2004r Direct Drum Burnt frictions...help!

[VenomGT]

I have been surfing the GN forums for an answer to why did the direct drum burnt all the frictions down to the metal, If any one can give me some info it would be greatly appreciated. I Have used the search bar but the only ones that came up did not provide me with an answer.
Some back ground to the issue:
Purchased the transmission when I took it apart the direct drum and forward were black warped and generally destroyed to the point the snap rings and return spring where bulging out. Purchased a rebuild/upgrade kit plus the parts that were not salvageable, slapped it together following multiple articles from all the forums for clearances and such. (including a tech manual as a reference)
Put it in the car worked perfect but third seemed to be too long 3 days later 3rd gear started slipping like it wasnt there and had to down shift to second get it up to 50 then drop it in OD to engage 4th.
Made it home fluid looked good but smelled funny. Cracked it open and the second band was burn but not worn, direct drum looks good but the frictions are gone down to the metal and the spring guide is bubbled from the heat, the clutches inside the forward looked to have worn more then normal because I can still read the print on all others.
Any one have this issue before?

 

[bison]

Did you measure the pressures at various TV positions? Sounds like you have a pressure problem. Probably caused by leakage in the hyd circuit( s).

 

[VenomGT]

I did and they were all a little higher than the book but good.

 

[bison]

What book and what we're the pressures? If you burned forward you have a big hyd leak and or the pump sucked air under power

 

[VenomGT]

Haynes and a GM techbook

 

[bison]

Haynes and a GM techbook

Those pressures would be ok for a stock application on an unmodified engine but not even close for anything that's been turned up .

 

[VenomGT]

Its a stock 307 sbc one cam up from stock, intake and 600 carb. Nothing special.

 

[VenomGT]

I am starting to think I had a low fluid level, because the day it gave out was the day I installed the trans cooler I did add another quart to the case just for that but I guess it was not enough. But that should have cause a noticeable drop in pressure reading...right? I am about to go for round two of rebuilding it lol

 

[VenomGT]

Btw that was 13 qts total in the trans.....not a single leak ( thank god)

 

[bison]

No. Pressure might be fine down a gallon with the car stationary. It's not ok to be down a quart driving

 

[mikestertwo]

Poor T.V. geometry?

 

[VenomGT]

TV geometry was text book perfect, a hair under an inch. Cant remember the exact number but it was someting like .9xx travel.

 

[mikestertwo]

The total travel could be correct but the geometry still could be wrong.

 

[VenomGT]

I got it perfect I even made me a little paper jig with the degrees and such, from the horror stories I found online i made sure that thing was GM aproved perfect ( even though i dont think that would be good because their QC is pretty lax...lol)

 

[mikestertwo]

Sounds like you did your homework... lol. Does the pressure rise as soon as you crack open the throttle? What code transmission are you using?

 

[VenomGT]

Pressure raises to the touch of the throttle. And the tranny seems to be a frankentrans because the case didnt have a tag but seems to have the "stock performance" things like the plug in the internediate servo that looks stock and the monte ss servo. The valve body is a AA7 so I guess its from a cadillac but it has the chevy bop bolt pattern. So who knows, I just took it apart did some research bought some parts and upgrades and put it in the car, I may have not put enough fluid in it so I burnt the forward drum a couple days after I finished it so i just took it apart again and I am trying to make sure it was just fluid and not some other mistake.

 

[VenomGT]

today I woke up with an air of improvement so I have studied the circuitry of the trans I am not understanding how does 3-4 shares a hole with the apply side of the band servo?

 

[mikestertwo]

today I woke up with an air of improvement so I have studied the circuitry of the trans I am not understanding how does 3-4 shares a hole with the apply side of the band servo?

Not sure I understand the question. Nowhere does the 3rd or 4th feed share a "hole" with the apply side of the band servo. The 3rd gear feed goes to the release side of the servo. The servo acts as an accumulator for the 3rd clutch.

 

[VenomGT]

So I encountered an issue with the current servo I have based on my searching I have come to the conclusion that second gear band will be dragging on 3rd and 4th. I was reading that CK came across noticed this issue using anything bigger than .471 boost valve (assuming you have the matched return spring for the pin). How have any of you dealt with this? I was thinking about adding a spacer or washer to increase the spring rate of the return spring I have the "wimpy pink one".
I read that CK was making one for $10.00 but I have not found it on his site and I am not going to call because I can imagine he has a thousand people calling him everyday...like my current parts provider and calling them is slightly annoying because they try to be as nice as possible but you can feel the rush and pressure to get off the phone to handle 101 things.

 

[VenomGT]

mikestertwo, I figured it out, it was the un-apply side. But I came across the issue above where the apply and unapply side are under pressure after 2nd and from what I read the unapply side has a larger surface area so it overcomes the apply side and the super servo from superior has a similar surface area just slightly large so I am trying to solve this now. I may be overthinking this but understanding the way it works has made me realize that these things are easy to work on just a PITA when you forget to add extra fluid for the 12" converter which btw holds almost 5 quarts probably more since there is still some in it. That's another thing I have to figure out how to flush it because I am going with dexron VI this time instead of royal purple and the TC is full of the burnt fluid.