I hate transmissions! 4l60e shifts awful

G

georgewe4

New Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2004
After many months of having this beutiful transmission sitting in my garage, today was the day that me and a good friend of mine finally installed the thing in my Z-71. Hours of work, taking our time, doing things right turned out to be a disappointment. I couldnt wait to get the truck out of the garage and feel the crisp shifts of a Punisher transmission from Mad Dog Transmissions (located in Florida).
I was highly disappointed to find that the transmission shifts soft and slow at half to wide open throttle. By slow I mean it stays between gears too long, its not a quick shift. The shift points seem to be ok, and shifting at minimal throttle seem to be ok as well. The old transmission that was in the truck did about the same thing. It was a little slow from reverse to drive, basically thought it was at least shifting although sluggish.
Now with tranny nimber two acting the same way I am wondering could it be something electronic? There is no TV cable on this truck. Fluid level is correct, checked it while hot. I'm just basically very disappointed.........
This is a 94 Z-71 350 engine, if this helps.
Anyone have any thoughts?
I am going to contact them early this week to see what they have to say? Maybe thats the way its supposed to shift? They didn't ask if I wanted a soft/firm shift. I just figured with the name punisher...It would shift harder. Right now the only thig punished is my wallet, and time....:mad:
 
I can't help you with your trans, but go to thirdgen.org and camaroz28.com and search for mad dog transmissions. You won't find too many favorable reviews for them.:frown:
 
The 4L60 is just one of those transmissions...If you have a good transmission guy they can make it shift as firm as you would like, but to make a 4L60 hold together takes someone who has some knowledge and skill..
 
I just talked to the owner on the phone. He agrees that the transmission should not shift like that. He did tell me that I need to drive the truck more than what I have before thinking that something isn't right. I have driven the truck about 20 miles so far. It was mostly 55+ MPH. He told me I need to do some more driving and do more stop and go driving to make sure all air etc is worked out and to allow the computer to work better with the transmission. He said the stop and go would bring the temp up to 180 degrees and then check the fluid level. I told him I would do that. I am trying to keep an open mind even though I have a deep feeling that this is not going to work. He said I may want to do a scan since the new transmission acts like the old one before I tear into the new transmission.
Sound like bull???????
 
4L60s and 4L60Es have no place in high performance unless you're a cruising street rodder that does a lot of freeway traveling to get to car shows. There are just too many components in them that won't handle torque spiking for longer than a year or year and a half. Hence, the reason why most builders WILL learn to tame down the hard shifting with one of these units.

We have a truck customer that wanted it hard, so we gave it to him. We haven't heard anything back from him for awhile. Last we heard, he was happy with it. Must be the special treatment we did to his internals.
 
:tongue:

Yeah. I guess I should have re-worded that. After I read over it though, I thought, Ahhh, what the hell.;)
 
It should not take any many miles of driving for a transmission to shift correctly, its a pressurized fluid system, the air is out almost instantly...sounds like the beginning of a runaround to me..My guy built me one for my 94 k1500 which I had converted to all wheel drive with a 1 ton driveline and a 4L60E, I built a turbochrged 350 for it and drove hard for 2 full years with no prolems ever.....its just about knowing how to put it together correctly with the right parts..
 
Would the computer in the truck have anything to do with the shifting problems I have? Any way that I can do a scan without having to rely on a transmission shop. Ive been screwed :eek: so many times on transmissions in my short life of 35 years that I'm afraid to trust any more shops.
 
With any 4l60e anytime a rebuild or a new transmission is installed you have clear the trans adapts.The computer adjusts psi over time to accomodate clutch wear and also driver input.
The best thing you need to do is buy LS1 edit or HP tuners and tune your transmission.There are things in the stock program that need to be turned off and psi that need to raised.You can have the best internals and built right,but if the program isn't right the trans will not last long.I have built many that stand up well behind 500rwhp cars and trucks.I have also built many that are behind slightly modified cars and have broke..alot of that has to do with a way a person abuses it.
 
I actually may have this fixed. I was able to talk to the guy that built the transmission once again. He told me about a force motor that I could adjust if I removed the pan. He also sent me a fax to locate the force motor. I went and bought a drain plug kit so I could hopefully kill two birds with one stone. I was able to drop the pan, find the force motor and found the screw in the end of that force motor. He told me to turn it 1/4 turn clockwise to increase pressure. I did that, re-installed the pan, filled and drove the truck. Little change, maybe slightly better. I returned drained the fluid using my new drain plug and turned the scre about another 1/3 turn clockwise. I was suprised to find a nice firm shift, shifting points were right on, no flairing. No leaks.
I assume all is well. First and second shift are firm, third and fourth fast but not firm. Transmission does not slip.
 
Its a 94 Z-71. Yes it was changed. I talked to the rebuilder about all of this.
Along with extra clutches, corvette servo yada yada yada.
Its still working great:D
 
thats actually called a pressure control solenoid and that is really not the right way to increase pressure all that is doing is putting a bandaid on the problem.The factory has that solenoid preset at a given amp to a specific psi.
I'm surprsied that you don't have a harsh engagement going into rev or drive by setting the psi higher now.You really need to have your trans adapts cleared.
 
I agree with gmgearhead. I have never had to mess with the pressure control solenoid to correct a bad shift. Bandaid fix is the perfect description.
 
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