buildability of 4EAT

[Somedude]

I was reading through your archives and I cam across 2 names. one which i'm slightly familiar with levelten. As much as I would like to dish out 4K for a transmission I would prefer not to even more. Especially after getting hosed on a "bullet proof" transmission in the taurus SHO world. I noticed that they sell rebuild kits . How terrible are these transmissions to work on? I I can rebuild a taurus transmission in a few hours and have it in the car running in about 4 more with jackstands and hand tools so I am what you could call mechanicaly inclined. I have never worked on a AWD transmission before but I can't imagine it would be too terribly complicated.

I just bought a 92 legacy turbo. the transmission slips at full boost (stock) in third gear. It has some miles and transmission slip is not new to me unfortunetly so I know what the means. How strong is a healthy 4EAT in stock form and how much power can they take with upgraded parts in them? parts from levelten look to run around 700 bucks but is there somewhere else I should be looking first?

ultamately I would like this car to be as fast as my taurus but I know that is asking a lot. I have herd that the turbo legacy engine is extremely strong but how tought is the rest of the driveline?

does it have factory LSD's in the front or rear? I read through the LSD guide but even after reading though it I was left puzzled as to what I jsut read.

[SemperGuard]

What tranny is in the SHO? It may be essentially the same tranny in the Legacy. The 4eat was used by Subaru, Mazda, Ford, and a couple others I think. They're all basically the same, as far as design. There are some differences though, since they're used in different applications. But since you can rebuild your SHO tranny you should be fine with this one. It could be one of the other ones that is not the same though.

The AWD parts don't add too much complexity. It's all real simple once you see how it works.

The 4eat stock is pretty strong. There haven't been many 4eat turbos built. Most people convert to 5mt for whatever reason. And will probably suggest you do also. I see no real reason as far as power handling goes, as the 5mt is incredibly weak. There aren't many choices for upgrades with a 4eat, level ten, and some other place. You could always just take the spacers and have them machined thinner, and add more clutch discs to improve power handling.

I wouldn't say it's asking a lot to have a legacy as fast as your SHO. Just get a bigger turbo, a good intercooler, injectors, exhaust and engine management and you could easily run 12's, if that's what you want to compare with. Engine management is the big thing though.

You have no LSD front or rear. And kinda one center, but not really.

[Somedude]

the transmission in my SHO is a AXOD-E or AX4S depending on which book you look in. That transmission is a joke. serously I 12 yearold could have designed it better. I guess to fords credit the only hard part I broke was a plastic retainer on a sprag gear that melted due to 3rd gear slipping. If i could get more line pressure out of it I have no doubt that the automatic transmission would crush the MTX in power handling on the SHO. 350whp is where 3rd gear starts to be a problem. 400whp (where i'm at) 3rd gear stripping within 10K is somewhat common and more than 400whp a unhardened gear is just about hopeless. I have run 17psi quite a few times on my trans and other than roasting my 225 azenis FROM 65 mph it held strong for about 10K miles when 3rd gear died from overheating in indiana at a track event.

how common are 4EAT transmissions if I were to look for a spare to practice with before I remove the tranny from my car and pull it apart? In reguards to power i'm not too concerned. I live close to innovative tuning's shop so I have a hunch he knows how to get power out of this car lol. i'm just concerned with the drivetrain side right now.

who makes a LSD for the rear of this beast. I need to make sure I keep my snow drifting style points up for the season? traction > reliability > power

I have a company supplied work van so downtime really isn't a bit issue within reason.

[206er]

afaik there was no 4eat with a front lsd and certainly not in an early legacy. phantom grip would probably be your only cheap option. you can lock the center diff by grounding the solenoid or something to that effect.
there is some performance rebuild kit for a 4eat that is not too expensive and gives harder shifts. isn't more line pressure accomplished by just a lighter spring or something?

there is a guy who builds control boxes for the jeep AW4(electronically shifted 4sp auto), with features like full manual and full auto at a switch. should be roughly the same concept on a 4eat.

turbo sho huh, I bet that engine bay is a clusterfuck. cool motors though.

[ericem]

There are guys running 300hp on the auto. Just get a tranny cooler. I guess it would also help to run all synthetic fluids. Maybe try doing a fluid change with your Legacy. Might help 3rd gear.

[Ej22TIM]

the transmission in my SHO is a AXOD-E or AX4S depending on which book you look in. That transmission is a joke. serously I 12 yearold could have designed it better. I guess to fords credit the only hard part I broke was a plastic retainer on a sprag gear that melted due to 3rd gear slipping. If i could get more line pressure out of it I have no doubt that the automatic transmission would crush the MTX in power handling on the SHO. 350whp is where 3rd gear starts to be a problem. 400whp (where i'm at) 3rd gear stripping within 10K is somewhat common and more than 400whp a unhardened gear is just about hopeless. I have run 17psi quite a few times on my trans and other than roasting my 225 azenis FROM 65 mph it held strong for about 10K miles when 3rd gear died from overheating in indiana at a track event.


how common are 4EAT transmissions if I were to look for a spare to practice with before I remove the tranny from my car and pull it apart? In reguards to power i'm not too concerned. I live close to innovative tuning's shop so I have a hunch he knows how to get power out of this car lol. i'm just concerned with the drivetrain side right now.

who makes a LSD for the rear of this beast. I need to make sure I keep my snow drifting style points up for the season? traction > reliability > power

I have a company supplied work van so downtime really isn't a bit issue within reason.

I have a 4eat out of my turbo legacy that dropped reverse. if you want to pay for shipping its all yours.

[Somedude]

the transmission in my SHO is a AXOD-E or AX4S depending on which book you look in. That transmission is a joke. serously I 12 yearold could have designed it better. I guess to fords credit the only hard part I broke was a plastic retainer on a sprag gear that melted due to 3rd gear slipping. If i could get more line pressure out of it I have no doubt that the automatic transmission would crush the MTX in power handling on the SHO. 350whp is where 3rd gear starts to be a problem. 400whp (where i'm at) 3rd gear stripping within 10K is somewhat common and more than 400whp a unhardened gear is just about hopeless. I have run 17psi quite a few times on my trans and other than roasting my 225 azenis FROM 65 mph it held strong for about 10K miles when 3rd gear died from overheating in indiana at a track event.


how common are 4EAT transmissions if I were to look for a spare to practice with before I remove the tranny from my car and pull it apart? In reguards to power i'm not too concerned. I live close to innovative tuning's shop so I have a hunch he knows how to get power out of this car lol. i'm just concerned with the drivetrain side right now.

who makes a LSD for the rear of this beast. I need to make sure I keep my snow drifting style points up for the season? traction > reliability > power

I have a company supplied work van so downtime really isn't a bit issue within reason.

I have a 4eat out of my turbo legacy that dropped reverse. if you want to pay for shipping its all yours.

buffalo ny 14227 can you give me a price?

quote]turbo sho huh, I bet that engine bay is a clusterfuck. cool motors though.[/quote]

it isn't bad since none of teh turbo stuff is under the hood.

this is a pic before the bumper was reinstalled.

[Subtle]

When the front diff was changed, my tranny guy inspected everything and after two years on the "build" there was no wear.

The build was done by IPT Transmissions in New Jersey, and in a recent conversation with them they said that the "steels" they used were special.

My tranny guy says they are standard-- I believe him.

[Legacy777]

I replied to your other thread without seeing this one, so some of the stuff may be duplicated above

The 4EAT trans is essentually a truck transmission, so it's really not a bad transmission. The originally design had some issues. There are kits from transgo that help fix some of those issues. Do a search for subaru on this page, and you'll see the two kits, one is a HD kit, which may do what level ten does....I'm not sure.
http://www.txchange.com/sk.htm#Import

I had the valve body redone on my legacy when it was AT. It did help.

I think if you have AT knowledge and the factory manual, you could probably work on these transmissions. The AWD portion is in the tail housing of the transmission.

The turbo transmissions had extra clutches compared to the non-turbo transmissions. So they're a good platform to build on if you want to rebuild them.

Only the 91 turbo had a rear VLSD. All other turbos had open rear diffs. None had from LSD.