I've been planning on putting a 700R4 into my rig when i do the 4.3 swap, but i've been hearing some stuff about reliability of the 700. the whole reason i'm doing this swap is reliability so i wanna know what the differences are. does the 350 weigh a lot more? is it a 4 speed? what are the gear ratios? is there an adapter for a D300 tcase? what would you guys reccomend i use. its all goin in an isuzu amigo runnin a d44 front with 38x12.5 TSLs 4.3 vortec and D300 tcase. i really want a tranny with overdrive and i also like the low first the 700 has. the rig is gonna be mostly for the trail, but will also be driven there and occasionally around town. thanks.

Dallas

My vote is for the 700r4. Thats whats going into my toy pu. As far as reliability the early versions of the 700 did have problems, get one 89-newer to have all the fixes. The 700 also has a lower 1st gear, it had overdrive where the 350 doesn't. I would guess the 700 weighs slightly more, but not enough to matter.

HTH

i went 350, simple and cheap. why do you need an overdrive, if its not your daily driver, why bother. i don't think it will make it much more streetable. you sure as hell don't need it for the trail.

i want the overdrive for takin it on the freeway. i do 2 trips a year to moab and around here normal freeway speed is 85+. i'd just like it to keep the revs down on the long, high speed rides. that reminds me tho, whats the price difference between the 2?

Dallas

I would go the TH350 or a TH400 before the 700R4. I have been on several bbs lately trying to find out the problems wth my 700r4 and the uniform reply is" they are weak". As far as the overdrive goes, I don't think you'll need it running 38" TSLs. You don't want to push them down the road a 85 mph anyway. I spoke with a tranny shop that say's the 700R$ is the best tranny that was ever made "for repairs" The 700 has made him lots of cash cause they break all the time. If you get over 90K on one your dam lucky. JMHO...I'll follow your post and watch the replies, should be intersting.

bennett

I did see a 700R4 to D300 adapter for sale on either this bbor Colorado K5 .. do asearch in their for sale section and check it out, it may save ya some $$ if your leaning to the 700R4.:eek: :eek:

you want to run 85 on a set of 38 in super swampers, and drive the thing to moab? man get a trailer, you are going to be hitting a lot harded stuff than before and tearing up stuff too. plus you will wear out those tires in no time. you have pretty much went over the daily driver set up when you went with 38s. mine take a good while to warm up thump going down the road at 30 to 40 and its just not a good tire to take on a trip. keep your rig street legal but forget the big trips, swampers don't do them well. i know many people that run them on daily drivers but it cost you. in both comfort and money.

gunracer you do have a point. for the trips to moab i probably will trailer it, and i think 85 is out of the question, but my point is i wanna be able to drive at freeway safe speeds if needed. I drove it to moab last year and my back definitely had something to say about it (need new seats) so i'm hopin to put it on a trailer this year, but if i cant find a friend with a tow rig i'll drive it there again.

Dallas

I whould have to say if you want a 4 speed auto buy one from Jet perfromance or if money is no problem buy that 4LE80 (I thinks thats how it goes) that trany rocks. same as the TH400 but with a 4 gear and computer controled

I vote 700R4. Yes they can have problems. But a properly built one will live. I know guys putting up to 500 hp to them and not having any problems. I traded my th350 for a 700R4. The 700 is longer so once you get it all in changing your mind could be a pain. FYI

I had a 700R4 "built' by a local small shop with a good reputation. He sourced the tranny and charged 650.00 including the TC. You should be able to find one in your area. There are certain mods that have to be performed, otherwise the slushbox won;t hold up. There is also the TC converter lock up issue which you need to resolve how you want set up. The street rod dudes have figured it out and have some good websites. Also to consider it that overdrive does not necessarily solve everything....an engine can "lug" in overdrive with big ass tires which is bad for the engine and also mileage.

For a trail vehicle you might want to consider the shifting. With a 700R4 you are going to have a little more searching between 1 and R in comparison to a 3 speed.

Essentially,

rebuilt tranny....700r4
non-rebuilt........TH400

Just remember to put a big a** tcooler on.

A well built 700r4 is the only way to go.:flipoff2:

number one cause for autotranny failure is heat and the 700 can make lots of it with big tires just run a temp gauge and big cooler

I have been thinking about a 700, but I have had 3 different freinds blow them on street cars. They all used the HD aftermarket kits, 2 Fairbanks and 1 JET. They were not that hard on them. Don't know if it was bad luck, or nature of the beast. Would love the lower 1st gear. But I will probably go with either a 400 or 350 w/a doubler, and use a more Highway friendly drive gear.