sensor wires and speed sensor wires. I still need to dig out the 4wd light wires and the wires for the various gears (most notable reverse which controls the backup lights). Here are two of the three harnesses for the old transmission:
After a shower and some dinner I'm going to go out and start taking apart the console. I'll continue to post as this project progresses.
-Tad