bradshaw106

i ordered my new goerend converter today while talking to him i picked his brain about shiftkits..
he does not recommend them. for several reasons. one, by increasing the line pressure in our trannys can cause the reverse band servo to caulk off to one side in the bore causing lost reverse or a broken band. second, he doesn't think the converter drain issue is as big of a deal that everyone makes it out to be. he says the tranny does pump fluid in park just not that much about a quart a minuet. all you have to do is when you first start the truck put it in neutral for 10-15 seconds which fills the converter then you can put in park and let it idle, no biggie. consequently he is weary on the transgo kits because if it isn't adjusted properly it cause the rear band to drag eventually destroying the band and clutch.
so now i have a shiftkit sitting on my desk and not sure if i should use it?

Tuckerdee

Mine's working fine. Been in there for about 25,000 miles. It does take some attention during installation and setup to do it right. I also have a super duper whatever-else reverse servo that won't flip and guaranteed "no-leak". It's taller then stock. My bands are heavy duty as well.

bradshaw106

tucker do you like your hughes converter?

Tuckerdee

Yes. Mostly. It's a huge upgrade over stock. I picked up a couple of miles per gallon, and there's actually an rpm difference between shifts! It's not the ultimate converter. There's certainly better/tighter ones out there. But it was the best bang for the buck that I could find.

Richie O

Bradshaw, I know goerend knows more then me but I have always believed that shift kits make trannys last longer. All of my thoughts are based on gasser toys. They are different. I know in police cruisers a tranny rebuilt with a shift kit included lasted longer. It was also cool to see a full size caprice churp second gear. I have always thought that with the increased line pressure the clutches had less of a chance to slip. I think where his fact comes from, and we can call his ideas a fact ( he has earned that ) that you need to beef up other things that the shift kit puts more pressure on. Its the old addage its only as strong as the weakest link.

Crossy's son

When we put the shift kit in our 727 it took 4 hours. (lots of mods you gotta do to the valve body itself.)

It made it shift from 1-2 way firmer with no hunting. Did'nt chirp gears or anything. Here's a video with the shift kit in under full throttle.

They do infact get rid of "converter drainback" .....no more letting truck idle in N for 30 seconds before taking off.

Boatnik

I,m old school. I believe that a proper shift kit or valve body modification will help the tranny last longer. The higher pump pressure helps hold the bands tighter while under load. Firmer shifts reduce the amount of slippage while transfering power from one gear to the next reducing band wear. Allowing more fluid to be pumped to the converter in park is a very good thing, especially after pulling a heavy load and you are trying to cool things off on the boat ramp. And finally, I love the feeling of the back glass slapping me in the back of my head when I am dusting off a Chevy at the next traffic light.

Ace

It's even cooler behind the wheel in my '71 New Yorker TnT! The 'ol 440 hits 2nd at about 60mph WOT and never fails to get some interesting looks from people as it goes by doing that.

I have about 10k miles on the Transgo TF2 in there and romp on it all the time, no issues in over four years with plenty of abusive driving.