CRUCIAL DIRECTIONS FOR 5-pinion planet upgrade

--------------------------------------------------------------

OK, here are the GM part numbers needed to install the latest style 5-pinion front planet. I believe this will fit any
1995 to 2007+ 4L60E.

24241248 5-pinion front planet carrier

24241255 Reaction Carrier shaft
24217328 Torrington bearing underneath the Reaction Carrier Shaft
(and on top of the sun shell).
24236092 Torrington thrust bearing underneath the planet carrier
(and on top of the Reaction Carrier)

Just to be absolutely sure, I just bought another set of these four parts. (And a bunch of wrong parts from the
dealer.)

The 5-pinion carrier and the bearings are cheapest on Amazon ($64, $11 and $4), but the Reaction Carrier shaft is
cheaper at the dealer with a $58 list (I got it for $39).

Looking through the dealer's part numbers for different years, it appears this Reaction Carrier shaft came out in
2008. Therefore a 2008 or later 4L60E will only need the 5-pinion planet carrier; the other parts will already be
there.

The confusion/trouble occurs because there are THREE (and not just two) variations of the Reaction Carrier shaft.
The ATSG Update manual shows that the "New Style" carrier with the torrington bearing came out around 2002. But
then another style came out in 2008:

Look carefully and you can see my (rough) measurement of the diameter of the planet's bearing recess. It is 2.618"
in the first two styles and then 2.512" in the 2008+ style. Therefore the correct bearing must be used.
I need to check some older pinion carriers at my trans shop, but it appears that GM also changed the bearing area
around 2008 for both 4-pinion and 5-pinion carriers. Earlier ones centered the bearing on the pinion and the bearing
was not centered by the 2.618" reaction carrier. (The bearing only needs to be centered by the pinion or the
reaction carrier, not both). However starting in 2008, the bearing is centered by the Reaction Carrier and not by the
pinion carrier as can be seen in these pictures:
Therefore, if you use the 1st or even 2nd style Reaction Carrier with the latest style Pinions carriers, there is
nothing to center the bearing and there will be a failure. Interesting the ATSG Update manual page 110 on 5-pinion
carriers mentions unexplained failure in this area.

Therefore, according to my research (in conjunction with my local expert trans builder), you CANNOT retrofit the
latest 5-pinion planet into any 4L60E without also updating the related parts. It probably was true with old planets,
but it is NOT TRUE now.

In summary, these four parts must be used together when upgrading your trans to the current-design 5-pinion front
planet. Use of an older Reaction Carrier and/or bearings will invite disaster. I also confirmed that these were the
factory parts in the 2010 4L60E I recently rebuilt.