I've put about 500 miles on my resurrected Ram 1500 (rebuilt 46re, new timing chain and seals, new HVAC, new catalytic converter) but am having some issues with the shifting on this rig. For the transmission I found a guy that would rebuild with parts I supplied, which meant I spent some time on MonteC's epic transmission thread. Nevertheless, I was--and am--worried about so many replacement and performance parts playing nice together.

The current issue is shifting that I would label as "extreme", especially on the dowshift from 3-2 and after the overdrive re-engages. The overdrive re-engaging after passing or after climbing literally feels like a kick in the butt. This Dodge is a ranch truck that gets run mostly on the highway to town, but in the city I am tempted to label it as "almost undrivable". Lot of hard shifts and clunking, leading me to goose the gas in ways I'm not familiar with.

I will be seeing my transmission guy after the Memorial Day holiday but want to be conversant with him about the issue. At the time of the install he didn't see anything wrong with the parts I supplied. But he did remark that the Servos I supplied were an incredibly tight fit, and that there was a lot of slack in the TV cable. After talking to him yesterday over the phone he believes the problem to be the servos that are slamming the truck in and out of gear.

Has anyone had an issue with the Superior Super Servos? I replaced both the 46re OEM ones (low Reverse and Intermediate) and threw in an aluminum accumulator while we were at it.

For this rebuild I chose longevity over performance--both when I could get it--but was not trying to build a racing transmission but the transmission guy seems to think that the harsh shifting is natural for these servos.

I feel that hoping for a TV cable (or band) readjustment will lead to disappointment, and while I know the guy will pressure check his work again, I am preparing to have the servos replaced with stockers in the event that that will cure this "kick in the butt" shifting condition.

Any advice or insight is welcome, and I will report back with the results of our meeting next week. Until then, have a happy Memorial Day Weekend!

 

Slack in the TV cable would tend to give you softer, earlier, shifts. Of course, O/D is just a solenoid engaging, opening a path for the fluid. Don't know if there is supposed to be some variety of restriction on the circuit, to prevent harsh engagement....

A list of parts you put into the trans wouldn't hurt here either.

 

When was it previously rebuilt and why are you doing it again? The harsh shifts?

 

Just because it's quick and easy: take a look at the throttle valve. If it's not closing all the way you'll get that symptom. Just looking in at it doesn't tell ya much -- ya gotta disconnect the top side from the linkage stud, then push the bottom side fully closed and secure it that way, then go look at the top side again. The resistance of that return spring is about half a butterfly fart per yard so it's really, really easy to hang up that valve.

That might not be it, but it's a quick and easy check that probably should be done before any pan bolts see wrenches again.

 

I read this message shortly before my computer went into hibernation this morning, and my power cord was about an hour away, sorry for the delay.

Basically I spent almost two years sourcing out every part I could get my hands on that could possibly go into the rebuild, and since the transmission was rebuilt 60,000+ miles prior, for the second rebuild I chose to replace a lot of the "hard" parts like the pinion gear (upgraded), sun gear, ring gear, front and rear planetaries, reverse drum, intermediate shaft (improved), torrington bearings, pump (rebuilt), overdrive piston retainer (improved), roller sprag, snap ring, and a couple of other major parts that I would have to identify by diagram. The idea was to replace as many high mileage parts when applicable, and almost all of them went into the transmission.

Most of the valve body and servo parts came from either PATC or Cascade. The torque converter (lockup, 1800 stall, gasser) came from PATC, as did all the Superior Shift products. I thought it would be less a problem to stick with one product line as much as possible, so the shift correction kit, boost valve top hat clip, and servos all came from Superior (the governor plug kit and accumulator might have come from Sonnax, though). With the exception of the servos, all these parts were installed about 15,000 miles ago.

I already had the GM solenoid conversion unit installed and added a thicker valve body separator plate, along with a new solenoid transducer. I also got new and improved bands and a power wedge anchor. The clutches are Alto reds, I believe with Kolene steels. I bought a basic gasket kit to stitch up everything else and dropped the parts off with my transmission guy who, to his credit, did not flinch at the prospect.

For what I spent I could have probably gotten a Viper transmission shipped out, but I would read the ATSM every couple of months and buy more components. I finally came to my senses and dropped it off with someone who charged a decent rate, and while I'm convinced he did good work I'm afraid that there are just too many new and possibly incompatible parts within. Or maybe he built the transmission to spec with the parts provided, and I'm living with the results of my decisions.

We definitely decided to check the TV cable next week, and the throttle body itself will be inspected, so thanks for that tip--I'd love to believe that it's a linkage issue.

Finally, after picking up the truck I had little time to notice the transmission condition because I was driving on 7 cylinders, a couple of extra misfires here and there, and with a catalytic converter that was about as plugged as could be. But with a new cat, new plugs, and new O2 sensors I've gotten it out on the road enough to really notice what's going on. I'd love to believe that an external mechanical condition might throw off the shifts as well but it didn't occur to me at the time to do that work before having the transmission rebuilt.

(For the record, upon disassembly the transmission guy said that this time the overdrive clutches were burnt up and the torque converter was not far behind. The first rebuild, at 150K, was done after the pump gear grenaded.)

 

You bet your boots I'm going to check that out, thanks!

 

Still haven't resolved the issue, but I'm leaning towards an external condition.

I did not notice the throttle body hanging up any way but I'm going to pull the TB this weekend, mainly to replace the gasket and clean the idle air control pintle and seat. At the same time I'm going to replace my NAPA Echlin TPS and crankshaft sensor with Mopar OEM ones.

(I'm totally on board with the OEM sensor solution, by the way--even the Mopar PCV is an improvement over any aftermarket part that I've used to date.)

I'm inclined to believe the transmission guy that everything is within spec, but he did comment that with a shift kit (Superior) and with a tuner (Hemifever), the two working together effectively double the governor pressure, which creates harsh shifts. This is in addition to the GM solenoid kit installed in the valve body.

As far as the programming goes, I returned it stock but didn't notice any real difference in servo performance. I will contact Hemifever to see if my current tune takes this into consideration.

Should I rule out the throttle body, the sensors, and any vacuum leaks I might drop the pan next month and monkey with the line pressure bolt on the valve body, but I'm going to want to do a lot more research on that. And have a clean catch pan available--ATF is not cheap at all!