Smallfoot's AA

[smallfoot]

Thanks for the info Old Iron! I set it up that way to start. Maybe it will help others trying to get it right too. When I went under this am, it was apparent what my problem was. The keeper nut on my linkage had spun off. The only thing holding the cable to the gear selector was "L" shape of the stud... Hey, I'm just stepping thru the shakedown moves and as long as I keep finding the little issues, I'm good. I swapped the front tires and wheels out to a set of 14"s. Rolled them thru up on the jack and both looked good and straight with that test. So out to the highway and a blast down to the store. Looks like my initial idea of a bent rim was correct. I have no shake up front anymore. I will find another 15" rim and change back to those. The only vibration I have left might be some small unbalance in the drive shaft and I'll be working with hose clamps as weights until I find what position smoothes it out. Also have some low speed carb issues. Nail it and it's great, easing along I'm getting a blubber and some times a break down popping noise in a gentle pull off. I rebuilt it but there still seems to be some problems. Just to proove it into the carb, I'll swap the brand new one on it that's supposed to go on the crate motor. If it's not the carb, I'll drop the crate in this one and do something else on the dd. Hang in there, I'm tying up loose ends as I go and everything is an improvement so far. Got some pix coming of the kids having a ball this am out here. I'm trying to get them loaded...I'll be back!

 

[smallfoot]

Kids like it

My buddy Junior brought the grandkids out today. They wanted to ride in the back which I did on a slow ride out. The rest of the time, I made them sit up front, one at a time, and buckle up. We threw some dirt and spun some donuts and everybody had a ball.

Junior is their PawPaw and I'm uncle ****!

 

[soltz]

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[Bamamav]

I like the 14"s up front, match the short rears better. Looks like it's gonna be a fun ride for all![cl

 

[Torchie]

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X's @ ^^^^^^^
Torchie

 

[Old Iron]

Man, it looks like they're saying, please save me Junior and if ya don't it was nice knowing you anyway [ddd [ddd [ddd

 

[smallfoot]

A friend of mine gave me a chunk of expanded metal that he used as a brushguard on a past Bronco. Big enough to cut for mine. Little different pattern than most I see around here.

Got my linkage set again and determined it didn't cause my shifting problems. For a few, I ran it without the linkage attached at all. Still wanted to be erratic for shifting thru the gears. I checked all vacuum hoses and kickdown set up. Nothing there. Before I start removing parts, I wanted to try all I could to see if I can get this one to straighten out. Thought that maybe it had been sitting for too long. I've had it over a year waiting for this build to get done. I have no idea how long it sat at the previous owners. Ok, The top additives I've checked out are Lucas, Auto-RX, and Seafoam TT-16. Normally, for me, additives are a last ditch effort before tearing one down. I got Seafoam and I'll let ya know. It has been run several times in the last 2 days and seems to be freeing up some. Mostly, I'm getting well timed shifts if I'm easing thru it. Down shifts, kicks down well, but every once in a while, when I take off it doesn't want to shift. Rode around all afternoon, no problems until I left the gas station heading home....no shift, pull over, try to pull off again, no shift, and again...next time I gapped it and it struggled but banged hard in both 2nd and 3rd...go figure. I'm gonna run it around a little more them change fluid and filter and go from there. I have one more dose of seafoam too.

 

[Yankee Transplant]

does any one think it can be adjusted by the screw thats in the gov. ? I was told you can adjust the shift threw the vacuum hole [S[S I guess you can tighten and it will shif harder or quicker ????? a transmission man told me this ... a long time ago . this is on a 350 turbo . If it dont do it all the time its going to be hard to fix.. or find out what to fix .

 

[Skip]

I like the expanded metal.

I wish I was an automatic transmission man. Crossing my fingers that mine still works after a couple years sitting.

 

[smallfoot]

does any one think it can be adjusted by the screw thats in the gov. ? I was told you can adjust the shift threw the vacuum hole [S[S I guess you can tighten and it will shif harder or quicker ????? a transmission man told me this ... a long time ago . this is on a 350 turbo . If it dont do it all the time its going to be hard to fix.. or find out what to fix .

Not that I'm skeered or anything but I haven't never messed with the internals on an auto. I'm not sure about adjusting the govenor. When it shifts right, it doen't appear anything is wrong with the "whens". I thought about getting another modulator to see if it had a problem. There's a diaphragm in there and if it has a problem it may cause the different timing issues on the shift I think. I've got one of the GM tranny tech manuals but I'd rather an expert mess with the deep stuff. I'm gonna let the seafoam work it's magic if it will. But you are right, when the problem keeps changing along the way, it's hard to zero in on it. I'm trying real hard to honor work by the rebuilder, but It could've been just another song. I don't have much but core charge money in it and Tobby is looking real good for getting some business if it doesn't straighten out soon. I'd like to place some faith in this ride and the tranny is the only thing failing so far. It hasn't left me flat yet...

 

[smallfoot]

I like the expanded metal.

I wish I was an automatic transmission man. Crossing my fingers that mine still works after a couple years sitting.

Crossing my fingers for you too Skip! By everything I've ever known for visual checks, this one looks like somebody had done some work on it. He was supposed to be good on Gm Autos too. The only thing I know for sure is that it has been sitting a while. Now whether or not brand new looking fluid which is cherry red and crystal clear and has no burnt smell can sit and get gummy enough to do this is just a guess. The filter was new and inspection of the pan showed it to be clean with no crud floating around in there...I'll finish the instructions on the seafoam deal and see where it sits then. Thanks for checking in ya'll. Even with occasional shifting problems, this thing is a blast to drive. Handles really well and stops great, all manual and light so it works well. Gaining some respect for it as far as the ride.

 

[Old Iron]

Sounds like a piece of dirt or debris in the governor.
On the drivers side, close to the tail shaft housing, is a round cover and it is just like a dust cover on front wheel bearings, press fit, some have a clip like a master cylinder some don't.
Under this cover is the governor.
No springs, bearings or what not to lose. Pop the cover off and pull the governor out with your fingers with a slight rotation.
Clean it with brake clean holding it up one way then the other.
Put it back in and tap the cover back on around the flanged perimeter and try it.

 

[Skip]

How did it move the other side of the trans in pic 3? [S

 

[smallfoot]

Thanks Old Iron! Those are things that will get checked next if the seafoam doen't get it any better. Skip, pic 3 had me going too but it's just a pic of the governor for what looks like a TH400 case. Do ya'll think the governor or the modulator would likely be the culprit for the shifting issues I'm having? This is where the technical stuff stumps me some. I know the vacuum modulator operates the kickdown feature, but does it not have any other function on the rest of the shifting? I think I understand that the governor relies on line pressure to enable shifts and is possibly more suspect on multiple shifting problems. Thanks for the thoughts and help. I've got to play out the procedure with the additive before doing anything else. Ya'll know how it is. When you do multiple changes in your efforts, you put the thing back together and it works, you really don't know which item did the fix. I'd really like to know the exact problem when I find it.

 

[Old Iron]

How did it move the other side of the trans in pic 3? [S

I wasn't in my shop and just pulled pics from the interweb.
Same approach
I bet it did seem odd [ddd

 

[Skip]

I wasn't in my shop and just pulled pics from the interweb.
Same approach
I bet it did seem odd [ddd

Actually, OI, I knew exactly what you did. It was just fun playing with it. I have to get that sort of thing perfect at work, or I hear about it. Fortunately for me, I have a staff of engineers to keep me straight on what I write for our manuals.

I will admit that I learned something from your presentation. Thanks!

Smallfoot,
I have very little idea about what happens inside an automatic transmission. With things like that, I learn as I go, just like you or any other good hotrodder. Maybe after I retire I'll take a class on the critters.

 

[sgtpontiac]

Skip....exactly what is it doing....?

I've done more 350 and 400 turbo's than I can count...both of them need a good vacuum signal to the modulator..the governor on both are interchangeable (or can be) and are gear driven...they are simply a slide valve that moves by spinning the weights which get thrown outward and allow the valve to move up and down opening and closing off ports...gov and modulator work in unison to control shifts at anything but full throttle...the 350 has the kickdown cable and the 400 has an electrical solenoid...I've looked back in your posts but didn't see or missed the actual issues you are having....let me know the details and I'll see if I can help you out...

 

[smallfoot]

Hey Sarge! after getting some linkage problems straightened out, I'm getting shifting problems on this T350 Chevy tranny. I was told it was rebuilt. Looked possible by all I know visually. The only thing I could think of was maybe trash or gummy condition and am trying some of the Seafoam. I drove this on my driveway for about 100 miles before I got it legal on the road and never got it out of 2nd gear. The road is too rough to go hard enough without beating yourself to death. So, First road trip started giving me problems. Sometimes it would shift into 2nd but not 3rd. Next time it might not hit 2nd. Then sometimes you could force it by nailing the throttle but it would really shift hard. No vacuum problems, hoses new, fluid level correct, and shifting erratic. I looked inside and looks clean in the pan and appeared to be a new filter. Just don't know much else yet. Put Seafoam in it and drove maybe an hour and a half yesterday on the second road trip since the additive went in. I went easy everywhere and it didn't fail at all. Pulled into the gas station and the last stop before hitting my place to top off and when I took off from there, no shift from low to 2nd. Two more tries from stopped offered no shift to 2nd. Then I nailed it, and it shifted hard thru all 3. Seems like the additive has helped and I'm not thru with the suggested process yet. But, if this doesn't work, I know both the modulator and the governor can be serviced from outside and that will be my next step. I guess I'll go into them and see if there is any trash I can see and do a general cleaning of them while there. I don't really expect to see any trash as I haven't found that condition anywhere I've been. But can fluid that looks really new and clear, no burnt smell just get gummy from sitting? I know I stored this tranny over a year and don't know how long it sat at the previous owners.

 

[AZRodDave]

Same issues with my pickup, so will be watching.

 

[sgtpontiac]

Ok....

If you take your foot off the gas while it's stuck in Second...does the trans freewheel then drop back into gear when you step on the gas again? If so, the governor may have a stripped gear or the valve is sticking....if you pull the snap clip off the gov cover and tap the cover off, usually it's pretty tight and has a large square cut o ring on the edge....the governor will slide out...look at the gear...if it looks like an apple core it's stripped....stripped gears are not unusual if the tailshaft and housing bushings bushings were not replaced on a rebuild...if the gear is stripped then you can buy just the gear, knock out the roll pin and then put the new gear on and drill thru it to reinstall the roll pin...but...I'd pull the tail shaft housing and look at the bushing in the tailshaft housing just under the seal....see if it's galled up...if so, you can try replacing it but chances are the housing bushing is also bad and that you'd have to tear down the trans....that's why I ALWAYS replace ALL the bushings on a rebuild...
Normally is the modulator is bad, they will pull fluid thru them and burn it thru the motor...(losing fluid with no apparent external leaks) .although I've seen them bent during rebuild and won't actuate the valve properly....if you pull governor and the gear isn't stripped, hold the governor by the gear so the weights are hanging down...then watch the valve inside as you squeeze the weights together and see if the valve moves...also look for scoring on the governor shaft itself and in the case.....hope this helps....