It's not that they didn't exist, only that their relevance is to collectors to collectors more than hot rodders. The final two numbers relate to torque capacity with 80 and 90 offering much more load capability than a 30 or 40-rated transmission.īefore you fire up the email attacks, this story is intentionally ignoring a whole slew of GM automatics that are best described as obscure like the TH350C lockup, the TH475, the ill-fated TH-200, and several others. The first number that appears is the number of forward gears followed by a letter that is only going to be either a T for transverse (front-wheel-drive or FWD) applications or L for longitudinal or rear wheel drive (RWD). So let’s get started by first breaking down the alpha-numeric transmission identity puzzle. We’ll also clue you in on what those numbers and letters mean, although it’s far less complicated than trying to decipher Ford and Chrysler’s gearbox hieroglyphics. The focus of this story will be on the electronically controlled transmissions like the 4L60E, 4L80E,6L90E, 8L80E and the most current in the 10L90E. We will briefly touch on the older transmissions like the TH350 and TH400 and the 700-R4 / 200-4R but since all of these gearboxes have earned a wealth of individual attention there’s little need to recap them here. This story will outline the transformation, if you will, from the Powerglide all the way to the new 10L90E transmission that sits behind the 650 horsepower ZL1 supercharged Camaro with a dizzying collection of automatic gearboxes in between. Shifting nearly 70 years into the 21st century and GM’s latest technology is now pushing 10 forward speeds with three overdrive ratios. GM introduced the Powerglide back in the early 1950s and it employed only two forward gears. If you’re looking for an indication of how much automotive technology has changed, one way is to count the number of forward gears in automatic transmissions.
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