Recent content by Transdude

We have 340's out there with higher power levels than that for sure. As far as the 650's go, that would be approaching their limit. -John

As you can imagine, everything in a valve body mod is a coordinated system. Getting it right involves a lot of transmission experience, knowing exactly how they work, some math, extensive in-vehicle testing and a lot of valve bodies getting R&R'ed for additional tuning. As far as a claim of an...

Hi, I'm glad to hear that your are happy with the work. I use and recommend our own blend of ATF as well as Amsoil Universal Synthetic ATF, but feel that any synthetic Dex III type of fluid would well also. -John

We change about 9 springs, drill several holes, change sleeves and valves (depenidng on exactly what valve body configuration we are working on). No offense, but just shimming accumulators and testing the results by "seat of the pants" shift feel comes nowhere close to cutting it. This is...

One can pull out their own teeth but it is usually better to go to a dentist. There is much more to correctly modifying a valve body than shimming accumulators. That said, here is the article. As many Toyota and Jeep owners know, the AW4 / Toyota 340, A340, and A341E series of transmissions...

Seems that the first picture is from my website. Sorry to get your hopes up but there are no 'blocker' rods there. Those are just studs that I screwed into the trans case to take pictures for my instruction sheet. The case was face-up on my bench so I held them in place with the studs and...

Hi all, I just added what is hopefully a useful resource for people who want to know the meaning of certain transmission terms: Transmission Dictionary / Glossary of Terms This is also what we are hoping is going to be constantly evolving, with input from visitors to our site. We welcome...

I can certainly modify the A341E valve body, however, because of parts intercharge reasons it is always preferable to modify the valve body out of the transmission/car from which it came. -John

Stall speed absolutely increases based on input torque and the rpm at which it occurs. With a turbo, however, in most cases torque isn't increased under the rpm at which the stock converter will stall. Normally, increased stall speed is still required to capitalize on the powerband. In other...

I kind of think of a torque converter as an infinitely variable transmission, in and of itself. Remember that the torque multiplication and stall speed are all related to the amount of input torque at any given time. -John

I haven't ever used spragless type converters. While I'm sure that they have their place, I've just had good results with the way that we've been doing things for a quite a while now. That being said, a spragless converter has no place in a street driven vehicle, their main purpose is for...

The torque converter is one of the least understood components in an automatic transmission equipped vehicle. I will attempt to explain what it does and how it does it. The torque converter has a few different functions. We first need to understand that there is no direct link between the...

Long Tru Cool is made by Long :) I don't know of an Aussie distributor The coolers regulate by only using the bottom two tubes for pass through operation when the fluid is thick and viscous (cold). -John

I also recommend installing the largest cooler that will fit in most cases. High quality coolers like The Long Tru Cool are self regulating so over cooling isn't a possibility. Installing the cooler before the radiator pretty much negates having one for the most part. -John

Here are some suggestions that will help to extend the life and increase the durability of your automatic transmission. These things are especially important for severe duty applications, but are also applicable to almost all vehicles. 1) Check your fluid level regularly- although fairly...