You have a lot of freedom with your car. Not only the freedom to travel wherever you like, but to replace its standard parts with enhanced, after-market parts that often meet OE specifications yet exceed their results. Whether you’re looking for some new automatic transmission parts to upgrade or repair your vehicle, and whether you’re clueless as to how a transmission works or you simply need a quick refresher, here is a guide to most of the parts you’ll need if you want to push your car’s manufacturing limitations.
Friction Plates
As you activate your transmission, friction plates’ surfaces grip together to transfer energy to the axles. The first thing to look for in a stellar friction plate is how much slipping it permits. The more severe the slippage, the more inefficient the shifting and driving processes, and the grinding that will result can wear out the plate’s surface, which causes even more slipping and damage. When shopping around for aftermarket automatic transmission parts, the main variable that can be tweaked and enhanced is the particular blend of papers and resins that allow the plates to grip.
Steel Plates
Steel plates use grooves and studs to grip, and it’s essential that they are flat, even, have as much surface area as possible, fit well, and are thick enough to withstand high pressures and heats. There are actually OE specifications for flatness and parallelism – this is the first element of any steel plate to verify since without evenness, the entire clutch and shifting process won’t work well. Tweaking the thickness and surface finish is what makes a steel plate exceed the original specs: the thicker the plate, the more heat it can withstand, thus ensuring a longer life; and the more precise the finish, the more surface area that can grip and thus transfer power more efficiently.
Bands
These bands are largely responsible with receiving and transferring the energy from the plates. Especially when working on your transmission yourself, look for a manufacturer that sells “open-chassis” bands, anything else will be painfully difficult to install. In order to exceed manufacturer specs, the finish can be enhanced. Bands that are heat treated and have sturdier steel constructions will give you long-lasting clutch performance and excellent shift quality.
Sprags
Finding the right sprags helps protect your newly assembled transmission: look for innovative designs that reduce drag in the shifting process, allowing for a smoother transition and thus less wear on the plates and bands.
Choosing what aftermarket automatic transmission parts you need can seem difficult, but you’ll be happy that your car drives better than ever before.
