Ouch. That's not polite. Just me wondering aloud at this point but one of things that I remember from my courses so many years ago was that the torque converter had a specific set of steps that had to occur in order to ensure that it got installed correctly. The splining on the input shaft had to be checked for burrs and nicks. The converter needed to be filled with about a quart of ATV so that its vanes and guts wouldn't be dry during the initial startup. The most critical thing mentioned was that the converter had to seat correctly and completely. Even before mating the transmission to the block, both the hole in the crank and the diameter of the converter snout had to be miked to make sure the one would accept the other. Both snout and hole had to be clean and free of burrs and nicks The snout had to be a smaller diameter than the hole to slide in freely, otherwise it would just jam up against the pocket in the crankshaft flange and cause the crank to be pushed towards the front of the block. Starting to sound familiar here?
The other very critical event that had to occur was that, when the converter was slipped over the front pump input shaft, it had to be turned or spun very slowly with very gentle pressure applied to it until a solid and distinctive clunks was felt/heard. This had to happen three times in succession in order for the converter to line up and index correctly with the shaft and pump. The sure sign of success was if the converter, once put in position, sat deeper or below the perimeter mounting surface of the transmission bell housing by around 3/8th's of an inch.
If the converter had not been completely and correctly seated, then the snout would sit proud of the case flange and, like noted above, even if it did index into the crank pocket, it would still try to push the crank ahead.
The absolute best sign that the converter got set into position correctly was that, once the case bolts that secured the transmission housing to the block were screwed in snugly, when you slipped back under the vehicle to attach the converter to the ring gear, you would find a space between the two and you would have to gently tease the converter forward to get it to align and the mounting blocks to index with the holes in the ring gear. Slipping the converter forward that 3/8ths of an inch does not adversely impact on the alignment of the converter to the pump, the design comes with the slack built into it by the engineers for just that purpose.
Given the choice of options here, I think it may be number two, the converter did not get seated completely. Had it been number one, just trying to align the box on the pins in the block would have difficult to impossible. Even if the installer had managed to get it all to line up, running the bolts down would not have brought the flange on the t-box bell housing up tight against the block; more likely the bolts would have gone tight and any attempt to force them would have snapped the ears off the case flange, or pulled the threads out of the block.
So. Being a TH400, it is worth rebuilding, speaking only for myself.
Nick
The other very critical event that had to occur was that, when the converter was slipped over the front pump input shaft, it had to be turned or spun very slowly with very gentle pressure applied to it until a solid and distinctive clunks was felt/heard. This had to happen three times in succession in order for the converter to line up and index correctly with the shaft and pump. The sure sign of success was if the converter, once put in position, sat deeper or below the perimeter mounting surface of the transmission bell housing by around 3/8th's of an inch.
If the converter had not been completely and correctly seated, then the snout would sit proud of the case flange and, like noted above, even if it did index into the crank pocket, it would still try to push the crank ahead.
The absolute best sign that the converter got set into position correctly was that, once the case bolts that secured the transmission housing to the block were screwed in snugly, when you slipped back under the vehicle to attach the converter to the ring gear, you would find a space between the two and you would have to gently tease the converter forward to get it to align and the mounting blocks to index with the holes in the ring gear. Slipping the converter forward that 3/8ths of an inch does not adversely impact on the alignment of the converter to the pump, the design comes with the slack built into it by the engineers for just that purpose.
Given the choice of options here, I think it may be number two, the converter did not get seated completely. Had it been number one, just trying to align the box on the pins in the block would have difficult to impossible. Even if the installer had managed to get it all to line up, running the bolts down would not have brought the flange on the t-box bell housing up tight against the block; more likely the bolts would have gone tight and any attempt to force them would have snapped the ears off the case flange, or pulled the threads out of the block.
So. Being a TH400, it is worth rebuilding, speaking only for myself.
Nick