Are Most Rebuild Kits Created Equal?

[ChrisF111]

Hi, just nervous about picking a rebuild kit that's not as good as another one-that may not be of better quality or lack a couple extra parts I would need. I know the kits are basically for a soft parts rebuild, and I'm sure that I'll have to buy a few hard parts once I take the transmission apart, but it seems like not all kits have the same things. Would I need to stay away from any particular manufacturers, vendors, inferior materials used to make certain parts commonly found in typical rebuild kits, etc.? Are there any specific parts that most experienced tranny people would absolutely agree that should be used in place of what most general kits usually include?

The transmission is an A4LD. I have the TechTran and update manuals, just don't want to get the wrong rebuild kit.

Thank You for any advice,

Chris

 

[BrooklynBay]

Some materials such as teflon or viton are better than plain rubber, so if you see an option in a soft parts rebuild kit, get the better material. As far as clutch plate, and steel plate material, they sell kolene steel, and red band clutches. I've never used them, but they claim that they are tougher. Some bands are made out of kevlar, but they slip more than the regular bands. You might have to upgrade the boost valve, end plugs, and the servos to achieve a higher holding pressure for the bands. I've never used kevlar either.

 

[ChrisF111]

Thanks for your response Brooklyn, are you aware of a specific kit out there that you would go with personally? Not just the company or person to purchase from, but an exact kit, possibly? Would be cool to find one that just happened to have all the right parts in one single package. I'll be looking of course and trying to figure it out, but just in case someone knows of a close to perfect kit that maybe they used themselves and had positive results.
I just don't understand why the A4LD is such a problem transmission after a rebuild. I hope this won't end up being a mistake. At any rate, I would like the experience of the rebuild, just would be nice to have it last close to 100,000 miles. I'll definitely be referring to Glacier's rebuild diary throughout the process.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Check WWW.TransmissionPartsUSA.Com. There are several reasons why rebuilds don't always last too long. The A4LD had numerous changes on a yearly basis, and this causes confusion for the rebuilders. Sometimes a hard part looks questionable, and they reuse it instead of replacing it.