Another 727 build

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woods

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So its time to start on the transmission and will have questions throughout the buildup since I haven't found much reference material out there.
I have a 727 from a 76 truck that Will be behind a 380-400 hp 400 lbs 360.
The tranny looks like new inside so far but has 3 pinion planets. What kind of abuse will they handle? I don't plan on beating this car.
I know the front drum is one of the weak links. Is the only upgrade option a $600 billet drum?
Are all factory drums equal? I see hemi drums advertised for sale.
What about planetary gear sets? Does anything newer fit? Like for the A518 or 46re?
Just thought I would throw those questions out there to start
Thanks for viewing
 
woods said:
So its time to start on the transmission and will have questions throughout the buildup since I haven't found much reference material out there.
I have a 727 from a 76 truck that Will be behind a 380-400 hp 400 lbs 360.
The tranny looks like new inside so far but has 3 pinion planets. What kind of abuse will they handle? I don't plan on beating this car.
I know the front drum is one of the weak links. Is the only upgrade option a $600 billet drum?
Are all factory drums equal? I see hemi drums advertised for sale.
What about planetary gear sets? Does anything newer fit? Like for the A518 or 46re?
Just thought I would throw those questions out there to start
Thanks for viewing
Click to expand...
I wouldn't be concerned too much about the drum. Unless its' badly worn, 400HP won't bother it at all and shouldn't be a concern. Just inspect it very carefully. The billet drums came out mainly for the racers. At high rpm, the old factory drums with a jillion miles on them could/would fail. If you go to www.tcsproducts.com they have a sheet that will show you at what rpm the factory drum and the three drums they make will fail. All 727 front drums other than the hemi to the best of my knowledge are all the same. TCS is I believe the only manufacturer of these drums in North America and sell them to all the top name performance transmission people.
If you're not going to beat on the car, I don't know that 4 pinion planets would benefit you. Look the ones you've got very carefully and check for signs of wear on the gears and how much side to side motion the gears have on their shafts.
If it was my car, I'd do a major rebuild, friction plates (raybestos waffle lined), steel plates, all washers and bushings, filter, both front and rear band, a Transgo TF-2 shift kit, a sprag kit, and maybe look at the pump and pump gears closely. Others on this board can give you further advise, and we've got a couple of very knowledgeable transmission guys on board.
 
transman said:
I wouldn't be concerned too much about the drum. Unless its' badly worn, 400HP won't bother it at all and shouldn't be a concern. Just inspect it very carefully. The billet drums came out mainly for the racers. At high rpm, the old factory drums with a jillion miles on them could/would fail. If you go to www.tcsproducts.com they have a sheet that will show you at what rpm the factory drum and the three drums they make will fail. All 727 front drums other than the hemi to the best of my knowledge are all the same. TCS is I believe the only manufacturer of these drums in North America and sell them to all the top name performance transmission people.
If you're not going to beat on the car, I don't know that 4 pinion planets would benefit you. Look the ones you've got very carefully and check for signs of wear on the gears and how much side to side motion the gears have on their shafts.
If it was my car, I'd do a major rebuild, friction plates (raybestos waffle lined), steel plates, all washers and bushings, filter, both front and rear band, a Transgo TF-2 shift kit, a sprag kit, and maybe look at the pump and pump gears closely. Others on this board can give you further advise, and we've got a couple of very knowledgeable transmission guys on board.
Click to expand...
Solid advise here! If not a Street/strip setup then stock rebuild with quality clutches and bands is all that is needed.
 
I have a very similar engine and I just rebuilt my trans last year. I upgraded the reverse servo to the billet one. I already had the bolt in sprag, but if you dont, I would look into picking that up. IMO just the 4 bolt style not the 6 bolt. Replace the bands, clutches and steels. Look at how many springs are in the clutch pack and possibly add more. Im running 12, and only had 9 originally. There is some conflicting reports about more or less, but the majority say run at least 12. Look into how many frictions are in your front clutch drum, if you only have 4 they do make a plate that is machined down to allow 5 if you want to go that route. I put in new front pump gears, for the price it was worth it. Otherwise all the advise above is spot on.
 
transman said:
I wouldn't be concerned too much about the drum. Unless its' badly worn, 400HP won't bother it at all and shouldn't be a concern. Just inspect it very carefully. The billet drums came out mainly for the racers. At high rpm, the old factory drums with a jillion miles on them could/would fail. If you go to www.tcsproducts.com they have a sheet that will show you at what rpm the factory drum and the three drums they make will fail. All 727 front drums other than the hemi to the best of my knowledge are all the same. TCS is I believe the only manufacturer of these drums in North America and sell them to all the top name performance transmission people.
If you're not going to beat on the car, I don't know that 4 pinion planets would benefit you. Look the ones you've got very carefully and check for signs of wear on the gears and how much side to side motion the gears have on their shafts.
If it was my car, I'd do a major rebuild, friction plates (raybestos waffle lined), steel plates, all washers and bushings, filter, both front and rear band, a Transgo TF-2 shift kit, a sprag kit, and maybe look at the pump and pump gears closely. Others on this board can give you further advise, and we've got a couple of very knowledgeable transmission guys on board.
Click to expand...
Thanks,
That was my original plan until I started researching.
 
straightlinespeed said:
I have a very similar engine and I just rebuilt my trans last year. I upgraded the reverse servo to the billet one. I already had the bolt in sprag, but if you dont, I would look into picking that up. IMO just the 4 bolt style not the 6 bolt. Replace the bands, clutches and steels. Look at how many springs are in the clutch pack and possibly add more. Im running 12, and only had 9 originally. There is some conflicting reports about more or less, but the majority say run at least 12. Look into how many frictions are in your front clutch drum, if you only have 4 they do make a plate that is machined down to allow 5 if you want to go that route. I put in new front pump gears, for the price it was worth it. Otherwise all the advise above is spot on.
Click to expand...
That was going to be my next set of questions. Thanks,
There is some wear on the gears of the front planet. I think it is just the leading edge but they feel tight. I will look at it more this weekend.
everything else looks almost new. all the bushings have minimal wear.
 
What's funny is that I called one of the preferred suppliers (not TCS) yesterday and told them what I had and what my plans were.
I asked for what they would suggest for parts.
Their list came up to $2500 in parts. Without any torque converter since I already have one.
I laughed and hung up
 
woods said:
What's funny is that I called one of the preferred suppliers (not TCS) yesterday and told them what I had and what my plans were.
I asked for what they would suggest for parts.
Their list came up to $2500 in parts. Without any torque converter since I already have one.
I laughed and hung up
Click to expand...

Ya, I started pricing stuff out thru some of the higher end places and no way in hell. I went here for most of my parts. Whatever It Takes Transmission Parts

It was nice, they had a warehouse 15 minutes from my house so I could just pick everything up, what I didnt use I just brought back.
 
woods said:
What's funny is that I called one of the preferred suppliers (not TCS) yesterday and told them what I had and what my plans were.
I asked for what they would suggest for parts.
Their list came up to $2500 in parts. Without any torque converter since I already have one.
I laughed and hung up
Click to expand...
Man I don't know where and how someone could come up with that price for what I'd call a basic transmission repair kit. Even going to Alto red racing plates and kolene steel plates, the parts I suggested in my first post shouldn't come to more than $350.00.
 
IMG_2590.JPG
IMG_2595.JPG

I was figuring $300 to $450 for everything so that sounds better
I looked closer at the planets and the gear faces look good but the leading edges have a wave on them. The same with the sun gear.
Is this normal?
 
So I'm searching for the best price on rebuild kits
I have found that most of the online places are painful to navigate and nothing is clear on what exactly is in the kits.
It looks like I will be finding a quiet place at work and make a few phone calls. TCS first.

Is there any advantage of changing the band lever ratio on a street car?
Thanks
 
straightlinespeed said:
I got some good advice from a member on here. He said if your running a flex band then use the 3.8 ratio, if a solid band the 4.2 ratio.

As for the kit, this one is highly recommended here on the site.

Transtar Super Deluxe Transmission Kit For Chrysler TF8 (A727) 62-Up from Northern Auto Parts

Dont over pay for parts thru the big name companies. Shop around, you will find out you can get better deals for the same stuff else where.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the advice.
I was looking at that kit but I couldn't find anything about the clutch plates or band other than them being Raybestos
 
Correct Raybestos brand. The only thing that did not work for me was that it only had 4 frictions for the front drum. If you decide to have 5 in your drum your going to have to purchase a single and a steel thru WIT or another place.

Is there something else you wanted to know about them?
 
straightlinespeed said:
Correct Raybestos brand. The only thing that did not work for me was that it only had 4 frictions for the front drum. If you decide to have 5 in your drum your going to have to purchase a single and a steel thru WIT or another place.

Is there something else you wanted to know about them?
Click to expand...
Nope. Thanks again for the help. I just placed the order. I will probably stick with 4 discs but may change that after pay day
 
Well I got the kit from Northern Auto Parts and They swapped out the raybestos clutches with Exedy tans. I'm returning it and they will be updating the listing.
I ended up buying a HP rebuild kit with Raybestos red waffle clutches and Kolene steels from another vendor.
I want to do it right since it is apart.
 
woods said:
Well I got the kit from Northern Auto Parts and They swapped out the raybestos clutches with Exedy tans. I'm returning it and they will be updating the listing.
I ended up buying a HP rebuild kit with Raybestos red waffle clutches and Kolene steels from another vendor.
I want to do it right since it is apart.
Click to expand...
Well that sucks and is a minor set back. Was there a big price difference between the kit from Northern and the one you ordered?
 
straightlinespeed said:
Well that sucks and is a minor set back. Was there a big price difference between the kit from Northern and the one you ordered?
Click to expand...
Ended up being $230 so about twice as much.
The northern auto parts kit is nice and complete but is only a stock rebuild kit so it is still a good deal if that is what you want
 
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