Should I rebuild my trans before we take trailer out west ??

FishOnOne wrote:
Had a Chevy 700R4 transmission rebuilt at a Chevy dealer and it was never the same. In a bad way!

I would pass on rebuilding a good performing transmission that has been routinely serviced.

I agree. I received a Ford recall notice on my van for a torque converter replacement and had the work performed at a large Ford dealer. My van has never been the same since. I wish I would have ignored the recall notice.

Haven't read through the responses but I spent years "fixing things that weren't broken" on my vehicles and now see that it was a bit excessive/obsessive.

Most vehicle components will warn you rather than just going toes-up (there are exceptions of course, such as sensors). If your transmission is acting as it should I'd leave it alone, but ultimately it's your $ and your call.

Had a Chevy 700R4 transmission rebuilt at a Chevy dealer and it was never the same. In a bad way!

I would pass on rebuilding a good performing transmission that has been routinely serviced.

How much for jasper rebuild ?

IF....you do, do Jasper. I did and it shifts much better than my stock 4L60E

Do what will put you most at ease, but I might suggest that rebuilding/replacing the transmission may be premature if it is performing fine. Prior to our trip out west this summer, I had the same concerns about whether the trans would hold up to the long-distance towing (9-year-old SUV with 130K miles towing a 4500lb HTT). As someone else suggested, I just did some PM to give myself some reassurance for the trip. The PM included:

- Changed all the drive belts
- Changed transmission fluid
- Changed spark plugs
- Installed a trans temp gauge.
- Check tires/brake condition
- Installed new tires on the HTT (old ones were 10 years old anyway)
- Not PM, but joined Good Sam road side assistance just in case.

Once all that was done, took a 2000+ mile round-trip tour to the Black Hills and back with no problems.

john&bet wrote:
Here is my story on a '97 Chevy express 2500 van,gvw of 7800#, with a Vortec 350 engine. I did not own this truck, but was given it by the company I worked for as a service truck. At 49k the trans went out. No towing. They put in a factory reman. and guess what. It went out at 97k, still no towing. They had a local shop rebuild it and I drove it till it had 133k on it in Jan. of '09. I retired and they retired the truck.

My parents had a '96 Express 1500 that went thru 3 transmissions in 100k miles, too. Not much towing.

They traded that in on a '99 Suburban 1500, which did 280k miles on one transmission. which was working just fine when they finally retired it.

You just never know ...

Save the money and spend it on extra maintenance on your Suburban before you leave for the trip. A little P.M. goes a long way. Probably more likely to break down from something else than trans going out anyways.

If it were mine... I'd make sure the bands are adjusted and add an aftermarket cooler. I've also added a shift kit to an older trans and made it feel much stronger. Craig

It is a 2000 1500 suburban, with a 373 rear end. It is a 4L60 trans. Have the same one in my 2000 gmc sierra with 300,000 miles , and no rebuild on that one yet. I do run lucas additive in both.