The question is just that. I am on a limited budget (around $3000) and am looking at purchasing a few items from the Goerend catalog. I am fairly mechanically inclined, and have the standard backyard mechanic tools (would borrow a tranny jack, but no lift) I figure the TQ/VB is going to be fairly simple, but what about upgrading the input shaft, flexplate, plus all the seals and such that go with a regular rebuild? Then the question is, the tranny only has 74,000 miles on it, does it need a rebuild? The torque converter shudders when towing heavy, but in reality the truck has lived a relatively easy live with only an Edge EZ. Whaddya all think? What kind of reference materails am I going to need to guide me along? Thanks everyone!

 

IMO it's clever to go over everything before you have burnt clutches and contamination in your tranny.
The only special tool you will need is a press to compress the OD clutch spring to get the c-clip out, and it would be really nice to have a cut up output shaft to align all the OD clutches while reassembling the unit.
The rest is just some metric and torx tools, lots of clean rags and a lot of light on your workplace.
With the higher pressures of a new VB the old seals are in danger, so since you have it out of the truck to change the TC just go through it.

Just my 2c

AlpineRAM

 

A FSM is a must. Many self described people wind up IOH. A better choice is get someone who knows to assist.

 

A friend of mine just rebuilt two of them last year. He had a book from DTT that shows you step by step "how to" and it even had all the torque and clearance specs. I would give them a call it was a great tool to have. Both trannys are still on the road so its gotta be right