Feeling like it is sticking / taking off in second or third gear is a governor / valve body problem. The working fine in manual 1 or manual 2 is a dead give away. I bet a wide open take off will force it to take off in low too.

You guys are all going to think I am crazy for this example, but all the Chrysler 3 speed auto trannies including the front drive transaxles work the same. ( Transaxle is a modified A-904 )

I had a Dodge Caravan that did this. It would pull away in high gear at light throttle, but, if you mashed the throttle or jiggled the lever to 1 0r 2 it would work fine. It turned out the fluid was burned nasty from being over heated (rocking to get unstuck) and the crud had plugged the filter, valve body & governor. A good cleaning of all the above fixed it & I never had another problem with it. Before you rebuild, pull the pan & tail housing. Clean the governor & valve body. Adjust the line pressure & throttle pressure settings on the valve body & install fresh fluid & filter. I bet your trans works perfect.

 

Rampage, thanks for the advice. I haven't pulled the tail housing yet. I have put 3 new filters in and cleaned and changed the fluid 3 times. It'll run pretty good for a few days, then be back to normal. When you cleaned yours and adjusted the valve body/governor, and line pressure, did that hold, or were you messing with it again not long after? I just need the thing fixed right. I'm taking it in for free diagnostic at the tranny shop, so, I guess we'll see what the problem is for sure. I will mention what you said to Dave, and we'll see what comes of it. I'll let you fellas know. Thanks again.

 

If nothin else, I would get the transmssion flushed and put in new fluid, filter, adjust bands, turn up the pressure, and put a bottle of lucas trans fix (I've had good luck with this stuff) in too.
here is a link in the sticky i used a few weeks ago when i serviced my transmisssion.

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...e-t265745.html

 

I read that sticky link...I wish I would have read that awhile back! I have changed the filter tree times now, flushed and replaced fluids...gaskets...I might just do the rebuild...thats were I am at. I don't have time to be messing with it all the time, hopin' evry lil' thing fixes it...we'll see what Ultimate says...thanks though Smokin'.

 

It took me several tries before I figured out I had to remove the governor assembly & the valve body, dissemble them & clean everything by hand. Also, make sure all the parts move freely, even if you have to polish the valves lightly with crocus cloth. After I did that & installed a new filter & fluid with the cleaned parts I never had another problem.

Crud builds up in corners in the valve body & the only way to get it out is to take it all apart for a manual cleaning.

BTW. Seeing the fact you have a 4x4, I understand not pulling the tail housing yet, but, the governor sticking is probably the major problem.

 

If the governor was sticking the trans wouldnt want to upshift either...

 

you ever figure out whats going on with your trans?

 

No, I think its what you said though, sticky valve, or somethin'. I don't really want to take it to aamco, even though they will assess it for free. The place I have heard nothin' but good about doesn't have a 6 months no interest like they do (aamco) though either...$2000 bills & up for a rebuild...don't have it at the moment. I might just take it there to get looked at at least....I haven't had the time to do what you told me about, that's probably what I need to do. Been drivin' my Landcruiser mostly but I miss the 20 mpgs. I'll let you know. Thanks again for the help.