It was pretty obvious to me!

 

If anything a properly installed shift kit would help an old tranny!

 

The shift kit I properly installed worked really well for a couple thousand miles!

 

As I see it, the only way a shift kit could hurt an old trans is if it blows old tired factory seals.

 

Bingo! We have a winner.

Yes, you can blow out seals with a shift kit. You can also fold over the first gear pie plate, blow out the OD piston, burn off the second gear band and on and on, but one could argue.......

That even though the shift kit was properly installed, it could have been tweeked, or pressures lowered, to prevent any damage happening to an older, worn tranny. So it was installed wrong, or at least set up wrong. That said, how are you supposed to see what kind of shape the internals of a tranny look like when you are just doing a VB? Can't. You just have to guess and go on something with over, say maybe, 100k-125k miles.

Once agian, my 0.02 on VB & shift kits.

J.D.

 

So what is the break point of doing mods to a transmission? 50,000 or 75,000 or 25,000??

 

All depends on how abused it was. Use my truck for example: '03, 140k when purchased. Old man owned. Never towed. Had the fluid and filter changed every 30k. Had every update and adjustment done. In general, very well taken care of.

Now with 140k on the ticker, I installed a fairly heavy hitting shift kit 2 days after purchase. This was because I just couldn't stand not feeling shifts, and I didn't have the time to rebuild. Worked great. Never a problem.

When I did rebuild, 6 months later, you couldn't find one burned clutch or steel in the whole thing. Every thing looked worn, but good. I had a smarty and TST set on the limits of the stock cp3 the entire time. Never raced, or sledpulled, but did do a couple burnouts.

There are 2 tell tail signs of an abused or worn tranny.

1. Fluid and pan inspection. Old, black, stinky fluid and alot of "crap" in the bottom of the pan is a good sign things were not tended to enough.

2. Most important: Check the fluid pressure. If pressures are low, chances are they always have been. Therefore it has been burning clutches without the holding power of good pressure. Also, low pressures could be a sign of a failing pump. Not real cheap.

I could do this all day and write an entire book, but I think things are starting to bore many.

OUT,

J.D.

 

Not bored at all. I have 50K and a well taken care of truck. First oil change at 20K had a little grey putty on the magnet but not chunks. The second change at 45K it was clean, nothing to wipe out of the bottom of the pan.

I tow some and want a more positive feel when the converter locks up. I have mods but I do not race I watch my truck closely and would be interested in installing a pressure gage if it would help keep me from being stuck on the side of the road. Of all the gage mods you don't hear of too many putting in transmission pressure gages. If I was to get one what range would be best and is there anyone that sells the required pressure tap adapters as a kit.

I do not want (or think I need) a $4500 transmission from any of the big builders but I am interested in getting a little more performance and life out of what I have.