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5 or so years ago I aquired a 700R4 from a mid 80's 6.2 1/2 ton 4x4 chevy pu. I grabbed all the brackets and shift indicator for a complete kit. At the time my intention was to install it in my since sold M1031 shop truck. Funding and the extra work involved with the NP205 w/pto setup stalled the project and the "kit" sat in the corner of the garage until a couple of weeks ago.
I purchased a M1010 through GSA with the intention of a long range commo truck, to attend rallies and such with the ability to camp and operate radio's in one rig. The many posts on here with great results from the 700R4 conversion prompted me to dig out the kit and install it in the M1010. I was missing two key parts, the "tall" transfer case adapter and a 27 spline input gear. Luckily SS to the rescue a member here offered them up through some trading for parts for his M1010. The condition of the transmission was unknown so a rebuild was in order, of course it would need all HD parts to hold up to the larger vehicle anyway. The shop looked it over and luckily it had the larger input shaft so it was good to go. I also wanted the Transgo lockup kit(LU700) so no wiring would be needed for torque converter lockup. It turned out that it had the correct valve body to allow the kit, the later ones do not.
While waiting for the rebuild I installed the shift indicator and tv cable bracket. The shift indicator is not required but it's neat seeing that circled D there! Picked up the transmission and while in the big city picked up 4 gallons of atf and a few other shop supplies. The M1010 was too tall to fit in the shop so I used a sheet of plywood as the work surface, made it easier to move the trans jack and such. Within a couple of hours had all the old parts out.
I removed the transfer first, then the trans, also removed the original flex plate and steel vacuum line. Next I tore into the transfer to swap out the input gears. You would think as the gear is deep into the case it would involve alot of work but it's quite simple. If you follow the tm you will cause yourself alot of extra work and a potential bearing nightmare. Just remove the bolts around the case, there are two pry points located at the seam opposite sides, pry there to seperate and pull straight off the output side with the "cone" still attached. Now remove the retaining ring on the front output shaft/gear, there is a bearing and I think two washers that come off under the ring. Now grab the input shaft and front output gear and pull straight up, the chain, shaft and sprocket all come out as one, set it aside. The shift fork will slide out of the way and you can remove the other parts on top of the input gear, just set them off to the side in the order you removed them. The input gear just pulls right out. Assemble in reverse order, I also replaced the input seal while the gear was out.
Installed the new flex plate and torqued to spec, installed the tv cable to the trans, (much easier while it's out), the tourque converter and tall adapter. Installed trans and crossmember, installed torque converter bolts and torqued them to spec. Installed transfer, linkage, wiring and drive shafts, no length issues, a direct swap. The exhaust pipe makes for a tight space on the RH side so installing the transmission cooler lines is a challenge, it took me quite a while and much cussing to get them lined up, take it easy here, don't want to cross thread. The original lines work fine, may need tweaking but they work fine. The shift bracket on my transmission was the same as the TH400, some have reported that they had to re-use the TH400 bracket as the 700R4 was different, this could be an application or year issue. The park position seemed to be tight / bind so all I had to do was loosen the jam bolt on the end of the linkage bracket and while in park let the bracket slide down on the shaft and re-tighten the bolt and all was good. I also had to adjust the shift indicator by sliding the cable clip on the column collar, another simple task. My original 700R4 dipstick tube was quite roached so the trans shop ordered me a new one, I installed it from the top in the engine compartment, dropped right in, usually it takes alot of fighting to get them back in. Trick is to remove the metal vacuum line as mentioned earlier.
Final item was to hook up and adjust the tv cable. I had no issues installing the cable after the install, I found there was plenty of room. Inserted end of cable into the bracket and end of tv cable into the throttle rod bracket (I verified that the throttle shaft was wide open with the pedal to the floor, very important step). Next after making sure the tv cable was fully retracted pressed the pedal all the way to the floor and verified the cable was tight at wide open throttle. The adjuster came out about 1/3 of its available travel. I'm sure each install will be different.
Total ATF with transfer, trans/oil cooler was 4 gallons, my trans has the standard pan. The test drive was amazing, it's a whole different experience with the OD, you really have to experience it to appreciate the difference. I could actually hear the tire whine and hold a normal conversation without yelling. I swapped in 3.73 gears in a M1008 I owned many years ago, no comparison, the 700R4 is way better. The pedal pressure is a bit heavier as you are now pulling on the tv cable, but in time you don't notice it.
About 8 hours after the install I struck off for the redball rally in PA from my location in Maine, no time to really test out my work and a bit nervous as it was a 10+ hour trip there but I figured go for broke. She went like a dream, no leaks and I got 17mpg on one stretch of the trip heading back. Mileage varied as to driving conditions, speed and wind, remember it's a M1010 a big heavy box! A terrible headwind heading through CT really zapped my mileage on the way there. Over the next few days I will list helpful NAPA part numbers for parts, fittings etc. and of course a few pictures.
A couple more tips: Before you start, remove the oil filter, this is the only space I found available to allow a torque wrench to torque the converter bolts. On the tv cable bracket I enlarged the hole slightly so you don't have to remove the glow plug sensor. Use the below listed weatherhead fittings for the oil cooler install, the male in the top radiator hole, and the female on the top radiator steel line, makes cooler install plug/play.
Parts:
Flex Plate FRA-143(Rock Auto**)
TV Cable 1-7908(NAPA)
Oil cooler Hayden 678(Amazon**)
Oil cooler 3/8 line, Hayden 106(Amazon**), kit only comes with one line, 2 needed.(I would use 2 of these as the supplied line in the kit is smaller and hard to use)
Weatherhead 3/8 barb to 5/16 inverted male 441487-131280*
Weatherhead 3/8 barb to 5/16 inverted female 441494-131280*
*These two fittings make oil cooler install plug and play.
**Best price I found w/shipping
I purchased a M1010 through GSA with the intention of a long range commo truck, to attend rallies and such with the ability to camp and operate radio's in one rig. The many posts on here with great results from the 700R4 conversion prompted me to dig out the kit and install it in the M1010. I was missing two key parts, the "tall" transfer case adapter and a 27 spline input gear. Luckily SS to the rescue a member here offered them up through some trading for parts for his M1010. The condition of the transmission was unknown so a rebuild was in order, of course it would need all HD parts to hold up to the larger vehicle anyway. The shop looked it over and luckily it had the larger input shaft so it was good to go. I also wanted the Transgo lockup kit(LU700) so no wiring would be needed for torque converter lockup. It turned out that it had the correct valve body to allow the kit, the later ones do not.
While waiting for the rebuild I installed the shift indicator and tv cable bracket. The shift indicator is not required but it's neat seeing that circled D there! Picked up the transmission and while in the big city picked up 4 gallons of atf and a few other shop supplies. The M1010 was too tall to fit in the shop so I used a sheet of plywood as the work surface, made it easier to move the trans jack and such. Within a couple of hours had all the old parts out.
I removed the transfer first, then the trans, also removed the original flex plate and steel vacuum line. Next I tore into the transfer to swap out the input gears. You would think as the gear is deep into the case it would involve alot of work but it's quite simple. If you follow the tm you will cause yourself alot of extra work and a potential bearing nightmare. Just remove the bolts around the case, there are two pry points located at the seam opposite sides, pry there to seperate and pull straight off the output side with the "cone" still attached. Now remove the retaining ring on the front output shaft/gear, there is a bearing and I think two washers that come off under the ring. Now grab the input shaft and front output gear and pull straight up, the chain, shaft and sprocket all come out as one, set it aside. The shift fork will slide out of the way and you can remove the other parts on top of the input gear, just set them off to the side in the order you removed them. The input gear just pulls right out. Assemble in reverse order, I also replaced the input seal while the gear was out.
Installed the new flex plate and torqued to spec, installed the tv cable to the trans, (much easier while it's out), the tourque converter and tall adapter. Installed trans and crossmember, installed torque converter bolts and torqued them to spec. Installed transfer, linkage, wiring and drive shafts, no length issues, a direct swap. The exhaust pipe makes for a tight space on the RH side so installing the transmission cooler lines is a challenge, it took me quite a while and much cussing to get them lined up, take it easy here, don't want to cross thread. The original lines work fine, may need tweaking but they work fine. The shift bracket on my transmission was the same as the TH400, some have reported that they had to re-use the TH400 bracket as the 700R4 was different, this could be an application or year issue. The park position seemed to be tight / bind so all I had to do was loosen the jam bolt on the end of the linkage bracket and while in park let the bracket slide down on the shaft and re-tighten the bolt and all was good. I also had to adjust the shift indicator by sliding the cable clip on the column collar, another simple task. My original 700R4 dipstick tube was quite roached so the trans shop ordered me a new one, I installed it from the top in the engine compartment, dropped right in, usually it takes alot of fighting to get them back in. Trick is to remove the metal vacuum line as mentioned earlier.
Final item was to hook up and adjust the tv cable. I had no issues installing the cable after the install, I found there was plenty of room. Inserted end of cable into the bracket and end of tv cable into the throttle rod bracket (I verified that the throttle shaft was wide open with the pedal to the floor, very important step). Next after making sure the tv cable was fully retracted pressed the pedal all the way to the floor and verified the cable was tight at wide open throttle. The adjuster came out about 1/3 of its available travel. I'm sure each install will be different.
Total ATF with transfer, trans/oil cooler was 4 gallons, my trans has the standard pan. The test drive was amazing, it's a whole different experience with the OD, you really have to experience it to appreciate the difference. I could actually hear the tire whine and hold a normal conversation without yelling. I swapped in 3.73 gears in a M1008 I owned many years ago, no comparison, the 700R4 is way better. The pedal pressure is a bit heavier as you are now pulling on the tv cable, but in time you don't notice it.
About 8 hours after the install I struck off for the redball rally in PA from my location in Maine, no time to really test out my work and a bit nervous as it was a 10+ hour trip there but I figured go for broke. She went like a dream, no leaks and I got 17mpg on one stretch of the trip heading back. Mileage varied as to driving conditions, speed and wind, remember it's a M1010 a big heavy box! A terrible headwind heading through CT really zapped my mileage on the way there. Over the next few days I will list helpful NAPA part numbers for parts, fittings etc. and of course a few pictures.
A couple more tips: Before you start, remove the oil filter, this is the only space I found available to allow a torque wrench to torque the converter bolts. On the tv cable bracket I enlarged the hole slightly so you don't have to remove the glow plug sensor. Use the below listed weatherhead fittings for the oil cooler install, the male in the top radiator hole, and the female on the top radiator steel line, makes cooler install plug/play.
Parts:
Flex Plate FRA-143(Rock Auto**)
TV Cable 1-7908(NAPA)
Oil cooler Hayden 678(Amazon**)
Oil cooler 3/8 line, Hayden 106(Amazon**), kit only comes with one line, 2 needed.(I would use 2 of these as the supplied line in the kit is smaller and hard to use)
Weatherhead 3/8 barb to 5/16 inverted male 441487-131280*
Weatherhead 3/8 barb to 5/16 inverted female 441494-131280*
*These two fittings make oil cooler install plug and play.
**Best price I found w/shipping
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