Technical Transmission pan magnet

I am putting together a T700R and there is a small magnet in the original pan. It looks like it was just sitting there, just holding on by magnetism. Are these glued in or just sitting there?

 

Yes.

(I recall seeing both)

 

Every one I have seen was just sitting there stuck to the pan. If you had an aluminum pan you would want to glue it to the pan.

 

A magnet doesn't stick to an aluminum pan worth a ****, but does really well with a steel pan.

I suppose the material the pan is made from is going to have a bearing on gluing or not.

 

The pan on my 700R4 has a raised round spot, and the magnet is a donut shape that sits over the little hump.

 

My 46RE (A518) behind the Hemi has one, donut shaped. There was a dimple in the pan that the magnet fit around that kept it in place, I guess. I drilled out that dimple and welded in a nut for a drain plug. Ground down the nut and weld (precise MIG bead ) until the magnet fit around it. It would keep a bit of oil in the pan due to the thickness of the magnet but better than no drain plug which is how they are built for some stupid reason.

 

I always wondered what would happen if the magnet came loose after gathering up a bunch of iron..
I had an aftermarket drain plug that had a magnet and sacrificial zinc, a snake oil product promising longer engine life. it had a larger thread than any engine I had so it never got used.. might even still be around here someplace..

 

The pan on my 700r4 is aluminum, so I dropped by Home Depot and bought four huge donut shaped magnets and epoxied them in the corners of the pan.. don't know if they caught anything yet since I haven't had it apart..

 

Or, watch for old speakers along the road...

 

If you find speakers along the road, you're probably going to find a whole lot of other parts, too!

 

Not sure how a magnet can come loose unless it lost it's magnetism?

 

This is the pan on my sons 46RH (518), Mopar transmission we just went through .
You can see the dimple that was formed into the pan from the factory .
The magnet fits perfectly around it inside,,,,it’s a fairly strong magnet in my opinion .

By the way,,,,,Mopar designations is 46 which the 4 means four forward gears,,,6 is the torque rating,,,,,R which means rear wheel drive,,,,,H which means hydraulic controlled .
46 RE,,,,,is the same basic trans,,,,but it’s electronic controlled,( E ),,,,and shifted into overdrive by a computer .

We have a vacuum switch and hydraulic pressure switches that will control our overdrive unit .

Tommy

 

maybe the word loose was confusing, how about removed, dislodged or otherwise made to be no longer in place

 

My dad came up with a few magnets that were about 1.5 x 3 inches and about 1/2 inch thick. I put one on the bottom (outside) of the pan on my TH400. That was some 40+ years ago. No danger of knocking it off though, but it’s still there.

 

I use magnet strips from fridge door seals and you can install them through the drain hole. They work well and stay put. There would need to be a hell of a storm in the pan to make a magnet move around! JW

 

Yep, that's the dimple I drilled out for my drain plug. I thought about not putting the magnet back in but I figured the MOPAR engineers added it for a reason so might as well not mess with it.

 

You would think someone would invent a pan plug with a magnet in the middle so you could take it out and clean it with a fluid change.

 

Or a transmission pan with a large diameter bolt/drain plug with a magnet on top, small diameter head so as not to over tighten it.
Pull the drain bolt, wipe it off and get on about business

 

OT Suzuki Samurai 5 speeds have a pipe plug with a magnet in it for the drain. The fill plug is the same pipe plug, no magnet. (The later ones after ~'88, '87's have a straight thread hex bolt with a washer). I did a few before I noticed the different pipe plugs. I wonder if somebody out there is running around with a magnetic fill plug . Mike

 

Dorman has a ton of them to fit all applications

 

While I was giving the steel pan a bath, the magnet dislodged from it's spot (marked by 4 corners stamped into the pan), and I got to thinking it shouldn't really move from there (it's only ATF flowing around), and there were no signs of any goop on the backside to keep it in place. Do magnets on the outside of the pan work? I thought I remember from trade school that the magnetic lines will follow the path of least resistance (the steel pan), and not do much else.

 

Pretty much impossible to become loose, or dislodged. And even moving to another spot in the pan would only happen with a very hard hit to the car. If that happens you've got bigger issues than a trans magnet!
I tried to pry mine loose to clean the fine metal ac***ulated on it, and these must be rare earth magnets, because I thought it was epoxied to the pan! It finally came loose, and nothing held it except the magnet itself, and they're very strong! I'm not worried about it even shifting slightly, let alone coming loose.

 

My dad worked at VanPelt Firetrucks in the 60’s. That (putting a magnet under the oil pan, transmission case, ect was SOP before they went out the door.
When I changed the fluid way back when, there were “stuff” being in the pan before I wiped it out. As good as one in the pan? Dunno.

 

again, my bad, I was referring to a magnet stuck on the outside of the pan.

 

It seems to me that the majority of the particulates being shed inside an automatic transmission are non-magnetic. The friction material on bands and clutches, thrush washers, etc. mostly composite, bronze or br***. Some of the late model stuff has plastic parts, also non-magnetic. I can see the automakers adding a magnet or two as a small step towards keeping transmissions working for 100,000+ miles but are they really necessary? Or just a ‘why not’ addition. Just curious, I’ve never used one.

 

Added to what Bob said, most automatic trans. cases are aluminum, so that removes one more major part to shed to any garbage that magnets would like.
While yes, obviously there is steel drums, shafts, valve body and such, not much actual wear that will cause particulate's to come loose to be found by the magnets.

Mike

 

Discarded large speakers from houses.

 

FWIW here's a pic on one I put in my avatar's racing Powerglides.With no adhesive. Sees 7000 RPM regularly. And abusive wheelies.
Note that I did put it in the corner in a relatively quiescent place so that sloshing oil would have minimal if any impact.

 

There's the reason for the magnet. If any of that should get p***ed through the filter, there is no doubt who wins the ferrous vs. aluminum battle.

 

Food for thought here............