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Are the 4t60's durable?

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Old 11-18-2005, 04:07 PM
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Originally Posted by 1993 SLE
Originally Posted by BillBoost37
Not to get off topic. But Don..would you say a highway car trans would probably have a longer lifespan than a city car on the premise of the clutchpacks not being used as much over the mileage?
well ya less ware going through the gears, also the trans will stay cooler, on the highway...i noticed that my trans temp will drop 20+ degrees when driving on long trips
Sends a spell checker program to Pat and awaits Don'* expert opinion.
Old 11-18-2005, 06:12 PM
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Originally Posted by jr's3800
Heat is the Main killer of a Trans.... They go bad left and right here in florida... But its a warmer climate too... Up as far north as some of you guys are the trans may last a long time as long as it doesn't get too hot and its had some fluid changes...
I dunno, for some reason, far too many of the H-bodies I see in the junkyard have the same approximate mileage:



240,000km. That'* 150,000 miles. My guess is the car got older in age, original tranny failed, car junked.
Old 11-18-2005, 11:47 PM
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4t60'* (440t4'*) are durable trannies as long as you keep them cool and keep power at stock levels. With increased power and torqe (we're talking in the 250hp & 250+lb.ft. range) then it won't take long for it to go. But with a mild driving style and stock power levels and regular fluid changes and all that you should be able to get 300,000 miles or so out of them. This is completely dependent on driving styles, weight of car, etc... though.

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Old 11-19-2005, 12:11 PM
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I can vouch for the 87'* not being very strong. Mine is (was before it was stolen) on the third tranny that i rebuild last december. The last one was installed somewhere around 150k miles, and i did mine at just a tick over 200k miles. When i took it all apart the 4th gear clutch was gone (in pieces) and the 2nd and 3rd gear clutches were totally burned and glazed over. But i know that my car was NOT driven nicely between that 2nd tranny and when i put mine in. Cooling i think was definately a major factor in these, a new cooler was on my list of things to do sometime.
Old 11-24-2005, 04:11 PM
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Install a cooler on it, drive normally and you should get long life.
Old 11-25-2005, 10:23 AM
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This is part of the reason I run my engines cooler than stock (180F thermostat). Pleanty of heat even at 0F (not that we ever see that in central Florida) but find that *everything* runs cooler including the transmision which has its cooler inside the radiator. It does help to reprogram the fans to come on earlier but is not entirely necessary as long as you keep mooving.

BTW to a car, Florida is a much more benign climate than Texas or the midwest. I don't think it ever reached 95 last summerand the same humidity that wilts people, makes a radiator work better.

My minimum target for our cars is for the coolant to rise no more than 100F over the air temp and can usually run at 85-90F over (stays down at 180F on the road even on a 90F day) even with the a/c on.
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