1985cucv

Ok ive heard mixed results from this. do you really need to adjust the bands on these trucks? mine has 60 thousand miles on it and i was wondering if it is worth it i will be doing a vb install soon? thanks for the input

aborgardt

I would. atleast the front one. I lost second gear, and might not have if i would have done the 5 minute adjustment.

1985cucv

ok will be doing it then!!!

troll3193

is adjusting them something the common man can do???

Mr Bee

Adjusting them is very simple and not very time consuming. There are two to adjust, one outside of the transmission pan and the other on the inside. The one on the outside is on the drivers side near the front. If you are going to pull the pan off anyway, that is the time to adjust the inside one (1st and Reverse I believe). There are previous threads about the proceedure. Need a torque wrench.

Coolride

A loose band won't hurt a thing , it's tight when the servo piston actuates, just like the drum clutch plates, and you can only tighten those by staggering plate thicknesses around. If the servo piston has to travel 1/4 inch to tighten the band for the shift on a new band, and another 1/16 inch because the band is worn in, what's the difference, the piston has a long bore to take up any slack. I like to adjust the clutches, and bands on a rebuild right to specs., and then let the bands and plates wear down together, so as to keep the shift nice. You don't want the bends grabbing the drums quicker than the plates can lock up the clutches for a shift, you may get a funky shift. Now if you could tear the tranny down and spec the clutches back to factory, then I would adjust the bands back too. There's two parts to a shift, the plates grabing, and bands grabbing, and they have to work in harmony together, don't adjust one and not the other, but most folks do anyway.