Talked to A and A

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midlife89

midlife89

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I talked to A and A about my soft 1-2 shift problems,under part/light throttle it shifts nice and firm under full throttle it's soft.They recommended upgrading front band and installing 5.0 lever.My 2-3 shift is good.Before I start buying parts I just wanted some opinions on this.The trans was rebuilt locally with I'm sure standard parts.This is a street driven car,no track time.Has a mild 360 w/a 2200-2500 stall converter and 3:55 gears.I don't beat the car much it would just be nice to be able chirp second gear. I've got the kick down adjusted properly,I think,timing is fine,unless I tighten it up more which just pushes 3rd out further.They said I wouldn't have have 2-3 overlap on a 904 w/a 5.0 lever.Any thoughts on this?
 
I've learned to never say never concerning overlap but the 2-3 shift overlap that is a problem with 727's isn't nearly as much of a problem with 904's so you probably won't have an issue using a 5.0 lever. Do you have any idea what lever is in it now? If it's a 3.8 or 4.2 lever you won't see all that much of a change. If it's a 2.9 (very common factory lever) you'll see a nice change. Will it be enough to make it chirp 2nd gear? No idea, but it should firm up the 1-2 shift a decent amount.
 
I tighten it up more which just pushes 3rd out further.They said I wouldn't have have 2-3 overlap on a 904 w/a 5.0 lever.Any thoughts on this?
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I have a 5.0 lever and 2-3 overlap. May or may not be related to the lever, but I was going to try a different lever anyways. I also switched to a manual VB and still have overlap. That's not why I did it and it's probably not related either. It did eliminate the VB as a reason though.
 
I have the 3.8 and the lower gear set from a 599 (is that right?) trans and have almost no overlap or slam into 3rd! I was told by my trans guy not to go with the 5.0 due to the hard shift on the street!
 
Not sure what lever is in it now,waiting till we get a break in the weather to pull the engine.Just too damn cold,my garage is a POS,have to have car half way out,no depth.Plus everything is on plywood cause previous owner blacktopped inside.Just hate to go through all the work of pulling and reinstalling engine/trans only to have to pull it again.I'm going to try and get the engine out this week,supposed to get in the thirty's,heat wave,LOL.see what's in it now and go from there.Prob just play it safe and go w/3.8 or 4.2.Is a kevlar the way to go as far as bands go?
 
Got 5 904s or 998 or 999 transmissions...they all use the 5.0 lever....only 1 has recently developed the 2/3 flareup ....probably needs the band adjusted as I have touched it in several years...

A&A is probably wont get the 2/3 overlap or flareup with the 904.....
 
Pulling the engine? Pull it all the way in and just drop the trans.

Ditching the accumulator spring will get you the 1-2 chirp
 
Not sure if this will work on a 904 but I've changed the levers on 727's without pulling the trans. or engine. Drop the starter and take off the access plate and you can use a 1/4" drive wobble extension to slip in and remove the pipe plug that holds the lever pin in place. Then slide the pin just far enough out to swap the lever and push the pin back in place. Clean the pipe plug and put some pipe sealer on it and reinstall it. I'd say it's worth a shot. If you can't get into it those are all pieces you'd have to take off anyway to get the trans. out.

I thought about mentioning bypassing the accumulator spring and installing a solid blocker rod to hold the piston in place but with lower stall converters it can slam into gear pretty hard. If your running a high stall converter (at least 2500) it will absorb a lot of that shock. Some guys don't mind it, some do.
 
This trans has been a pain since the start,first I was fighting soft 1-2 shifts,light or full throttle,and quick 1-2 shifts,regardless of where I set throttle pressure.Straightened out the quick 1-2 shifts as the tranny shop only installed half the shift kit I provided.I've already blocked the accumulator/adjusted band which helped the light throttle 1-2 shift.Now just have to get the full throttle shift sorted out.Just wish there was a shop I could take it to locally,2 other shops wanted a $1000 to rebuild it,thats with me bringing to them,not even in the car, I thought was robbery.There is Rossler trans locally,nationally known, but they only do GM.I'm going to tear into it myself.Can't reach the plug on a 904,converter blocking it. I'd also like to check front servo,wonder if a seal is pinched/torn letting fluid by under increased pressure.
 
midlife89 said:
This trans has been a pain since the start,first I was fighting soft 1-2 shifts,light or full throttle,and quick 1-2 shifts,regardless of where I set throttle pressure.Straightened out the quick 1-2 shifts as the tranny shop only installed half the shift kit I provided.I've already blocked the accumulator/adjusted band which helped the light throttle 1-2 shift.Now just have to get the full throttle shift sorted out.Just wish there was a shop I could take it to locally,2 other shops wanted a $1000 to rebuild it,thats with me bringing to them,not even in the car, I thought was robbery.There is Rossler trans locally,nationally known, but they only do GM.I'm going to tear into it myself.Can't reach the plug on a 904,converter blocking it. I'd also like to check front servo,wonder if a seal is pinched/torn letting fluid by under increased pressure.
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$1000 is crazy. You can order a fully rebuilt one from Cope Racing for less than that. The front servo doesn't have a rubber type seal. It uses sealing rings much like piston rings only smaller. I see you mentioned a shop didn't install all the shift kit. Did you verify it's correct now? When I was 17 I had a local shop install a shift kit for me and they screwed it all up. Drilled a place in the separator plate that shouldn't have been drilled and didn't drill where it should have been. That's when I decided it was time to learn to do things myself so I knew it was done right.
 
Yes,I pulled the valve body,made sure it was clean and triple checked everything,they didn't change all the springs/manual valve or file the bore.It was after that the shift timing was corrected,hell they didn't even use the filter provided.The lever/band makes sense to me,because of not enough clamping force under load.Curious to see what levers in there.Got an on time quit yesterday and pulled the motor.The trans is still in the car,hoping to get it out tonight.I pulled it separate because the cherry picker doesn't roll so great even on plywood/working alone.Going to put them back in together.Hard to get motovated after working all day in the cold because my garage never really gets warm.If I don't get it out this week I plan on spending the weekend out there,supposed to get up to almost 40 and I'm off.This winter has been really good for the garage door business,can't tell you how many torsion springs/door hits I've had.
 
I'd do a stock rebuild kit on it with a fresh unmolested Valve body and install a tf1 or tf2 kit. About $200-300 in parts at the most. Heck, I'd donate a unmolested VB to your cause!

The 5.0 lever wouldn't be a bad choice either.

There are videos on rebuilding a TF. So easy a caveman can do it.

http://www.northernautoparts.com/part/tk-12008c
 
I'd be interested in that valve body,pm me about what you'd need for it.I'm going to try and get a hold of a guy I know from car nights,who has rebuilds his own 727's,who offered to tear mine down,to see if he would hold my hand while I tear this down to make sure I don't f this up.I would really like to do it myself.Nothing worse than paying good money only to not have it done right.
 
Leadfoot said:
I have a 5.0 lever and 2-3 overlap. May or may not be related to the lever, but I was going to try a different lever anyways. I also switched to a manual VB and still have overlap. That's not why I did it and it's probably not related either. It did eliminate the VB as a reason though.
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Witch manual valve body, might I ask?
 
Got a little warm here yesterday,36,and got the motor n trans pulled.Pulled the pan and valve body and it's got a 4.2 lever in it so I'm going stay with that.I took a look at the front band and it doesn't seem to have much facing on it maybe 1/16". Couldn't get a real good look at it because couldn't get the pump out. None of the holes in the pump where threaded,looks like they just thread into the housing. Watched utube vids and it looks like they threaded the slide hammer into the pump.Is there any certain holes I should use?Still looking for an unmolested valve body if anyone has one for sale.
 
midlife89 said:
Got a little warm here yesterday,36,and got the motor n trans pulled.Pulled the pan and valve body and it's got a 4.2 lever in it so I'm going stay with that.I took a look at the front band and it doesn't seem to have much facing on it maybe 1/16". Couldn't get a real good look at it because couldn't get the pump out. None of the holes in the pump where threaded,looks like they just thread into the housing. Watched utube vids and it looks like they threaded the slide hammer into the pump.Is there any certain holes I should use?Still looking for an unmolested valve body if anyone has one for sale.
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If you look real close you'll see 2 holes in the pump are threaded to 3/8". The threads aren't always easy to see. I won't say it's impossible but in over 30 yrs of rebuilding torqueflite's I have yet to see one that didn't have threaded holes. Some smaller slide hammers are the correct size and thread. The front band lining isn't real thick even when new. I haven't actually measured the thickness but I'm sure it's no more than 1/8"
 
I was messing around out there yesterday,air tested it again,double checked band adjust.I used 30 psi of air and found that the front servo was leaking badly,air coming from around rod that hits lever,and bled down as soon as I let off air supply.Watched utube vids of test on 904 and had way more air leaking and didn't sound as positive when air applied compaired to vid.The rear servo bled down slowly with much less air leaking. I know fluid would have more trouble coming past rings than air but didn't seem right.Could hear clutches moving but alot of air leaking as well there.
 
midlife89 said:
I was messing around out there yesterday,air tested it again,double checked band adjust.I used 30 psi of air and found that the front servo was leaking badly,air coming from around rod that hits lever,and bled down as soon as I let off air supply.Watched utube vids of test on 904 and had way more air leaking and didn't sound as positive when air applied compaired to vid.The rear servo bled down slowly with much less air leaking. I know fluid would have more trouble coming past rings than air but didn't seem right.Could hear clutches moving but alot of air leaking as well there.
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pour some trans fluid in the hole before you hit with air...and use more psi...yes..it is going to leak...but you should hear the clutches move...
 
fishy68 said:
If you look real close you'll see 2 holes in the pump are threaded to 3/8". The threads aren't always easy to see. I won't say it's impossible but in over 30 yrs of rebuilding torqueflite's I have yet to see one that didn't have threaded holes. Some smaller slide hammers are the correct size and thread. The front band lining isn't real thick even when new. I haven't actually measured the thickness but I'm sure it's no more than 1/8"
Click to expand...

I don't think I have ever seen a front band with anywhere near an 8th of material on it.
Not saying you are wrong Tracy, just confirming what you said for the OP.
Seems to me 1/16 is about the norm.
 
fishy68 said:
If you look real close you'll see 2 holes in the pump are threaded to 3/8". The threads aren't always easy to see. I won't say it's impossible but in over 30 yrs of rebuilding torqueflite's I have yet to see one that didn't have threaded holes. Some smaller slide hammers are the correct size and thread. The front band lining isn't real thick even when new. I haven't actually measured the thickness but I'm sure it's no more than 1/8"
Click to expand...

I don't think I have ever seen a front band with anywhere near an 8th of material on it.
Not saying you are wrong Tracy, just confirming what you said for the OP.
Seems to me 1/16 is about the norm.

Pumps I have popped out by bumping the input shaft side to side.
Slide hammer works a lot better though. :)
 
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