When you start increasing the power and torque with a chip and other mods you are putting additional stress on other components that were not necessarily designed to handle it. It would have been nice if Ford had mated a more robust transmission to their supercharged motor, but evidently the bean counters decided that it was a lot cheaper just to drop 4 cylinders during the shift. This is indeed a Micky Mouse solution, and one I am sure the boys at SVT cannot have been happy with, but it is apparent that Ford did not want to sink one nickel more into these trucks than they had to. Other examples include the lack of cam bolts and sliding A-arms. Now I have a choice between reverting to the wimpy shift, or rebuilding the tranny with some really robust aftermarket parts. Can you say $2200? Guess what my choice is going to be?

------------------
I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.

'84 Alan Record Carbonio, Aerospoke wheels, Campy brakes.

'00 SVT Lightning, silver, built 2/9/00, #133 of 4966, G-tech Pro, JBA headers, 4.10 gears, Swanson chip, Pro-M, NGK plugs, carbon drive shaft, Roadmaster suspension kit, TransGo shift kit,
13.39 @ 102.5

2001 Kevlacat 2400, twin 115 Evinrude FICHT, Raytheon VHF, radar, autopilot and GPS chartplotter/fishfinder.
http://www.zing.com/album/?id=429389...4647875&idx=15

gmvye@pacbell.net

 

I thought they put some diesel parts in them? Maybe not enough.

 

Alphadoggy,

What happened? Or better yet, what's it doing now? Mine is slushy and I'd like to know if yours is the same way. Evidently, the 4R100 isn't enough behind the L. Yeah, the diesel has torque, but not high rpm HP.

------------------
Jim
Black '00
#1,757 built 3/30/00
Clear corners
JDM street program
JDM 2# blower pulley (ordered)
J.L. Stage II ram-air
FRPP Oval throttle body
90mm MAF
MagnaFlow Exhaust

 

How many miles on your truck alpha?

I've had a chip since 800 miles, a Trans-Go shift kit since 4000 miles. My truck is getting ready to roll 16k and the trans shifts perfectly.

I guess I'll continue to save up for when I need a rebuild...cause its gonna get some beefier internals.

------------------
Wes Tarbox
90 LX 5.0 (10.69 @ 134.7)--597rwhp/590rwtq
98 Saleen S351 #15--431rwhp/452rwtq
99 Lightning (13.20 @ 103.8)--364rwhp/447rwtq
00 Expedition XLT 5.4
http://hometown.aol.com/wa2fst/home.htm

 

Mine truck has 12k miles on it. It shifted real firm after I put in the chip, and even firmer after the TransGo shift kit, but couple weeks ago the 1-2 shift went south, and I bump into the rev limiter when I keep my foot in it because the clutch pack is shot. The oem clutches are just not strong enough to hold the torque of a modified engine. Tomorrow I will be ordering about $1700 worth of parts from level ten, and scheduling an appointment with my transmission guy. After that I'll never be able to sell my truck, I could never the the money out of it.

 

Hey George,
Have you been towing with the chip in? I wonder if that will hurt anything? I towed a truck on a trailer a couple of weeks ago and didn't think about taking it out. Then I read somewhere here that people said to pull it. Just a thought.
Tom

 

A-Dog

Bummer! I've got the trans-go kit but haven't installed it yet. Do you think the shift kit could have caused any of the problems? I, wondering if the line-valve modulator is the way to go instead of the shift kit. Thoughts anyone?

 

I had a new trans put into mine. It was slipping real bad between shifts. It would slip then grab, the trans would clunk hard when it caught....not good! A result of too much foot to the floor.

 

All these tranny problems you guys are having sure have put doubts into my head about getting a chip. I went through enough transmissions with the stangs....I guess an air intake will have to do for a while.

 

I am curious as to why some of you feel it is necessary to pull the chip when towing?

Jeff

------------------
Silver 00
3/4 Drop
Snuglid
Stongard
JL ram-air
Oval-Bore T/B
01 Meter
JDM chip

 

Well, there ya go, that's exactly what my 2-3 shift feels like and 1-2 is mushy, chip or no chip. 3-4 is normal and firm. Sign me up for a rebuild.



------------------
Jim
Black '00
#1,757 built 3/30/00
Clear corners
JDM street program
JDM 2# blower pulley (ordered)
J.L. Stage II ram-air
FRPP Oval throttle body
90mm MAF
MagnaFlow Exhaust

 

I got some more info from my transmission guy this a.m., but I do not want to post it publicly because I'd probably get flamed for it. I would certainly be willing to discuss it privately. My address is in my sig.

 

alphadoggy
installed transgo shift kit
like your opinion good or bad?
e-mail dan12266@cs.com

 

Flintstone and others,

I don't think the shift kit will hurt the trans...potentially the combination of a chip that turns up the line pressure _and_ the shift kit could be a problem.

However, I have installed 3 Trans-Go shift kits in these trannies. Two are in vehicles I currently own ('99 L and '00 Expy...which has the exact same trans as the L does). Anyway, the shift kit is simple to install, and really helps shift quality...both at full throttle and part-throttle. For the chip that I've been running (I've run several, but currently run the JL chip) the shift kit works great.

I would not drive the truck without one. So far I'm at 16k and have no problems at all. I'm sorry to hear about alpha's problem.



------------------
Wes Tarbox
90 LX 5.0 (10.69 @ 134.7)--597rwhp/590rwtq
98 Saleen S351 #15--431rwhp/452rwtq
99 Lightning (13.20 @ 103.8)--364rwhp/447rwtq
00 Expedition XLT 5.4
http://hometown.aol.com/wa2fst/home.htm

 

WA 2 FST
read post in faq you convinced me to give
transgo shift kit with plug in pan a try.
I really like the way it shifts now.
just wandering about all these tranny problems