Astro Van Help needed
 

A friend of mine has a late 90s Astro Van. Her mechanic says that the "chain in the transmission" is going bad. Thats what is causing it to jerk.
I know of no chain in transmissions unless its a FWD, or in a 4X4 transfer case--neight are tru in this case; its a stright two wheel, rear whell drive. Before i advise her to be cautious of this mechanic, I thought I'd ask you all, " Am I missing something"
It is also possible that she "misheard" the mechanic.

Never heard of a chain in that application. Sounds to me as if the jerk is outside the car.

Theres no chain in that tranny. The guy she took it to is no mechanic either. Find a small neighbourhood shop that does not advertise. They seem to be the best.

Just your standard clutch packs in the Astro tranny - no chains.

Should just be a 700-R4 (4L-60E in the new lingo...) no chains involved. And by the late '90s they had most of the bugs worked out and it was a fairly good slushbox.

I did a whole mess of them in Astrovans, there was this local alarm company that insisted on using "mini" vans to do the work of a van. They killed those things and brought them back so many times it was rediculous. I even managed to turn an early '80s 700-R4 (some of the worst in the bunch) into a really nice box for a buddy's Chevy pick-up. An honest 400hp small block, not the type your local guy swears his cousin had in his firebird 'till he wrecked it, but the actual dyno'd type, and a Jaguar independent rear end. Nice truck. That Jag ass end would hook up very nicely and the power just kept coming until about 8300 rpm...

Man, those were the days... Why am I typing again? Oh yeah... Astrovans... Gotcha!

Like I said, no chain in the trans... However, there is a chain in the transfer case on the all-wheel drive models. Since it's all-wheel drive, not fourwheel drive, there isn't an extra shift lever, or hubs, or really anything to let you know it's all wheel drive. Until you get underneath. I've seriously known a few people who bought one and drove it for years never knowing that it was all wheel drive. You never really notice on our dry level roads. So keep that in mind and take an extra hard look, then let us know what you find.

MV