Tips For Tranny Survival...

[ssprince]

The converter will lock in 3rd? I havent felt that, I drive in 3rd on occassion (lurking) and I dont feel my converter locking, Should it? I'm going to look a little more for this.............

[Ohnoitsa60]

I know at wot yours does not lock FOR SURE!!!At 41 I would have seen it in the datalogs. I really dont think you would feel the converter lock on the stock T/C

[MyLS1Hauls]

With stock TCC PWM tuning, you will not feel it lock, but should be able to tell when you give it gas if it's locked or not. If the rpms don't come up, then its locked. When I still had a stock converter, but altered the PWM duty cycle tables, it locked up hard. Put the shifter in 3 and drive at 30 mph with steady throttle. It will lock within a couple seconds.

[Warwagon]

Originally Posted by The Anti-prius

My feeling on this is you don't use D until you're cruising until highway speeds (55+). If you want mileage you shouldn't have bought an SS.

Originally Posted by The Anti-prius

Not in D.

No matter your take on this The Anti-prius agrees with you.

Manually shift between OD and D3. Use D3 to get up to speed and for any hills that cause a down shift. Leave it locked in D3 on the first down shift until you are over the top of the hill and have decided you do not need compression braking on the way down. (Or the hill has leveled out.) Use D3 when you are going to stop, it will help slow you down and you are already in D3 to take off again.

Never use towing? That is an old school rule that applies to older vehicles. With the 4.10 rear end the engine is turning fast enough to not need 3rd while towing. The old school rule for 3rd was because the OD unit was weak, the engine and trans needed more RPM for cooling and the charging system, so this sticker to use 3rd towing was put in the driver door jamb. (Use 3rd if the trans is hunting in and out of 4th while towing.)

From the notes I have on the EV clutch fan you don't want to be turning the engine over 3500 RPM when it fully locks in. Make note of the fan starting to be used, some noise - run any RPM you like, and fully locked up, extreme noise - keep it under 3500 RPM MAX.

[UBenPasd]

so would it also be best to have it in 3 when doing moderate 3.5-4k pulls in 1st and 2nd, just playing around, around town?

[dwarmenzerk]

whoa, i wish i had read this about a year ago when i bought my ss.. :P

[MommyMobileSS]

thank god for threads like these!
Not that I'll be racing around much.. you know... with kids in the car and all
But this is good info to know for future messin' around.
Anything to save a tranny! My warranty is only good for another 11k or until sometime in 09...

[dwarmenzerk]

you must have an 06

[MommyMobileSS]

Originally Posted by dwarmenzerk

you must have an 06

you'd be correct.

Its bullshit that in 07 they came out with the longer warranty.

[Carolina Boy]

Tony and Mike should make viewing this thread a prerequisite to enter the site. Everyone seems to really appreciate the heads-up. Could save mucho dinero in the future!!

[01xdime]

Now i'm knocking on wood when i say this but i'm at 26k miles, still stock, and i've only had my tranny act funny twice. I'm no driving miss daisy either and i'm sure my SS sees WOT at least once a day. I can't help myself. 2 times it went to and hit the rev limit going from 2nd to 3rd until i let off the gas. That was almost 10K miles ago. If i go from a dig put it in first and knock it into second around 5000 or so rpms (not lifting the pedal of course) and it upshifts just before the limiter but a little later than when starting in 3rd. At first i thought maybe this would speed up the trannys death but not so far. I also almost always manually downshift if i'm messing around. Say for example from a 55-60mph roll i let off the gas and drop it into 3rd then 2nd then hammer down. Sometimes i can blip the throttle and have a nice smooth transition just like rev matching with a 5spd. The nice thing about downshifting like this is the power is there instantly without having to wait for the downshift which has saved me a half a car from a rolling race against the same opponent. Somehow i feel like what i'm doing is better for the tranny.

[bntpro]

Thanks for the tips!

[Anointed Fighter]

Originally Posted by UBenPasd

so would it also be best to have it in 3 when doing moderate 3.5-4k pulls in 1st and 2nd, just playing around, around town?

mine stays in 3 unless i hit a wide open space or a freeway and if i plan to even do an agressive pass to overtake another car i put it back in 3 before i lay into it.....

these tips are no GUARANTEE but they will make the tranny last as long as possible.....the overrun clutches and the 4th gear half pack clutches are what will let go and as soon as you have debris in the fluid then it is all JUST A MATTER of time at that point....



in fact EVERY SINGLE PERSON that races your truck all season long it would BEHOOVE you to pull the tranny every other season at a MINIMUM if you have had ZERO issues and send it back to the builder for an inspection and freshening......if you have had issues then it's a moot point

[fastone27]

Ok! i get it! Now with my 402 and right at 450rwhp i do feel my 1-2 shifts are a little soft and at close to WOT it slips a decent amount, And now that i have HP tuners pro (Dont know a fuggin thing about how to use it yet) i am wanting to up the line pressure just a little to make it shift firmer therefore eliminating the slippage. Are any of you doing the same thing? i had this issue before the stroker and we just added not even 5% to the line pressure and it felt perfect with no slippage.

[MyLS1Hauls]

Originally Posted by fastone27

Ok! i get it! Now with my 402 and right at 450rwhp i do feel my 1-2 shifts are a little soft and at close to WOT it slips a decent amount, And now that i have HP tuners pro (Dont know a fuggin thing about how to use it yet) i am wanting to up the line pressure just a little to make it shift firmer therefore eliminating the slippage. Are any of you doing the same thing? i had this issue before the stroker and we just added not even 5% to the line pressure and it felt perfect with no slippage.

Don't expect the stock trans to last long with a 402! It needs a shift kit and a vette intermediate servo at a bare minimum, along with good trans tuning. But the way I see it, you have to pull the trans and pump to install the Transgo in a 65/70e, so you might as well install the wider 2/4 band, better 3/4 clutch pack, and BW dual cage sprag for a couple hundred dollars more.

[08 tbSS]

OK what is the safe ratio for torque management and line pressure once it has been changed from stock? i.e. if the TQM has been reduced to 50% how much should the line pressure increase?

[Anointed Fighter]

if i was tuning a STOCK trans i would:

REDUCE the force motor current tables by a multiplier of .9 (both positive and negative)

INCREASE line pressure by a multiplier of 1.1

I WOULD LEAVE TM STOCK, when you STIFFIN the shift events the TM will soften the shift to the driveline but the pressure and force motor current make a CRISP SOLID shift....the slow lazy shifts allow a little slip under HEAVY LOADS.....and once the slip starts it get progressively worse over time and before you know it you have lost the trans.....***if you are inclined to reduce the TM i recommend never going below a multiplier of .66 because i have provven with different combo's that there is NO ET benefit to reduce it below .66 from stock*** TM is your friend when trying to SQUEEZE power through the 4L70E in a 5000 lb. truck!!!!!!!!!!!!

i would take the values further for a built trans......

but either trans should have the DOWN SHIFT PRESSURE TABLES MAXED at 93 and all the up shift tables the same and all the upshift tables should have the 3-4 shifts maxed at 93.......

these are settings that will SHORTEN and STRENGTHEN the shift sequence event and help to ensure a long life of the trans......




BUT AGAIN.....COOLER AND SERVO's are a must.....and CIRCLE D's billet servo's have the best diameter hole for MAX application pressure.....

[08 tbSS]

Originally Posted by freemaSSon

if i was tuning a STOCK trans i would:

REDUCE the force motor current tables by a multiplier of .9 (both positive and negative)

INCREASE line pressure by a multiplier of 1.1

I WOULD LEAVE TM STOCK, when you STIFFIN the shift events the TM will soften the shift to the driveline but the pressure and force motor current make a CRISP SOLID shift....the slow lazy shifts allow a little slip under HEAVY LOADS.....and once the slip starts it get progressively worse over time and before you know it you have lost the trans.....***if you are inclined to reduce the TM i recommend never going below a multiplier of .66 because i have provven with different combo's that there is NO ET benefit to reduce it below .66 from stock*** TM is your friend when trying to SQUEEZE power through the 4L70E in a 5000 lb. truck!!!!!!!!!!!!

i would take the values further for a built trans......

but either trans should have the DOWN SHIFT PRESSURE TABLES MAXED at 93 and all the up shift tables the same and all the upshift tables should have the 3-4 shifts maxed at 93.......

these are settings that will SHORTEN and STRENGTHEN the shift sequence event and help to ensure a long life of the trans......




BUT AGAIN.....COOLER AND SERVO's are a must.....and CIRCLE D's billet servo's have the best diameter hole for MAX application pressure.....

Thanks for the info. I am going to see me tuner this afternoon and have him check my settings.

[nViouSS]

Vince, does FLT sell transcoolers??

[duff70]

what values would you put in for a built rpm trans.