A few months ago my 700r4 "grenaded". This is the piece that went, anybody know what this piece is? It's about 4 1/8" diameter at the bottom and about 3 1/4" tall.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o219/ernestmayhand/Caprice%20resto/_DSC0240-1.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o219/ernestmayhand/Caprice%20resto/_DSC0241.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o219/ernestmayhand/Caprice%20resto/_DSC0242.jpg

looks like output ring gear...how much HP do you have in that caprice?

looks like output ring gear...how much HP do you have in that caprice?

225 horse, 307 torque

The trani shop was bragging about how the 700r4 they built me could handle 400lbs of torque until I towed it in there and they opened it up, then they're saying I was "abusing it". Never did. The thing had 5,000 miles on it. Got on it quite a bit, but what else you gunna do with a 383 in a Caprice?

Yup, this is the weak part on older 700R4's. My '83 blew the same part (the ring gear split in two) a while back. It was behind a stock 305.

Regardless of how well the shop builds an older 700 it, it'll break that weak part unless its upgraded.

Replace it with an '87 or newer 700 or a 4L60 (not the 'E' varient). They're the same transmission and are much improved. over older models. You may have to put your older speedo drive in the tailshaft, though.

225 horse, 307 torque

The trani shop was bragging about how the 700r4 they built me could handle 400lbs of torque until I towed it in there and they opened it up, then they're saying I was "abusing it". Never did. The thing had 5,000 miles on it. Got on it quite a bit, but what else you gunna do with a 383 in a Caprice?

when I ordered my 83 from GM I got the 350 3 speed tranny...I towed a 4000lb boat with it ....trailer brakes of coarse...this lasted the vehicles life of 380,ooomi...

back then it was very well known these 350 transmissions , which were around for a long time had greater durability than the 700r4 4 speed..


the rebuilder probably did a proper job...thats metal fatigue what you got there..

even a small camaro is too much for this 4 speed tranny..

While the 700 line of trannies had it's share of stumbling blocks over the years there is no excuse for this sort of failure these days.

A HUGE number of shops claim to be able to build this tranny but can NOT.

That said they can be built very well in the right hands.

The 4L60E in my car is almost 6 years old, handles something over 400RWhp so depending on the drivetrain loss you believe that is somewhere around 500 flywheel.

Nothing exotic going on with it either, lots of stock parts assembled carefully, stock servos, stock sunshell, input shaft is not sleeved etc. It was actually built with about 300rwhp in mind then I got carried away.

The shifts are firm but NOT hard that is important to these trannies, bone jarring shifts seem cool but break parts. Accumulation which many bad shops like to block is also a good thing, it is a shocjk absorber for the drivetrain.

I do have all the fancy stuff for the next tranny but this one works so I have not moved ahead on a new one yet, hopefully this winter.