Hi all,

Just bought a 2003 5.9 SLT to use as a tow vehicle. Truck has only 105k, completely rust free and in generally good condition. No records so I'm baselining all the maintenance right now.

Anyway, today I replaced the trans filter, and refilled with legit Mopar ATF+4. Also adjusted the bands according to the manual to 46RE specs - front band 2-7/8 turns out, and rear band 2 turns out.

Beforehand, the trans shifted perfectly - smooth, positive, no hesitation. The rear band was at 2.5 turns out, not bad, but the front bad was at roughly 6 turns out, way out of spec! After adjusting to spec, the trans seems to slip quite a bit between shifts. It's very smooth, but the revs hang constant for multiple seconds between gears (while still accelerating). Feels like a CVT honestly. Since I'm not familiar with these cars, you be the judge of how bad this is:
So, what happened? Why was the front band so far out of adjustment but still shifting fine? What changed the shifting behavior - radical change in band adjustment, or new fluid (which I find hard to believe)? What should I do?

 

Readjust the bands. 2 turns out each. Specs in the manual are a bit too loose.

Also, while you are in there, might consider replacing the governor pressure sensor and solenoid. (borg warner heavy duty solenoid please.)

 

Thanks, nothing to lose by messing with the adjustment I suppose. Will do this weekend. Rear is already at 2, I'll try the front at 2, and maybe crank it back out to where it was and see what happens.

What did you think of the video? I'm not being overly paranoid am I?

 

Dropping out of O/D. I don't think that's a band adjustment problem.

 

Thanks for the input. I drove it again yesterday and I'm pretty sure it's just in my head. It shifts fine - I'm just not used to trucks with super long gearing, and torque (I drive 5-speed 4-bangers exclusively, lol). The revs climb so slowly that the tach looked stationary to me at times, but the shift and power delivery couldn't be smoother. A little harder acceleration and the shifts are more positive.

It does do the slight hesitation you see in the first 3-4 shift in the video - where the revs bounce up slightly then drop when shifting 3-4. Not sure if that's anything to worry about. The downshift at the end of the video was me accelerating again - no issue there!

I also did a couple full throttle pulls, and it will bang off the rev limiter in second instead of shifting - from what I understand that means I do indeed need that solenoid you mentioned. I'll order one up - is there any harm in driving it for a few months and maybe doing some towing before I go back in there to change it?

 

The not shifting at WOT thing is usually the governor pressure sensor. Real possibility that changing the sensor won't fix it.... (the truck did that kind of thing when they were new.......) Sure won't hurt to change it though.

If you aren't regularly driving with your toes in the radiator, you can leave it that way forever.