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Well...the tranny went last night in my M1009

niferous

Member
715
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Location
Houston, TX
Just to chime in I wouldn't let Aamco rebuild the gears on my bicycle. Literally.

I took a 1996 Z-71 to them back around 98-99 time frame. They put in a "rebuilt" 4L80E transmission and I kid you not less than two weeks later it was junk. I took it back to them and they said they wouldn't honor their warranty. They said I had off-roaded it since I had picked up the truck. I hadn't and they said that there was dried up mud under there so I must have took it offroad. I pointed out it was like there when I first brought it to them and that the transmission itself was not muddy or even dirty. They didn't care. So I sent a tow truck to pick it up and take it to the Chevrolet dealership and let them know I was calling a lawyer. So the dealerships tow truck shows up and they say they aren't letting me have my truck back because I owe them money for pulling out the transmission and looking at it! I kid you not! So I say it's my truck and that it was their responsibility to at least look at the transmission and that I'm calling the cops. They get off the phone with me. Throw the transmission into the bed of my truck, close the tailgate, and the tow truck hauls it a few blocks to the dealership.

Well I find out that the tow truck driver walked into the shop area and saw them desperatley trying to dissasemble my transmission and looking in their storage room for parts. It didn't make much sense to him until they got it to the Chevy dealership and found rusty parts and stuff that they could just tell was old. If I remember right they said it had old burnt transmission fluid on some parts. So basically they used old parts and who knows what else on my "remanufactured" transmission. Anyway I wound up hiring a lawyer and they had to pay me back for the transmission and half my legal fees. I think I wound up forking out about $500. We got a deal on the lawyer by the way.

Anyway ever since then when I hear the name Aamco I let everyone with earshot, or in this case, view know how completely disatisfactory not only their mecahnical skill but business ethics are.
 
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OL AG '89

Member
743
9
18
Location
Kingwood, Texas
you mention a "swishing" ? sound whn trying to move and first failure
Did you check the tcase shifter?
Might of just slipped into neutral????
Check the linkages, wiggle the shifter, check the linkages again.
TH400 usually just don't go, unless they go BOOM!!!

Good luck and shop around....
 

steved454

New member
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Location
brandon/ms
In Mississippi it costs around $500 if you take the transmission yourself to someone, and around $1000 give or take a $100 if you take it there, If you are lucky to find a guy that rebuilds them behind his house in a little shop,then $250. I know this because I have done all the above. LOL
 

jimmy-90

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Haymarket Va.
Hey JPDC I just messaged a buddy of mine that is tied into a bunch of the race and car custom shops up on euclid ave. in Manassas to see where they say to go to get trans work done. He also knows a member of this site that has a pretty big shop in chantilly that works on mv's. When he gets back to me I'll let you know what he says.
 

Bob H

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
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Huron National Forest, Michigan USA
I thought I broke a TH400 once........................

Turned out that It had twisted the insides of the Summit Racing torque convertor into shrapnel!
even though a TH400 is very tuff I'd only use low range plowing with a 1009 due to the gearing.

The most expensive part of the rebuild is pulling the trans out and putting it back in.
The $2200 estimate is flat out attempted robbery!
 

JPDC

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Virginia
Jimmy-90 - I know about the guy in Chantilly. I bought the truck from him!! Spoke to him yesterday and he seems to think it may be a vacuum hose issue or modulator problem. I am dropping it off to him to check out today. Costs me $100 to check it out maybe $100-200 to change out the vacuum hoses and modulator if necessary...:grd:
 

wallew

Active member
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San Angelo, Tx USA Planet Earth
Well, I've got to say SOMETHING here.

I've used Aamco. I had a tranny snap it's tailshaft on my M1028A2. It was in PA. I live in Denver. I had a buddy of mine driving it back. It wasn't his fault. It was missing a support for the NP205 tranny.

I PAID just about $2200 for my rebuild. But they had to provide a new case and tranny shaft because it had 'warped' a little when the tailshaft snapped (when you rolled it on a table it wasn't flat). They even fabbed the missing support for the transfer case for that price.

That price ALSO INCLUDED an oil change to RP, new fluids for both axles and transfer case (RP MAX GEAR) and a tranny cooler, WHICH I HIGHLY RECOMMEND, regardless of what you are doing with your truck. It just makes sense. Plus it had their heavy duty shift kit. And I've been happy ever since I flew into PA and got my truck and drove it home.

WHY did I not mind paying that amount of money? Because I was driving it almost 2000 miles home. If it had broken, I would be back at square one. With the Aamco rebuild, I had access to any Aamco shop along the way home IF anything died. I did stop at one and they readjusted the shifter on the outside of the tranny.

But here in Denver, a TH400 rebuild is about $750 at any local shop/not a national chain and that includes the heavy duty shift kit and for another $50 they will add a tranny cooler, which again, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND.
 

JPDC

New member
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Virginia
OK - new wrinkle. Maybe this means something to someone out there who can relay it to me....

Started truck again today to drive it around a bit and see if I still had the same issues. I went out after about 20 mins and I have the same problem, no gears, nothing. Then I remembered that yesterday I had let it warm up in neutral instead of park (I don't know why I did it). So I recreated it, leaving the truck running in neutral for another 20 mins and then checked again. Sure enough, after 20 mins I have all my gears and truck runs fine.

Any idea why this is happening...
 

chevymike

Well-known member
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Location
San Diego, CA
Are you checking the fluid after it's hot? Let the engine warm up is not warming up the trans. My Cherokee has a trans temp gauge and it take a good 20-30 mintues of stop and go driving to get it up to temp. If the fluid level is fine at operating temps, then it could be that the passages in the park system have a piece of dirt or something clogging it where the neutral system doesn't. There are a lot of little passages in the valve body and it doesn't take much to clog a passage.

My guesses at this point.
 

jimmy-90

New member
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Location
Haymarket Va.
Jimmy-90 - I know about the guy in Chantilly. I bought the truck from him!! Spoke to him yesterday and he seems to think it may be a vacuum hose issue or modulator problem. I am dropping it off to him to check out today. Costs me $100 to check it out maybe $100-200 to change out the vacuum hoses and modulator if necessary...:grd:
Sweet! Im pretty sure you are in good hands now. The guy I messaged this morning got back to me and told me that a TH400 re-build at the shops out here will usually cost between $900 to $1400 and that a crate trans for about the same price is a pretty good option as well. Im guessing that ammco was probly trying to charge you about $1400 or $1500 for a base re-build pluss $700 or $800 for labor to take it out and put it back in. Anyhow I hope everything goes well for you and good luck.
 

Hoolio

Member
59
1
8
Location
Painesville Ohio
Someone told me there was a couple of Th-400 transmissions for these , depending on which transfer case it has..Mine has the case iron NP 205..Something about shaft length , I think.. As for AAmco......I'd go look for a small town independent transmission shop or a retired GM mechanic that still moonlights.. Th-400 aren't that bad to do from what I've heard..I haven't done any myself yet , but if I can rebuild a Deere 450 dozer transmission , I think I can handle a Th-400..
 

Bob H

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
3,140
160
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Location
Huron National Forest, Michigan USA
OK - new wrinkle. Maybe this means something to someone out there who can relay it to me....

Started truck again today to drive it around a bit and see if I still had the same issues. I went out after about 20 mins and I have the same problem, no gears, nothing. Then I remembered that yesterday I had let it warm up in neutral instead of park (I don't know why I did it). So I recreated it, leaving the truck running in neutral for another 20 mins and then checked again. Sure enough, after 20 mins I have all my gears and truck runs fine.

Any idea why this is happening...
Odd, very odd.
There should be no difference between park and neutral on a TH400. (Except park has a pin that engages)
IIRC the Humvee version doen't even have a "park" position.

I would drop the pan, change the screen, check linkages etc, put in fresh fluid and go from there.


(Side note:
not related to the TH400, The M880 dodge has a Mopar 727TF trans which in the "Park" position doesn't pump fluid and needs to be warmed up in neutral and the fluid level can only be checked while running in neutral)
 
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