Reed,I hate to be a wet blanket on the yoda pizza party,but that "zero end play"isn't right.It should be 0.025 mininum,up to 0.075.Pick-up 904s are called "heavy duty"because they have 4 clutches instead of 3 clutches that the "car"transmissions have.

_________________
V8?? We don't need no stink'n V8!!

Well, okay, zero end play with my super accurate hand gauge. I'l throw a dial gauge on it tomorrow and get the real reading.

I guess I should take Yoda's advice: "Do or do not, there is no try."

_________________
Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

If you find that you don't have any free-play,double check the clutch drums to be sure all the clutch discs are engauged on the splines.

_________________
V8?? We don't need no stink'n V8!!

OK, I used the dial indicator and the end play comes in on the tight side of tolerances- .022 exactly.

_________________
Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

You just need to get a couple of high profile clients... maybe a move to Chicago?

_________________
David Kight
'62 Valiant Signet, White
'98 Dodge Dakota
'06 Jeep Liberty

Growing older is unavoidable but growing up is strictly optional.

OK, yesterday was the seven hour change-the-transmission-in-the-rain-laying-in-the-mud siege. Started at 4:30, got done at 11:30 (p.m.).

Here's the kicker: this whole tranny swap adventure started when my brother was driving home and suddenly a huge white cloud of smoke came out from behind the van and he slowly lost transmission function. He made it home but the van barely moved. I figured there was something fatal in the guts of the tranny because it was clunking bad when put in gear before he left my house.

When I drained the old transmission before taking it out, it only had about 1/2 quart of burnt stinky tranny fluid in it. I didn't see any leaks coming from the transmission, but the muffler and bottom of the van were obviously coated with transmission fluid.

It turns out that the tranny coolant lines are metal except for two sections right before the case of about 4-6 inches that had a rubber hose patch. One of the rubber patches dried out and split, spraying tranny fluid everywhere, including on the exhaust pipe. So basically I did a tranny swap when I probably could have gotten away with replacing the rubber line and refiling the fluid. That's okay, now I have TWO extra 904 transmissions and the van has a 904T with the better gears and more clutches.

And the junkyard jewel rebuilt tranny works GREAT!

_________________
Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

7 hrs for a trans in a RWD van? Those are about the easiest trans that can be pulled. Pull the doghouse off and the bellhousing bolts are right there.
No firewall to floorpan seam to tear up the backs of your hands, like the '83 Shivvy truck I just pulled the engine out of last week. Now, just gotta rebuild the (gag/puke) 350 and reinstall it. I'd have rather done a van.

We hit a few snags and had to deal with a leaky fitting. I had the old tranny out solo in about 1.5 hours, which is weird because it took about half an hour to drop the tranny in the junkyard. I'll blame it on the cold, the rain, the mud, and the fact that I wasn't working with a lift...

_________________
Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

yeah it's crazy how a small thing like that fitting hold up a job. and working in nasty weather never helps things any.

Quick update: my brother reports no leaks and better acceleration than with the 1979 904 transmission that we removed. However, he does report a minor shudder on acceleration. I'm going to put the counterweight form the 79 904 onto the 904T we just installed and see if that smooths it out.

_________________
Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.