bigbrother
Active member
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2013
- Messages
- 44
I recently upgraded a transmission on my 86 c4
Based on a post by mr.vette about sun shells i thought a thread about them could prove useful.
mr.vette advised on using a "brute" sunshell and modding it with a torrington thrust bearing since the bushing commonly used can overheat and fail. Sage advice i must say.
Having already built my transmission I found out my friend used a "beast" sunshell. I was fortunate to later find that the beast already came with the larger torrington thrust bearing. This was good and i think the combination should work fine for my stock power level engine.
Info here: http://beastsunshell.com/
Then I stumbled on this thread asking if beast sunshells are china made now... link here: http://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/189182/pid//
No big deal except that chinese parts are often considered weaker than domestic parts.
I kept searching and not long after i stumbled on an article about a newly designed "smartshell" made by sonnax.
Here: http://www.sonnax.com/smartshell
PDF: http://www.sonnax.com/downloads/catalogs/sonnax-trans-report_v1n2.pdf
Seems interesting that they address the weak point in the sunshell but what's on paper may only be good on paper. There are claims a race built 40L60E sonnax sunshelled transmission can handle 1000 hp
Apparently in the stock setup or even with The Beast, the significant lateral force from the front planetary is transmitted to the sun shell, then to the sun gear and finally to the small-ish torrington bearing inside the rear planetary. Some claim this is the root cause of rear planetary failure - the small inside torrington fails which then severely overheats the pinion assembly. The unique bearing under the Sonnax Smart Shell supposedly solves this by transmitting the lateral force to a custom roller clutch race and then to the rear planet carrier which has a much larger and stronger bearing.
Based on a thread on ls1tech...
I found the following info on three different sunshells
Stock 2001 = 42 oz (2 lbs, 10 oz)
Sonnax Smart Shell = 48 oz (3 lbs)
The Beast = 58 oz (3 lbs, 10 oz)
The Stock 2001 and the Sonnax have a thickness of .114":
The Beast has a thickness of .149:
Thread here: http://ls1tech.com/forums/automatic...ells-stock-2001-beast-sonnax-smart-shell.html
At the end of the thread one member recommended the sonnax whether chasing 3rd gear vibration or not.
Lets hear your thoughts....
Based on a post by mr.vette about sun shells i thought a thread about them could prove useful.
mr.vette advised on using a "brute" sunshell and modding it with a torrington thrust bearing since the bushing commonly used can overheat and fail. Sage advice i must say.
Having already built my transmission I found out my friend used a "beast" sunshell. I was fortunate to later find that the beast already came with the larger torrington thrust bearing. This was good and i think the combination should work fine for my stock power level engine.
Info here: http://beastsunshell.com/
Then I stumbled on this thread asking if beast sunshells are china made now... link here: http://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/189182/pid//
No big deal except that chinese parts are often considered weaker than domestic parts.
I kept searching and not long after i stumbled on an article about a newly designed "smartshell" made by sonnax.
Here: http://www.sonnax.com/smartshell
PDF: http://www.sonnax.com/downloads/catalogs/sonnax-trans-report_v1n2.pdf
Seems interesting that they address the weak point in the sunshell but what's on paper may only be good on paper. There are claims a race built 40L60E sonnax sunshelled transmission can handle 1000 hp
Apparently in the stock setup or even with The Beast, the significant lateral force from the front planetary is transmitted to the sun shell, then to the sun gear and finally to the small-ish torrington bearing inside the rear planetary. Some claim this is the root cause of rear planetary failure - the small inside torrington fails which then severely overheats the pinion assembly. The unique bearing under the Sonnax Smart Shell supposedly solves this by transmitting the lateral force to a custom roller clutch race and then to the rear planet carrier which has a much larger and stronger bearing.
Based on a thread on ls1tech...
I found the following info on three different sunshells
Stock 2001 = 42 oz (2 lbs, 10 oz)
Sonnax Smart Shell = 48 oz (3 lbs)
The Beast = 58 oz (3 lbs, 10 oz)
The Stock 2001 and the Sonnax have a thickness of .114":
The Beast has a thickness of .149:
Thread here: http://ls1tech.com/forums/automatic...ells-stock-2001-beast-sonnax-smart-shell.html
At the end of the thread one member recommended the sonnax whether chasing 3rd gear vibration or not.
Lets hear your thoughts....
