After 2 1/2 years pulled trans out last night....figured I would get to it sooner or later since I knew it was broke.

Pulled pan...a little aluminum...pretty sure it was stripped fron planet....sure enough was....clutches and bands all looke brand new..question though is this...

I have billet steel front drum with 5 clutches...though only 9 springs behind piston???3.2 shift lever...A&A manual valve body....shouldn't I put all 15 springs in and use a 4.2 lever....also shift servos have all stock componets....any reason to upgrade these.......

Going to order up a 4 or 5 pinion steel planet...will all annulus gears match up to different pinion gear counts......trans never shifted very good going into high gear if any help.
Going to be stressing the input shaft and output shaft I know but without a transbrake hope they will hold up...don't know if this matters a whole lot but they sure are a lot beefier than a powerglide input/output shaft.

sorry to hear about the tranny. yes put all 15 springs in. run the 4.2 lever. the planetarys all have the same wheels if wou will, just more to spread the load. the important thing is to know what output shaft you have because the spline pitch changes 62-75 and 76 and up to make sure you get the right planet. the billet servos are an upgrade, the rear is solid. the stock ones can crack from the higher pressures in a race tranny. the front servo has the small pin and runs 2 springs for quicker band release. and put a blocker rod behind the accumulator piston, you should be good to go!

BTW love the car
Ron

Try this company for the planetary. I used them when I had to replace mine.Good price and great product.
http://www.tcsproducts.com/details.html?id=461

You may get several opinions, but here is mine.

I run the 3.8 lever in my Dart with great success and it is a race application, that or the 4.2 is a good option. The valve body characteristics, lever ratio, front band type (solid or flex), front servo springs, as well as the front drum springs play a role in shift timing. If it shifted 2-3 great before, don't change the number of clutch springs. If you need to slow down the engagement of the front clutch (3rd) while the front band releases (2nd), then add front clutch springs.

If your valve body has low gear, rear band apply, then I would get at least the heavy duty rear spring and spring retainer. The billet rear servo is an upgrade.

If you have the pre '71 front servo with two springs, that is great. If you hae the newer load control, oil cushioned front servo, replace it with the early one or a billet copy.

The input and output shafts will take a lot of torque/power. If you are below 800 hp, don't waste your money, IMO. For much higher than that, I would look at the improved input shaft and clutch hub that it splines into. The factory "cast" or powered metal part has limits. A turbo without transbrake should be easier on parts than a 605 CID with nitrous and a brake. But both are beyond my experience.

For a race trans with a mvb I would use all 15 springs, The 4.2 lever. And prefer the early servos (70 and back) with both springs in it. To get away from the Aluminum front planets, I buy the diesel 5 pin planets. And use machine shop here in town that can re-cut the splines in the output shaft to match the 5 pin planet. Saves about $150 over the $400 most places want for the planet.