Hot Rod Forum banner

700R4 Problem

27K views 18 replies 9 participants last post by  adantessr 
#1 ·
I`m a New Member, Old Rodder, I have a Nice 1961 FORD STARLINER and have had a 700 R4 installed in lieu of the standard "Cruiseomatic". The Car has the "401" engine in it. 4:11 Gears .
The problem is that it seems to either go thru a half gear or is slipping from 2nd to 3rd. I can`t stand this. I want it to go 1,2,3,4. It acts like it`s going thru
5 gears. I`ve been told that it`s in the "Lockup". I don`t understand what this means, What is a "lockup?"
What can I do to get this to shift right?
Thanks
Ed
fsd2@cox.net
 
#2 ·
700r4

The 700r4 should lock-up in 4th gear (stock set up). The torque converter is locked in by a solenoid when the trans is in 4th. There is a switch inside the trans that triggers this. This trans needs 12v key on power to operate. There should also be a vacuum switch that is in that hot wire to only allow it to lock under vacuum. This is a stock set up. You can put a kit in it to let you manually
lock it in 2nd and 3rd. I just did mine with a tci kit this way. I also put a little l.e.d. light between the manual switch and ground just for kicks. There is plenty of info here for you to check out. Hope this helps..Brad
 
#3 ·
muffmaned said:
I`m a New Member, Old Rodder, I have a Nice 1961 FORD STARLINER and have had a 700 R4 installed in lieu of the standard "Cruiseomatic". The Car has the "401" engine in it. 4:11 Gears .
The problem is that it seems to either go thru a half gear or is slipping from 2nd to 3rd. I can`t stand this. I want it to go 1,2,3,4. It acts like it`s going thru
5 gears. I`ve been told that it`s in the "Lockup". I don`t understand what this means, What is a "lockup?"
What can I do to get this to shift right?
Thanks
Ed
fsd2@cox.net
i am not a transmission guy by any stretch of the imagination but just from being around this stuff it seems that a lot of the issues are in the TV cable adjustment. If it is incorrect it will shift wrong and burn up the transmission in short order. There are several threads on this adjustment and I believe it gets trickier with retrofits.
 
#4 · (Edited)
The factory recommended adjustment of the 700R4 TV cable is as follows. Hold the throttle at wide open by what ever means available. Easiest to have somebody hold the go pedal to the floor. Depress the tab on the TV cable adjustment and tighten the cable until all the free travel is gone. I mean 'tight' . If it shifts too hard for your liking from 1st to 2nd, you can loosen the cable (very slightly), I mean, don't go more than 1/16" at a time. It is very sensitive. I attached the wiring diagram for manual control of the lockup converter. Don't forget to ground (pin D). :embarrass :sweat: :confused: :thumbup: It works fantastic great in my T-bucket. BTW Since neither you nor I are using a factory GM brake light switch, a 5 pin relay works great. Let me know if you need help wiring the relay. But if you have any electrical knowledge at all, you won't need my help.
 

Attachments

#5 ·
Prof. T. Soggmeyer said:
The 700r4 should lock-up in 4th gear (stock set up). The torque converter is locked in by a solenoid when the trans is in 4th. There is a switch inside the trans that triggers this. This trans needs 12v key on power to operate. There should also be a vacuum switch that is in that hot wire to only allow it to lock under vacuum. This is a stock set up. You can put a kit in it to let you manually
lock it in 2nd and 3rd. I just did mine with a tci kit this way. I also put a little l.e.d. light between the manual switch and ground just for kicks. There is plenty of info here for you to check out. Hope this helps..Brad

Good info there, Prof. I wired mine up with a LED lighted rocker switch. :cool:
 
#6 · (Edited)
muffmaned said:
I`m a New Member, Old Rodder, I have a Nice 1961 FORD STARLINER and have had a 700 R4 installed in lieu of the standard "Cruiseomatic". The Car has the "401" engine in it. 4:11 Gears .
The problem is that it seems to either go thru a half gear or is slipping from 2nd to 3rd. I can`t stand this. I want it to go 1,2,3,4. It acts like it`s going thru
5 gears. I`ve been told that it`s in the "Lockup". I don`t understand what this means, What is a "lockup?"
What can I do to get this to shift right?
Thanks
Ed
fsd2@cox.net
All the info above is good. But you must assure you have the correct geometry on the carb linkage. There are many threads in the section on this very subject just search on 700R4.

Also, the 700R4 should shift three times and then the converter clutch should lock, which will feel like a 4th shift. Sometimes the 3rd shift and the converter clutch will lock nearly at the same time, so you might not feel the lockup.

Try this thread first.

Good luck and come back with more questions and don't forget to post when you get it going correctly.

Oh, Welcome too!
 
#7 ·
tv cable setting is definally important the lock up drops rpms about 300 rpms by locking the torque converter directly to the transmission elemating slippage it is done electricly unless a mechanical lock up conversion has been done .Under normal driving it should shift about 2500 rpm give or take afew rpms like mentioned in the aboved post you have to hsave the correct tv linage and adjustment
 
#8 ·
adantessr said:
The factory recommended adjustment of the 700R4 TV cable is as follows. Hold the throttle at wide open by what ever means available. Easiest to have somebody hold the go pedal to the floor. Depress the tab on the TV cable adjustment and tighten the cable until all the free travel is gone. I mean 'tight' . If it shifts too hard for your liking from 1st to 2nd, you can loosen the cable (very slightly), I mean, don't go more than 1/16" at a time. It is very sensitive. I attached the wiring diagram for manual control of the lockup converter. Don't forget to ground (pin D). :embarrass :sweat: :confused: :thumbup: It works fantastic great in my T-bucket. BTW Since neither you nor I are using a factory GM brake light switch, a 5 pin relay works great. Let me know if you need help wiring the relay. But if you have any electrical knowledge at all, you won't need my help.
so...under normal operation, when you use this lockup system, you will only lock up in 4th gear?

BTW, thanks for the information.
 
#9 ·
revspan said:
so...under normal operation, when you use this lockup system, you will only lock up in 4th gear?

BTW, thanks for the information.
If you have it wired up through a toggle switch like I do, it will lockup in 3rd speed also, maybe even 2nd. Not sure on that, but it will lockup in 3rd for sure. I have driven with the switch on and it does suffer on acceleration because of not having the torque converter letting the rpm come up, and it also shifts harder. The 5 pin relay has a wiring schematic of the internal wiring of the relay embossed on the side of it, so betwee the wiring diagram I attached and that, you can't go wrong with even a little electrical knowledge. The reason that you want the relay in there is so that the torque converter unlocks when you apply the brakes, even with the switch on. Big Al
 
#10 · (Edited)
If you want 4th gear lockup only, Go here.

This is the most desirable setup for completely automatic operation of the TCC.

Or if you want more control of the TCC, which is more desirable to me check out the picture below.

ETA: the references to switch locations and wire colors is for my application only. Yours will differ depending on how you do it. Good Luck!

Happy New Year!
 

Attachments

#14 ·
revspan said:
oops, I looked closer at your post(ovrdrv), and now see that the relay in your drawing is not part of the transmission TC lockout. Sorry, I should have looked closer.
The inline photo of my wiring for the TCC does indeed use a relay as does the WiKi linked diagram.

One could do it without a relay but I've found a relay helps unload the switches and lets you use smaller wiring in your control section. Each to his own, I prefer to use relay for nearly everything these days.
 
#15 ·
my vehicle is completely stripped of all the "factory" electrical stuff. everything is on switches now, the "brake" switch has a normaly closed switch but when you press down on the brake pedal it goes to an open switch, any reason why i shouldnt wire my tcc through that switch?
 
#17 ·
dieselnut said:
my vehicle is completely stripped of all the "factory" electrical stuff. everything is on switches now, the "brake" switch has a normaly closed switch but when you press down on the brake pedal it goes to an open switch, any reason why i shouldnt wire my tcc through that switch?
Since you already have the normally closed switch incorporated in your brake light switch, you won't need to use the relay. My T-bucket has a pressure switch to operate the brake lights, which is why I had to use a relay. I don't remember if I gave you the wiring diagram earlier, so here it is. Remember to ground the wire connected to the 'D' pin. Big Al
 

Attachments

#18 ·
dieselnut said:
my vehicle is completely stripped of all the "factory" electrical stuff. everything is on switches now, the "brake" switch has a normaly closed switch but when you press down on the brake pedal it goes to an open switch, any reason why i shouldnt wire my tcc through that switch?
Are you sure about that? Usually the brake light switch is NC. When the pedal is up, not being pressed, the switch is open, depressed, no brake lights. When you press the brake pedal the switch closes and lights the brake lights. Just the opposite of what you need for the TCC. That is why the relay is used.
 
#19 ·
Overdriv said:
Are you sure about that? Usually the brake light switch is NC. When the pedal is up, not being pressed, the switch is open, depressed, no brake lights. When you press the brake pedal the switch closes and lights the brake lights. Just the opposite of what you need for the TCC. That is why the relay is used.
The GM switch listed in this diagram has four contacts. for both normally open and normally closed, which it appears, that is the same switch that the OP has.
 

Attachments

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top