Moving this over from T4R.org for those looking to get rid of the granny shifting transmissions we have. In the original thread I talk a lot about supercharging, I still have not done that and even without the supercharger I am very glad I did this upgrade. It makes everything much more predictable in how the truck drives and after over 20k miles with it I have nothing but good things to say.
So in the time that I have owned my 4runner I have always wanted to supercharge it. Living at 6000 feet and pulling a mountain pass every day; the added power would be very nice. But after reading through Gadget’s sight and seeing other peoples issues with the auto trans and the supercharger not being good playmates, I have decided I will not supercharge unless I do something to beef up the transmission. If I’m going to spend close to three grand on a supercharger from Magnuson and another grand in fueling upgrades I’m not going to just ignore a notorious weak link. But despite that philosophy, I just have never been able to justify having IPT or Level 10 rework the valve body especially since I’m doing half the labor removing it from the truck. Don’t get me wrong they are both great companies and they are very helpful people, but 600+ dollars for a few hours labor and a couple springs is just outrageous. So I’ve been searching for an alternative and I believe I may have found it in the transgo 340-HD2 reprogramming kit. From what I have read in Dirtyfingers build thread and on some jeep forums the kit seems to work very well and produce the same results as IPT’s valve body upgrade. And for 100 dollars and a day’s worth of work it sure beats 600 and a week waiting on shipping. The only problem was that there is hardly any info on the thing besides a few jeep forums and some crappy youtube videos of a guy in a Lexus, so I’m planning on fixing that with the write up and some before and after videos. Hopefully this will help others that are looking to increase the performance of their 3rd gen auto trans without paying in body parts.
Parts Needed:
Optional Parts Are In Red.
• Transgo 340-hd2 kit (available here)
• Upper and lower valve body gasket (available at the dealer or online here)
• Trans Pan Gasket (available here)
• ATF Fluid (I chose Valvoline Max Life because that’s what AutoZone had at the time.)
• Transmission Assembly Lube makes reinstalling valve body way easier (available here)
•Transmission Sump Filter (I decided I did not need this since I have a magnefine inline filter.)
Tools Needed:
• Drain Pan for all the ATF and a container that allows you to tell how much you drained out
• Cardboard slip sheets if you care about your floor
• Lots of rags (use something that doesn’t produce a lot of lint or you may have major issues)
• 3/8 drive ratchet
• Inch pound torque wrench
• 10 mm socket, 14mm socket, 12mm socket, 8mm socket, 12mm deep socket
• Razor blade
• Putty knife or thin screwdriver
• Wire brush
• Red or green scotch brite
• 3 and 12 inch extensions
• Cordless drill or drill press
• Needle nose pliers
• Ziplocs to keep track of the bolts
• Funnel
Before you begin:
I’m providing this write up as a guide, I am not responsible for anything you do, crack the valve body open and drop the check balls everywhere? that's on you. Proceed at your own risk. Also the kit provides you the choice of race or truck shifts. I am choosing to go with the truck shifts but depending on the results I may change to the race shifts at a later time. Now with that out of the way let’s get to the good part.
Procedure:
1. First you will want to disconnect the negative battery terminal and remove the bolt that anchors the transmission dipstick to the motor. (the bolt is pictured below.)
IMGP0004 by Phoenix Black, on Flickr
2. Second you will want to place the vehicle up on jack stands to give yourself some extra room to work (you’re going to need it; I also had to disconnect the sway bar to get more room to remove the pan.)
3. Next you will want to drain out the fluid in the pan. You will want to keep it in a container that will allow you to know how much fluid to replace. (I used a 2.5 gal jug that I had on hand.)
This looks like a good sign, nice and red and no bad smells.
IMGP0011 by Phoenix Black, on Flickr
4. Next put the drain bolt back in the pan to keep the mess down and begin to remove the 19 pan bolts. I used a criss cross method to avoid warping the case or pan. You are going to have to find a way to break the seal of the stock gasket. I used a narrow scraper and hammer. (Go ahead and place these bolts in a Ziploc so that you don’t lose them.)
Here it is without the pan.
IMGP0008 by Phoenix Black, on Flickr
5. Once you have the pan off make sure you have your drain pan under the trans because it will continue dripping fluid.
6. Go ahead and remove the sump filter and set it and the bolts aside.
Sump filter removed
IMGP0012 by Phoenix Black, on Flickr
7. You will now remove the valve body from the truck by removing the wiring, feed tubes (on older models like my 98), kick down cable (if you have one, newer models don’t), and all of the bolts. I used a criss cross method to avoid warping (you could also use a cordless impact gun to speed up the process.) Also be sure to make a template to keep track of the bolts because they are different lengths. The valve body will also have some weight to it so be prepared and don’t let it fall.
The template I made for the bolts.
IMGP0016 by Phoenix Black, on Flickr
Trans without the valve body.
IMGP0019 by Phoenix Black, on Flickr
Sorry about the blurriness, my camera got drenched in atf when I pulled the valve body.
8. Next go ahead and remove the accumulator pistons being sure to keep track of which one goes where as the springs are specific to each one. (I won’t detail which springs go where because they are very clear in the instructions.)
Stock accumulators:
IMGP0020 by Phoenix Black, on Flickr
Modified accumulators:
IMGP0027 by Phoenix Black, on Flickr
Note:
As a side note it was at this point that I took the opportunity to remove all of the old pan sealant remnants on the pan and case, clean up the pan magnets, and install the bung for the trans temp gauge I was also installing. Here is a link that has pictures of what it should look like all cleaned up.
And here is the bung welded in.
IMGP0031 by Phoenix Black, on Flickr
I actually ended up having to move the bung because it was hitting the feed tube and not letting the pan fit back on, oops. So here is where it sits now.
IMGP0036 by Phoenix Black, on Flickr
9. Now back to the install. Clean up the valve body and clear off plenty of space on the bench and disassemble the valve body exactly as the directions included with the kit indicate how to and get ready for the scary part of drilling holes in the separator plate.
That should do it for the disassembly part, and I’m sure you all can guess what comes next…
So in the time that I have owned my 4runner I have always wanted to supercharge it. Living at 6000 feet and pulling a mountain pass every day; the added power would be very nice. But after reading through Gadget’s sight and seeing other peoples issues with the auto trans and the supercharger not being good playmates, I have decided I will not supercharge unless I do something to beef up the transmission. If I’m going to spend close to three grand on a supercharger from Magnuson and another grand in fueling upgrades I’m not going to just ignore a notorious weak link. But despite that philosophy, I just have never been able to justify having IPT or Level 10 rework the valve body especially since I’m doing half the labor removing it from the truck. Don’t get me wrong they are both great companies and they are very helpful people, but 600+ dollars for a few hours labor and a couple springs is just outrageous. So I’ve been searching for an alternative and I believe I may have found it in the transgo 340-HD2 reprogramming kit. From what I have read in Dirtyfingers build thread and on some jeep forums the kit seems to work very well and produce the same results as IPT’s valve body upgrade. And for 100 dollars and a day’s worth of work it sure beats 600 and a week waiting on shipping. The only problem was that there is hardly any info on the thing besides a few jeep forums and some crappy youtube videos of a guy in a Lexus, so I’m planning on fixing that with the write up and some before and after videos. Hopefully this will help others that are looking to increase the performance of their 3rd gen auto trans without paying in body parts.
Parts Needed:
Optional Parts Are In Red.
• Transgo 340-hd2 kit (available here)
• Upper and lower valve body gasket (available at the dealer or online here)
• Trans Pan Gasket (available here)
• ATF Fluid (I chose Valvoline Max Life because that’s what AutoZone had at the time.)
• Transmission Assembly Lube makes reinstalling valve body way easier (available here)
•Transmission Sump Filter (I decided I did not need this since I have a magnefine inline filter.)
Tools Needed:
• Drain Pan for all the ATF and a container that allows you to tell how much you drained out
• Cardboard slip sheets if you care about your floor
• Lots of rags (use something that doesn’t produce a lot of lint or you may have major issues)
• 3/8 drive ratchet
• Inch pound torque wrench
• 10 mm socket, 14mm socket, 12mm socket, 8mm socket, 12mm deep socket
• Razor blade
• Putty knife or thin screwdriver
• Wire brush
• Red or green scotch brite
• 3 and 12 inch extensions
• Cordless drill or drill press
• Needle nose pliers
• Ziplocs to keep track of the bolts
• Funnel
Before you begin:
I’m providing this write up as a guide, I am not responsible for anything you do, crack the valve body open and drop the check balls everywhere? that's on you. Proceed at your own risk. Also the kit provides you the choice of race or truck shifts. I am choosing to go with the truck shifts but depending on the results I may change to the race shifts at a later time. Now with that out of the way let’s get to the good part.
Procedure:
1. First you will want to disconnect the negative battery terminal and remove the bolt that anchors the transmission dipstick to the motor. (the bolt is pictured below.)
IMGP0004 by Phoenix Black, on Flickr2. Second you will want to place the vehicle up on jack stands to give yourself some extra room to work (you’re going to need it; I also had to disconnect the sway bar to get more room to remove the pan.)
3. Next you will want to drain out the fluid in the pan. You will want to keep it in a container that will allow you to know how much fluid to replace. (I used a 2.5 gal jug that I had on hand.)
This looks like a good sign, nice and red and no bad smells.
IMGP0011 by Phoenix Black, on Flickr4. Next put the drain bolt back in the pan to keep the mess down and begin to remove the 19 pan bolts. I used a criss cross method to avoid warping the case or pan. You are going to have to find a way to break the seal of the stock gasket. I used a narrow scraper and hammer. (Go ahead and place these bolts in a Ziploc so that you don’t lose them.)
Here it is without the pan.
IMGP0008 by Phoenix Black, on Flickr5. Once you have the pan off make sure you have your drain pan under the trans because it will continue dripping fluid.
6. Go ahead and remove the sump filter and set it and the bolts aside.
Sump filter removed
IMGP0012 by Phoenix Black, on Flickr7. You will now remove the valve body from the truck by removing the wiring, feed tubes (on older models like my 98), kick down cable (if you have one, newer models don’t), and all of the bolts. I used a criss cross method to avoid warping (you could also use a cordless impact gun to speed up the process.) Also be sure to make a template to keep track of the bolts because they are different lengths. The valve body will also have some weight to it so be prepared and don’t let it fall.
The template I made for the bolts.
IMGP0016 by Phoenix Black, on FlickrTrans without the valve body.
IMGP0019 by Phoenix Black, on FlickrSorry about the blurriness, my camera got drenched in atf when I pulled the valve body.
8. Next go ahead and remove the accumulator pistons being sure to keep track of which one goes where as the springs are specific to each one. (I won’t detail which springs go where because they are very clear in the instructions.)
Stock accumulators:
IMGP0020 by Phoenix Black, on FlickrModified accumulators:
IMGP0027 by Phoenix Black, on FlickrNote:
As a side note it was at this point that I took the opportunity to remove all of the old pan sealant remnants on the pan and case, clean up the pan magnets, and install the bung for the trans temp gauge I was also installing. Here is a link that has pictures of what it should look like all cleaned up.
And here is the bung welded in.
IMGP0031 by Phoenix Black, on FlickrI actually ended up having to move the bung because it was hitting the feed tube and not letting the pan fit back on, oops. So here is where it sits now.
IMGP0036 by Phoenix Black, on Flickr9. Now back to the install. Clean up the valve body and clear off plenty of space on the bench and disassemble the valve body exactly as the directions included with the kit indicate how to and get ready for the scary part of drilling holes in the separator plate.
That should do it for the disassembly part, and I’m sure you all can guess what comes next…
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