How is reverse gear acting? Is it slipping at all? If it is, it could be 1st -reverse band adjustment. It's pretty easy as the adjustment is external and easy to check. Did the tranny just start to mess up? or are you just putting everything together? I'm not familiar with TCI tranny's but I am familiar with the 727.

 

Man, just checked out TCI's webstite and they have a menu with great tech. info. Go check it out! You should get all your answers. :thumbup: What ever you find out give us an update OK?

 

Will do. Reverse works fine. It has been running ok and sat in the shop for about a month and now is doing as I described above.

 

Hey guys, checked out TCIs site and left a message, Russ answered within hours. Suggested I do a line pressure check, did it today and here are the results;

P=0
R=0
N=0
D=87
2=87
1=87

All these are @2000RPM against the brakes.

What's up with Reverse?? It engages and feels as strong as ever. How can there be no line pressure in reverse?

 

First and reverse are the same band. Get your result's back to "Russ" and see what he has to say.

 

the low - reverse band does not apply when the shifter is in "D" and the vehicle is stopped.The roller clutch in the back of the case holds the drum to create first gear with out the band applied

if this trans starts off in 2nd gear... the governor or the vavle body is sticking in the upshifted position for 2nd gear.

you did not see line pressure in some gears since the torque flight does not put all main line pressure to one port. you must hook into all three ports to get more readings.

 

Thanks for the info guys. I only have on gauge and hose so one port at a time. Since Reverse feels normal can I assume it's not a pressure problem?

The trans has to come out so I'll take a look at the valves and governor. Is the governor driven off the output shaft? Not sure what it even looks like in a 727.

Could a high idle 1200RPM and/or a misadjusted throttle cable cause it to start in second?

Thanks again for the info.

 

I'll put it this way, the governor is the first thing I would replace if it was a TH350-TH400. I had a problem with mine when 3rd gear would just disappear while cruising at 50 MPH or more. I took the gov. out and you could see the wear on the shaft. A new one fixed it. Since yours is internal it might be a little more work. It's funny though that it will work when you go to first gear and then to drive, I would take a long look at the shift linkage adjustment. Again!

 

OK, here is some more information to this thread that might be helpful to others.

With the trans out of the car, I checked the governor, OK. I then pulled the valve body and completely took it apart and cleaned everything. Used crocus cloth on all valves untill everything was sliding freely. There was some stickyness to a couple of the valves.

Reinstalled the trans and adjusted all settings as per spec.

Now in "D" the trans starts out in first and shifts to 2nd at about 5 MPH and into 3rd by 15 MPH. The shifts are very suttle and smooth but seems a bit to soon maybe. It does downshift to 1St at a stop now.

Also, there is no "kickdown" to second when flooring the accelerator pedal at say 40MPH.

At WOT the cable is pulled to full extension.

It has a 3000RPM converter and a 3.73 rear gear.

Comments please??

 

Stronger spring on the TV needed, check the throw on the lever and TV valve where the lever strikes it.

Also , the TV on the trans has a 2 stage ( sorta) ... you can push the TV lever back and it seems to stop. Push it harder and the lever travels more

 

Double checked the TV adjustment, ok. The pull on the cable seems to have the same tension on it for the entire pull. Trans is still shifting very soon after taking off normally and shifts are very soft. Double checked the governor, it's ok.

So, we take the valve body down again. Take it apart and clean it up again. The only sticky valve I found was the little valve in the 3-2 downshift limit assembly. I freed it up and noticed while we had that off there is a 3/8 steel ball between the 1-2 shift control valve and the 3-2 downshift limit assembly (it's what holds that valve in). The ball fits inside the spring so it must be there to limit the travel of the 1-2 shift control valve????

But, I can't find that ball in any drawings of the valve body in the factory manual I have or in TCIs instructions for their Trans-Scat Kit, which I assume is what it has as it's a TCI Super Street Fighter.

I guess my question is could a sticky 3-2 downshift valve assembly cause these problems? Does this ball make sense to anyone?

This trans did work OK when first installed. It was removed when the engine was out and sat around in a climate controlled shop for a couple months.

And after reinstalling, it has the problems described.

It has always had TCI synthetic fluid in it. Seems to have more viscosity than regular trans fluid????

 

I guess I've thoroughly confused everyone. I think there is something going on with the pressures. If it doesn't work this time, it's coming out and I'm going to look at the pump. There just isn't anything else to look at.

 

Double checked the TV adjustment, ok. The pull on the cable seems to have the same tension on it for the entire pull. Trans is still shifting very soon after taking off normally and shifts are very soft. Double checked the governor, it's ok.

So, we take the valve body down again. Take it apart and clean it up again. The only sticky valve I found was the little valve in the 3-2 downshift limit assembly. I freed it up and noticed while we had that off there is a 3/8 steel ball between the 1-2 shift control valve and the 3-2 downshift limit assembly (it's what holds that valve in). The ball fits inside the spring so it must be there to limit the travel of the 1-2 shift control valve????

But, I can't find that ball in any drawings of the valve body in the factory manual I have or in TCIs instructions for their Trans-Scat Kit, which I assume is what it has as it's a TCI Super Street Fighter.

I guess my question is could a sticky 3-2 downshift valve assembly cause these problems? Does this ball make sense to anyone?

This trans did work OK when first installed. It was removed when the engine was out and sat around in a climate controlled shop for a couple months.

And after reinstalling, it has the problems described.

It has always had TCI synthetic fluid in it. Seems to have more viscosity than regular trans fluid????

if the shifts are soft and early, id put some more tv into it and see if you can get the shifts to firm up and get them in a bit later.

 

If a tranny shifts at say, 1st to 2nd at 2500 rpm with 2:73 rear gears and you switch to 4:10's your not going to shift at 35 mph any more. 2500 rpm with 4:10's is closer to 25 mph and even lower speed with 4:56's.
to shift at the same speed (35 mph) with 4:10's modification of the shift gov.
and or adj. modulator will have to be used and tweeked to fine tune shift points.
I used to have a 69 dart w/440, 2600 high stall hemi converter and a sox and martin manual shift reverse pattern and when I took off in drive, it would go 1-2-3 in about 30 mph and would not down shift at any speed unless I pulled the shifter back. If I held it in 1st till about 3000 rpm it would snap your neck and bark the tires!

What rear gears does he have? How does it shift when shifted manually?
Perhaps a modified or high performance Governor might help.

 

OK, here's another update. I found the TV lever on the trans was installed upside down. I hate to admit it but I think I did that.

It was not pushing the throttle valve fully in. That explains why no downshift at WOT and would probably also explain the early shifts. We didn't get to test drive it today as it was raining. This trailer queen never goes out in the rain.

Thanks for all the help guys, I'll update after a test drive.

 

Well the test drive was a success! Trans shifted perfectly and downshifts when expected. So the original problem of starting in second was fixed when I cleaned up the valves and valve body. I created the 2nd problem of stacking shifts and no kickdown (passing gear) when I put it back together, by installing the TV lever upside down. I hate to admit such a stupid mistake, but at least I caught it and fixed it before any damage was done. It's not like I work on automatic transmissions every day. That was only the second 727, the first was 25 years ago.

Thanks again for all the suggestions.