pirlbeck

I have an 2006 2500 Cummins with just under 75,000 miles (I know this is actual miles as I bought it new) that had the 2-3 shuttle shift. This started last summer just a few days before we were leaving on a trip to California (from Iowa) with the pickup camper on the back. I only noticed the shifting problems under light load when going up a hill at slower speeds, mostly when I leave my shop, as I have to go up a hill right away in either direction. Anyway, I didn't have time to do anything before we took off and I didn't think it would hurt anything to run it that way, and to be honest I never really noticed it shifting funny much at all on this trip. Shortly after I returned home it started having a very delayed 1-2 shift and a lot of times it wouldn't shift until I lifted totally off the throttle.

This truck is pretty much stock other then the 19.5 tires and rims I put on it for the pickup camper. I did calibrate the speedometer, so it reads correct and prior to this problem developing, the shift points were good. The last 3 summers we have taken trips out west, besides CA in 2019, in 2017 we went to the Banff area of Canada and spent some time at Glacier on the way home. In 2018 we drove to Alaska and back from Iowa. I am mentioning this because of the amount of mountain driving we did and the fact that I added a Cummins exhaust brake when the truck was almost new. Besides the pickup camper, the truck has pulled a 5th wheel RV and a tandem axle goose-neck trailer hauling farm tractors.

So yesterday I dropped the pan and installed the new BW governor pressure solenoid and pressure transducer and when the pan was off I grabbed the front band servo lever and I knew it wasn't good when I saw how much travel it had. So now, after I adjusted the front band the adjusting screw is flush with the jam nut. I tried to locate a "slip in" front band locally and I had no luck, so I put the pan on and filled it with fluid. It seems to shift great now, but I don't want to ruin the drum, so I am planning on installing a new slip in band. I had serviced the trans at 28,000 and 48,000 and both times I pumped most of the oil out the cooler line and used Mopar ATF-4 fluid, so it certainly has not been neglected. I know I adjusted the bands at least one of those times and I most likely did it both times. I am a long time ag tractor mechanic and used to work on vehicles, so I am pretty sure I didn't screw the band adjustments up.

I am pretty disappointed that I have an internal trans problems at less then 75,000.

Anyone have any recommendations they can make on a slip in band and have any suggestions for extending the life of the replacement band? I am thinking I will up grade the servo piston and the band struts at the same time.
Thanks!