mcneil
Veteran Member
The project:
A 2000 Jeep Wrangler with a TDI running a 4L65e using a stand-alone trans controller.
Much thanks to mtngk for all the engineering help and spare parts.
Here's the mechanicals, assembled.
The GM 4L60/65/70 is the ubiquitous 4spd OD trans used in every GM RWD application from 1997 on. S10s, Caprices, Astrovans, 1500 trucks, you name it. Sure, a jeep with an auto sounds a bit lame, but the 4x4 auto/manual discussion has been hacked out on other forums, and there's pros & cons for each.
The reason I used a 4L65 was:
1. Wanted an auto for torque multiplication in crawling, drivetrain shock absorbtion, and so my wife would drive it.
2. With the removable bellhousing, the adapted trans is shorter than any other stock jeep trans, and jeeps like short drivetrains, and only weighs ~20 lbs more.
3. Programmable stand alone controllers are readily available (and offer options like push-button manual shifting)
4. GM cleaned up all the warts in the 4L60 with the 4L65. There's no way even the most tuned TDI ever will kill this trans; the donor vehicle was a 300 hp 5.7L chevy truck.
So hidden inside the above picture is a custom torque converter, and a somewhat hacked flexplate with a starter gear welded to it. Starter gear is pulled off a VR6 flywheel. Here's a shot of the flexplate test fit onto the torque converter.
The gear was welded on with a rotary welding machine (same shop that built my custom torque converter). There's about .030" of a "pringle" effect as measured with the indicator setup below, but the concentricity was almost dead-on (<.005").
The plan for the project, based on reading a lot of the swaps here, is:
- graft the TDI cluster into the Jeep dash
- use an Optishift stand-alone trans computer to control the 4L65
- eventually, VNT17
More details in process, but this is what I have so far. As far as I know, this will be the world's first ALH/4L65 in a Jeep. Hey - if you can't be great, at least be different.
A 2000 Jeep Wrangler with a TDI running a 4L65e using a stand-alone trans controller.
Much thanks to mtngk for all the engineering help and spare parts.
Here's the mechanicals, assembled.
The GM 4L60/65/70 is the ubiquitous 4spd OD trans used in every GM RWD application from 1997 on. S10s, Caprices, Astrovans, 1500 trucks, you name it. Sure, a jeep with an auto sounds a bit lame, but the 4x4 auto/manual discussion has been hacked out on other forums, and there's pros & cons for each.
The reason I used a 4L65 was:
1. Wanted an auto for torque multiplication in crawling, drivetrain shock absorbtion, and so my wife would drive it.
2. With the removable bellhousing, the adapted trans is shorter than any other stock jeep trans, and jeeps like short drivetrains, and only weighs ~20 lbs more.
3. Programmable stand alone controllers are readily available (and offer options like push-button manual shifting)
4. GM cleaned up all the warts in the 4L60 with the 4L65. There's no way even the most tuned TDI ever will kill this trans; the donor vehicle was a 300 hp 5.7L chevy truck.
So hidden inside the above picture is a custom torque converter, and a somewhat hacked flexplate with a starter gear welded to it. Starter gear is pulled off a VR6 flywheel. Here's a shot of the flexplate test fit onto the torque converter.
The gear was welded on with a rotary welding machine (same shop that built my custom torque converter). There's about .030" of a "pringle" effect as measured with the indicator setup below, but the concentricity was almost dead-on (<.005").
The plan for the project, based on reading a lot of the swaps here, is:
- graft the TDI cluster into the Jeep dash
- use an Optishift stand-alone trans computer to control the 4L65
- eventually, VNT17
More details in process, but this is what I have so far. As far as I know, this will be the world's first ALH/4L65 in a Jeep. Hey - if you can't be great, at least be different.