Th400 to 700r4 ????

[Christian Nelson]

I like the sounds of this, thinking for my truck, I may want to swap out the auto someday.. You say it has a built in slave, so it's hydraulic, so what do you do for pedals, just cut down your brake pedal, and put a wilwood clutch with master in it, or pull the stuff from the donor truck? How easily can one make it work in a square?

Long way off for this, but I can begin securing parts.

Hoping to get the body squared (hah, get it? ) away soon.. Stupid snow came a week too soon.

 

[adriner]

I like the sounds of this, thinking for my truck, I may want to swap out the auto someday.. You say it has a built in slave, so it's hydraulic, so what do you do for pedals, just cut down your brake pedal, and put a wilwood clutch with master in it, or pull the stuff from the donor truck? How easily can one make it work in a square?

Long way off for this, but I can begin securing parts.

Hoping to get the body squared (hah, get it? ) away soon.. Stupid snow came a week too soon.

Your better off getting a pedal assy, it's better just to do it right

Asa far as the swap itself, it's really easy, from ripping everything out to driving it out of my garage, I had about 6-7 hours. Of course I had all the parts there. The nicest part was putting in the trans, it's like 80lbs so there not even a need for a jack. I laid on by back and put it in.

 

[HotRodPC]

Yep, get Hydraulic Clutch/Brake Pedal assembly out of a donor. It will also have the provisions for the Clutch safety switch too. IIRC, those can be found in 83 and up Squarebodies.

You're a bit stronger than you think adriner. They're about 100lbs dry.

 

[adriner]

Wow haha something to brag about! Lol

 

[HotRodPC]

Wow haha something to brag about! Lol

Yeah buddy. What a stud muffin !!!

 

[smurph20]

Well your not talking about SM465 only being about 100 lbs lol.

 

[HotRodPC]

Well your not talking about SM465 only being about 100 lbs lol.

Heeeeeeeeeeelllll NO !!! Add another 75 lbs and it sure seems like more than that.

 

[RetroC10Sport]

Yep, get Hydraulic Clutch/Brake Pedal assembly out of a donor. It will also have the provisions for the Clutch safety switch too. IIRC, those can be found in 83 and up Squarebodies.

You're a bit stronger than you think adriner. They're about 100lbs dry.

1985 up buddy.

 

[HotRodPC]

1985 up buddy.

I was thinking you told me that before not long ago.

 

[bucket]

Yep, if they're the same to that point, then they sure should all share the same driveshafts. That's one thiing I love about GM. They do make things universal. I bet someone could pick up an NV3500 pretty cheap. They are no slouch either. I'm not real fond of the internal slave cylinder, but they do work fairly well and not near as strong as an NV4500, but they'll get the job done. I woudln't be afraid of an NV3500 in a 3/4 ton if I wasn't doing any mega weight towing with it. They actually have close ratio's than the NVV4500 too since NV4500 has the compound granny low. There is a benefit to that in the NV3500 for wheeling. Close ratios are important in wheeling rigs.

The early NV3500 used a regular external slave cylinder.

It's not bad. GM even used the NV3500 in light duty 6 lug 3/4 ton 2wd trucks.

It was used in 4x4's too.



I've got the NV3500, although it's in my little S10 pickup. It's got over 200K on it and I have beat the living wee out of it and the trans has held up great. For a good long while I was having one heck of a time shifting into 3rd at full throttle, but that just ended up being broken motor mounts causing that issue. I wouldn't hesitate to run one in a full size truck, but I probably wouldn't beat on it as hard.

 

[HotRodPC]

I edited some of my posts above. I knew what I was talking about, but I posted backwards. The S-10 units are actually the CLOSE ratio units. And the full size gets the WIDE Ratio. Not to be impressed though. The reason the Full Size is a wide ratio is cuz it has a 4.02 first gear, and the S-10 Close Ratio has a 3.49 first gear. 2nd gears are bit different too but 3,4 and 5th are the same.

Now when you say EARLY NV3500, are you sure you're not talking about the GetRag, or HM units? Those are NOT NV3500's. Very little difference, but the differences are improvements. Again like anything, there are pro's and cons to internal and external slaves. For the purpose or repair, I like external of course. For the purpose of function I like the internal. The internal really does make more sense if you think about it. Less moving parts, less strain on things like clutch fork or pivot ball.

 

[bucket]

I edited some of my posts above. I knew what I was talking about, but I posted backwards. The S-10 units are actually the CLOSE ratio units. And the full size gets the WIDE Ratio. Not to be impressed though. The reason the Full Size is a wide ratio is cuz it has a 4.02 first gear, and the S-10 Close Ratio has a 3.49 first gear. 2nd gears are bit different too but 3,4 and 5th are the same.

Now when you say EARLY NV3500, are you sure you're not talking about the GetRag, or HM units? Those are NOT NV3500's. Very little difference, but the differences are improvements. Again like anything, there are pro's and cons to internal and external slaves. For the purpose or repair, I like external of course. For the purpose of function I like the internal. The internal really does make more sense if you think about it. Less moving parts, less strain on things like clutch fork or pivot ball.

Well, I had always thought it was the nv3500... it's a '91 with the 4.3 in front of it. How can I tell the difference?

No matter what it is, I haven't been able to break it.

 

[HotRodPC]

Well, I had always thought it was the nv3500... it's a '91 with the 4.3 in front of it. How can I tell the difference?

No matter what it is, I haven't been able to break it.

91 is early enough, it's probably NOT an NV3500. There's a little history there with those units but I believe it was by 93 New Venture swallowed up GetRag. The 5LM60 is probably what you have. I think by then it was still a New Venture but I want to say it was 93 was the first year for the NV3500. Difference being. The HM290 and 5LM60 had multiple shift rails, the NV3500 only has one. Much less complicated, and much less prone to failure. The 5LM60 is based on GM's name changing of trans models. Like the 4L60/700r4, 3L80/Th400, 5 being the speeds, L for Longitudinal mounting, M for Manual, and 60 for torque rating reference. So that being said, it's supposed to be as strong as the 4L60.

 

[bucket]

91 is early enough, it's probably NOT an NV3500. There's a little history there with those units but I believe it was by 93 New Venture swallowed up GetRag. The 5LM60 is probably what you have. I think by then it was still a New Venture but I want to say it was 93 was the first year for the NV3500. Difference being. The HM290 and 5LM60 had multiple shift rails, the NV3500 only has one. Much less complicated, and much less prone to failure. The 5LM60 is based on GM's name changing of trans models. Like the 4L60/700r4, 3L80/Th400, 5 being the speeds, L for Longitudinal mounting, M for Manual, and 60 for torque rating reference. So that being said, it's supposed to be as strong as the 4L60.

It was my understanding that the NV3500 started in '91 and had an integral bellhousing, which mine does. Do they visually look the same or is there some way to tell them apart? Also, mine looks the same as the the 5 speed I've seen in later S10's (like '97-'04) but without the internal slave cylinder.

Oh, and I know for sure it looks identical to the trans in a customer's '94 2wd Silverado.

 

[HotRodPC]

I'd have to research it again. It's been so long since I looked these things up. I know they all 3 look very similar, but there are tell tale signs how to identify the NV3500's from the GetRags.