well I installed my edge today. and loaded level 2. tested it out. and liked everything except the shift firmness. the shift firmness I am refering to is the standard shift firmness. I was hoping for a solid shift feel. So I customized the shift firmness and brought it up to 12. still the standard shift when I was not heavy into the gas felt pretty lame. so I customized again and put it up 25 which is the most it would go. and I am still not impressed with how firm it shifts. from what I read in the book the shift firmness is a percent of what the stock tranny shifts. so at 25 it is just 25% higher than the stock firmness. which to me dose not seem like much sense you can not hardly feel the tranny shift unless you go wot. I would like to see like a +100 on tranmission shift firmness. so is the shift firmness I adjusted mostely effecting my wot firmness. and is there any issues with running it at +25?
and another question do you have to return to stock each time I reprogram? the first time I reprogrammed I did return to stock. the second time I reprogrammed I did not. it seemed to work both times.

 

You're only allowed to customize WOT settings, to get customized normal driving options you have to get your edge custom tuned. talk to bill (asemechanic) he can hook you up

 

Call me stupid!

I really don't know what people are looking for in "shift firmness". What I want is a change of gears where the transmission does not sound/feel like it is trying to make up its mind. I don't want a "delay" at a high RPM while the transmission says, " Do I or don't I (upshift)?".

This was the shift feel I got on the "stock" f150 automatic transimission, before I installed my Edge. Now, with the "canned" settings on level 2, the transmission upshifts quickly and without hesitation.

I DO NOT expect to feel a "boot in the ***" on an upshift. Why? Because as the shift moves up the gears in an upshift, the torque HAS to drop. There's no way I could feel increased acceleration in a higher gear.

I DO want a quick drop into a lower gear when downshifting (to pass) and the canned setting is giving me this too. No hesitation like I had in the "factory" tune.

So, what is it that I'm missing in these discussions about "firm" shifts? Please enlighten me.

- Jack

 

shifting more quickly is effected by shift firmness. the softer the shift the more the transmission slips at each shift. the firmer shift will help it shift more quickly. what I want is a shift I can feel. you know like when you are driveing a clutch and pop the clutch a little too fast. I used to ride motorcycles and used to get a kick out of changing gears in hard acceleration and it would throw me back each time I changed gears. granted it would be less pronounced at the higher gears. although I do not expect the kind of head snapping feel I got from the motorcycle or the manual tranny but I like to feel the gears kicking in. and not only at wot. I actually do not go to wot that often. it seems like this programmer is geared mostly tword those who race. Me I want performance as a daily driver. although the wot performance will come in handy when passing on the highway. I do 80 to 90% of my driving in city stop and go. don't get me wrong this programmer dose feel good and much more responcive. I guess I just expected a more aggressive transmission adjustment. maybe I will have to get a hold of bill to see if he can come up with something for me.

 

You're not alone. I have my 1-2 shift firmness set at +20 and there's barely any difference at all. There's still a "lurch" there that I would love to get rid of. Yeah it's better at WOT, but so what.

 

That's kind of my point. I have all three shifts set at the "canned" firmess for level 2 and I don't have a "lurch". When the beast upshifts, the RPMs simply immediately drop into the new range.

At one time (but this was before I upgraded the sortware in the Edge), I tried settings of +6 (I think) and was rewarded with a shift that had a pronounced slip and then an abrupt "lurch" into the next gear range. I didn't like that at all, so I went back to stock. Then, I upgraded the software (using Lightning) and thought the shifts felt fine, so I left them at stock.

The only time I use WOT, is when I'm passing on a 2-lane road, so I don't think I've ever done a WOT 1-2 upshift. But, I certainly do the 3-2 downshift and 2-3 upshifts then.

- Jack

 

It is possible I need to download the latest version of the edge. I bought mine used and the guy had it on his 2006 f150. so I know it is at least 1 year old. possibly 2 or 3 it is hard to say. I have not noticed any lurch on the standard shifts. The standard shifts seem so smooth I can hardly feel them sometimes. I am disipointed to find out I am unable to firm up the standard shift points. but I did go out and test the wot yesterday and the +25 sure is a kick.

 

If it is not doing any of the known problems, I would not update it. The majority of updates are to fix problems.

On the shifting, I tried to explain it to you in another thread. I'll try again. The normal shifts need to be left alone. All you can change on them is the shift points. The firmness, if you change the WOT pressure, it will change the firmness off shifts even when not WOT. When accelerating as well as WOT. Also, I would not leave it on 25 if it were mine. Too,much. I would go with about +12. Set it there and drive several cycles and see if you don't get nice firm shifts when you take off and are just using normal acceleration.

 

One other thing, it just makes sense to return to stock before updating. Where woul you be if you had your truck tuned to level 3 and when you updated, it crapped out the unit. It just makes sense to be returned to stock before you mess with the unit.

 

well for now I am going to leave it at +25 at least on the 1-2 and 2-3 shifts I only have it at +10 on 3-4. I drove it alot yeaserday and today fine tuning my custom settings. my standard shifting dose not seem much firmer than stock. sometimes I can not even tell it shifted. but overall I was able to shave about 1.5 off my 0-60 adjusting the level 2 with custom changes running 87 oct.

The reason I am not too worried about leaving it at +25 is I rarely go to wot. and during wot is the only time it feels aggresively firm. the only issue I have seen so far is my belts squeal when shifting. I think I should be able to fix that with a new gaterback belt. from what I have read and heard firmer shifts is good for the transmission extending the life. although too much of a good thing can somtimes be bad so I will research this and perhaps drop it in the future. hopefully I will get a chance to discuss this with bill some time soon.

 

Jasonkola, I'm in the same boat as you, I want to feel the shifts! I just installed my EDGE yesterday and have it set on 2 with the shifts at +25 in 1-2 and 2-3 and on 12 on 3-4. If you figure something out let me know the trick. Also, has anyone played with the torque converter lock up? What should I have it set on?

 

Yah I have left mine on +25. The standard shifting still feels soft. I do not know if you have a newer tuner than I do b but I did not see an option to change the torque lock. nor would I know what to do with it. I changed my standard shift points to -1 for better gas milage but it still shifts higher than stock. I only seem to have the options of +2 to -2 mph. I do not really understand why such a small adjustments allowed so I did not make a big change. it seems to me 1 mph would not make much a differance or 2 either. I wish I new more about adjusting this as well.