I thought the GTE's A340E had a different end gear than the GE's A340E... not so?

To the best of my knowledge the only real difference is the number of clutch packs, with the GTE A340 having more of them to handle the increased torque. I thought all the gears were the same in the A340's, but I could be mistaken.

I meant I thought they had different differentials.... I don't know how they might change the internals of the transmission in this case (if at all)... I don't know much about auto's but am curious.

Yes, they did have different diff's with different ratio's. GE's I believe tended to have the 4.31, with GTE's carrying the 3.7 or 3.9.

Aside from the greater number of or heavier clutch packs in the GTE's I don't think there were any other significant differences in the transmission itself. But beyond bits and pieces of info I generally try and stay away from transmissions and transmission problems... way above my knowledge or pay scale.

Yeah, I just looked it up too. 4.30:1 in all MA70s (auto or 5 speed), 3.91 in all pre89 MA71s and 3.73 in all 89+ MA71s.