88' Trans Problem Symptoms - Torque Converter?
 

I have an A999 behind a V6, I have been having several issues for a long time now. This is a 1988 Dakota just for reference.

- When I shift into reverse or drive I get a serge and the truck jumps or bucks for a second then the idle drops about 100rpm.
- It shifts late unless a throttle back, especially from 1st to 2nd.
- If I let the truck coast to a stop in neutral the idle does not drop until I come to a complete stop.
- It seems to drag in gear when I deaccelerate, it coasts smoother without drag in neutral.
- The reverse of drag it also comes to a stop much easier while coasting in neutral than it does in drive.

I can be either in or out of lockup on the highway and start to apply light pressure on the brakes, without letting my foot off the brake if I shift out of drive to neutral the truck comes to a stop much faster (with less effort). You would think the drag would make it easier to stop in drive but that is not the case for me, and since I find less resistance in neutral in my thinking that eliminates the problem being in the rear of the transmission, driveshaft, or rear differential. Back to my highway reference the same goes for the drag, however I am not sure if this applies both in and out of lockup, but if the highway is on a steep hill and I am coasting and I disengage into neutral the rpm drops and it coasts more freely without resistance or drag. It also idles up hill to a point, I never have to hold the brakes at the top of a hill...there is no roll back but if I am on a level surface the truck will idle forward on its own at probably 10mph.

This all seems like torque converter problems to me, with the possibly loose bands with the late shifting from my research. I resulted to screwing with my idle cranking it down to 550rpm so that it stopped jumping so hard when putting it in gear but it really did not help much. All these problems has existed for the last 10k or more which takes a few years for me.

Help?