About 8000 miles ago I replaced the 3-4 clutch pak in my 1995 4l60e with the Alto red 8 clutch set up. Car has been and is still shifting fine even at WOT. I pulled it apart yesterday to inspect and found the top three clutches completely shot. The material is missing on one while the other two are missing only partially, liked warped really bad. From the middle steel down everything is perfect. Fluid does not smell burnt, no bluing on any of the steels. Any one have an idea as to what went wrong? Or maybe what I did wrong?

 

Did you check to see if the tangs created any grooves inside the drum? If the clutch's are getting snagged up they might be dragging.

 

I will have to check for that tonight.

 

Nothing appears to be hanging up.

 

This is the reason we don't use the Alto 3-4's. The steels are only .063", which is too thin. When you make them this thin, it makes them more prone to warping.
A better alternative is .079" steels, and standard thickness frictions. .079" are standard steels for a 700R4. We use (6) .079" Kolene coated steels, with stock 4L60E top and bottom pressure plates. You may have to go with (1) .063" if the clearance is too tight. We couple them with (7) Borg Warner High Energy frictions.

*Also, make sure you leave the "load release springs" out, or no matter what clutches/steels you put in it, you'll have repeated problems.

Make certain all other areas are working properly. Input shaft teflon rings, and pump stator bushings can lead to early 3-4 failure. The 3-4s also live longer if you use a billet 2nd servo. The 3rd accumulator is on the back side of the stock "Corvette" servo. Eliminating that accumulator makes the 3-4 clutches apply quicker on a 2-3 upshift. Quicker apply = less chance to slip.

Frank
CPT

 

I did leave the load release springs out and am using the stock top and bottom plate. This time around I adding the 2nd and 4th billet servos, 1-2 Sonnax accum. piston, and the Z-pak for cluthces. It's wierd how only the top three plates went and the car shifted fine. Glad I pulled it apart now to check because with all the mods I'm in the middle of it wouldn't have lasted very long. Thanks, Frank I will check those things again when I put it back together.

Dave

 

Dave,
We stopped using the Z-Pak around a year ago for the exact same reason. they were warping up pretty bad.

Frank
CPT

 

No, really? I just ordered it Friday. Any advice on making the Z-Pak work? I would like to get at least 15k miles before I rebuild again.

 

Frank, do you sell transmission parts as well? I looked quick like on your website but didn't see anything about parts. If so how much for the Borg Warner clutches you're using shipped to 01237?

Dave

 

I'll PM you the phone number for my supplier. They can hook you up.

Frank
CPT

 

Wow that's awesome, thank you.

 

Damn, I think that's what you used in my tranny. I'm not too happy to hear this.

 

PMed you the phone number, my salesmans name and the part numbers. That should get you pointed in the right direction. If you need anything else, let me know.

Frank
CPT