lglamb

Ok, with any moderate pedal pressure from start, the engine revs
up to 2000ish rpm and stays there while the tranny shifts up thru
the gears and gains speed. Tach doesn't pay any attention to
gear shifts, just stays at whatever rpm, until up to 45 or so when
converter locks up and then goes into overdrive. By this time the
engine rpm will drop and track with speed.

So, does this sound like torque converter not working well?

And, would it make much sense to replace the converter while
not doing much with the otherwise reasonably working tranny?
Thinking cost/benefit/eventual upgrade -vs- upgrade quite a
bit sooner.


Thanks,
Lowell
-not bombed yet, but early VA version laying around here somewhere.

piperca

Sounds like a stock tranny to me!

Big Deezul

yeah...sounds like a stocker to me. The stock converters are far from efficient thats why when they lock it is so drastic. You could do some vb mods which may help the converter out, but if you replaced it, it would feel alot better. There are some decent single disc out there for $400-$700

I would do a SK shift kit and a decent single disc (http://www.tciauto.com/truck/diesel_products.htm#dodge avail at Summit Racing $489 with billet frt or $369 with standard frt) and you will probably be able to use that stock tranny for a while yet since you have no mods.

BigBlue

Yup. Perfectly normal for a stock tranny.

j-fox

What these auto trannies need is a better ( tighter fluid coupling) converter and more pressure in the trans. It needs the internal leaks stopped( that bleed off the working pressure) to help keep this pressure strong.
By changing just a converter and or a VB, you will only do part of it. This is your choice, I can't make it for you. The surge forward when the converter locks up is what over heats it, which glazes the clutch lining. A simple approach is to build more clutches in the converter. The correct way is to tighten the fluid coupling so the converter clutch only has to pull 100-200 rpm out of the cummins.