Found a guy that wants to do some trading to get a set of 42's from me.
He has a TH350 that was built and never run. Case is polished :cool2:, chrome pan :p but it has been sitting for 7-8 years.

Is this thing gonna have to be rebuilt for sure, or would it still be fine to run as-is?

I wouldn’t trust a 7-year-old oil seal would you?

Auto transmissions don’t store well

Originally posted by cornfedred
I wouldn’t trust a 7-year-old oil seal would you?

Auto transmissions don’t store well

That's what I was worried about....

I dunno' ...I'm sure your gonna' hear all kinds of stories, but my exeprience is NO PROBLEMS with a ZF that had sat under a rig for 6 years...Pulled it, and slapped it right in my rig. Works great...I do have a little seepage around the front ouptput, but that's my own damn fault for not changeing it prior to the install.

-D

So maybe just replace pan gasket, output seals, and it should be ok?

Let's hope you'd be ok. I've got a freshly rebuilt TH350 that's been sitting in my spare bedroom for about 8 or 9 months now. But it's in a constant temp environment w/ all the external holes plugged.

If possible, look at a piece of bare steel that's been stored in the same place for about the same amount of time as the AT - this will give you an idea of what the inside is like without having to touch anything, or commit to the deal if it's going to be bad. Storage conditions make all the difference.

Lots of variables here. ATF doesn't cling for shit, so in one stored for that long you can forget about any rust inhibition from the oil. Was it filled with oil after it was rebuilt? Maybe not, probably doesn't matter. If not, when you pull the pan just look at the exposed steel surfaces (here I say if it wasn't filled with oil because then these parts wouldn't have been submerged - the gears, mainshaft, etc at the top won't have been). If it's all bright and shiny inside, you're in business. If it looks like the bottom of an old fishing trawler, better plan on lots of cleaning. I guess TN is pretty humid? Was it stored outside, inside, under a swamp cooler or refrigerated/heated air, etc? As the temperature changes so does the volume of air in the case, and thermal cycling pumps air in and out of the thing. This ensures that it's guts are constantly exposed to whatever the atmosphere around it has been - and wider temperature excursions make this air exchange more pronounced.

On the other hand, if he's plugged the vent and dipstick tubes with rubber stoppers (as one should do ideally, but few people actually do) it'll be fine.

the other thing would be all the seals inside not being submerged in oil would dry up then shrink and be hard that would be my main concern if the seals dont (seal) properly there will be slow engagment and so on :rasta:

1. Ask him for some reciptes if he has em
2. I question the use of Chrome pan and polishing the outside.

This will do noting but hold heat in. Its proven that Chrome or polished cases hold heat better than say rough castings with more "surface area".

Corse a big Fing cooler like say a Air conditioner cooler or a high GVW cooler could solve some of the heat issues.

Fleckster

hye DRM,

when rebuilt tranny is assembled they put oil in all the bearings, seals etc. so when it is starting to work, oil is in the right places allready. seals and bearings full of oil, can be in a very good condition even after a long time.

no reasson at all why a well built & oiled tranny wo'nt hold and be in a very good working condition for YEARS.

the only question is how it was STORED. if it was stored in a closed place, covered with all the openings closed, there should be no problem whatsoever.

all you have to do now, is tell yourself wether you believe what the owner says about how it was stored, or not....:D :D :D

t h e F r o g (http://www.thefrog.alloffroad.com)