I went to a parade and parked in a field. I ran over a big piece of concrete that dented my transmission pan. Immediately I tried to reverse and it wouldn't reverse so I drove on over it. I soon noticed that it wasn't shifting into overdrive either. The linkage is all fine. I even dropped the pan and straightened it out a bit but didnt see anything obviously wrong underneath. I'm no transmission guy. Transmission shops are saying they need to rebuild and the problem is inside...I just have a really hard time believing that considering the way it happened. Been pushing it in reverse for two weeks! Would really appreciate some insight here!

 

So basically you got high centered on your your transmission?
Sounds like you munched part of the valve body if I understand how transmissions work. The valve body would have been the series of passages you saw (looks like a maze) when you took off the pan. Restrict a passage and it isn't gonna pump and redirect fluid like it should.

 

Thanks Robb. Yeah thats correct. I noticed the valve body underneath. I didn't see anything obviously wrong with it. Any idea what people charge to work on those?

 

Not cheap, but less than R&R. You probably cracked the valve body (cast iron) and now it leaks too much internally to function properly.

Chances are they see $$$ for a 4x4 that only needs a minor repair since I doubt you cracked the case by just high centering it.

You can drop it down yourself; just be keenly aware of the little ball bearings in a few of the passages. Do not lose or misplace them. be sure to have the appropriate pages of the FSM copied and available.

 

I rebuilt a 4L60E with a buddy of mine not too long ago. Obviously much simpler, since it's a 2wd auto trans, but as far as swapping out the valve body, it should be pretty much the same.

As others have said, make sure you keep count of the little trackballs. Also, a good idea, when you remove the valve body, is to get a piece of cardboard and draw a rough outline of the valve body, then make holes in it and as you remove the bolts, put them in the cardboard. This makes it impossible to mess it up.

Here's some FSM pages to help you out if you're going to give it a go.

 

More.

 

Could be a solenoid got munched, if not the valve body. There are 3 of them, not sure which ones control which shifts.

 

Use a small dab of Vaseline to keep the check balls in place during reassembly. Doesn't hurt anything and melts with the fluid. Take your time and good luck. Hopefully it's just a cracked valve body.

 

I sure appreciate all the help guys! Transmission repair shops are dirty bastards! I had two of them tell me they would have to rebuild the transmission. So I took the advice here and put it to work. Dropped the pan out and started taking things apart. Low and behold, when I took off the solenoids, one of the little nipples had been broken off in the hole. That solenoid from Toyota was $200. I went to Pull-A-Part and got a whole new (used) valve body off of a wrecked truck for $37 with all three solenoids. Problem solved! May have taken me longer than a transmission shop, but sure did save me a ˟˟˟˟ ton of money...and I'm a little bit smarter now. Transmission guys said that no matter what, a vehicle will go in reverse and forward unless its an internal problem...well I'm here to tell you that if a solenoid is broke (even if electronically it's still working) that it's possible that you won't have reverse!

 

Pull-A-Part for the win! I love those places. Which one did you go to?

 

I live in Baton Rouge, La so went to the one on Greenwell Springs Rd.