hard shifts normal?

[boostaholic]

this is my first lighting and iv never even rode in another. the first time iv actually been around a lighting was when i got mine. basically it just shifts hard and im use to GM products that are none race and they shift all pretty and smooth. are all lightings this way? it doesnt have a shift kit or a stall. just woundering it still performs great.

[99WhiteBeast]

Most likely has a shift kit or the shift points have been altered by a chip or tuner. Hard is good-less slippage less heat

[boostaholic]

damnit... its not tuned that way that way b/c my xcal3 worked great and if it didnt have a stock tune that hand held wouldnt even work.... right? maby il pull the pan off and see if i can get a part number off the valve body.

[mustgofaster]

damnit... its not tuned that way that way b/c my xcal3 worked great and if it didnt have a stock tune that hand held wouldnt even work.... right? maby il pull the pan off and see if i can get a part number off the valve body.

Prolly won't do you much good to get a pn# off the accumulator body, due to the fact that most shift kits just modify the stocker. (new springs, plates, etc...)

Is it too hard for your liking?

[boostaholic]

nope its jsut a lil strange for me b/c im use to smooth shifting and the cluth on my TransAm with a mecleod street twin.... mainly i just wanted to make sure this wasnt a bad thing for the lighting b/c i do no feel like driving a rental car while a ford dealership fixes a blown tranny.

thanks for the help guys you will have to excuse my ignorance for a lil bit im still learning this truck. il tell you anything you wanna know about 93097 F-bodys though :icon_eek: please dont kill me.

[WA 2 FST]

I concur with the others. Most likely you have a modified stock valve body in the trans. Don't feel bad for asking questions here. You'll find that most of us are helpful, and nice about it.

And there's nothing wrong with F-bodies. I have two GM vehicles in my stable, and I have been around for awhile without getting ridiculed. :icon_smile:

[L8 APEX]

Fords shift nice and crisp, GM's are slide shifting crap boxes. As for the manual in a car there is no way you can compare a manual to a truck auto. Your clutch foot controls how the manual will shift.
SCT with a custom tune will overwrite anything in the PCM with the new tune.

[Beaudee]

Lightnings shift hard stock.1st thing i noticed when i bought mine stock.I think the valve body shift mod is a waiste of money.Terry changed my shift points on the SCT and i love hard shifts.No worrys!!:tu:

[tiffo60]

Lightnings shift hard stock.1st thing i noticed when i bought mine stock.I think the valve body shift mod is a waiste of money.Terry changed my shift points on the SCT and i love hard shifts.No worrys!!:tu:

I wouldnt call the valve body a waste of money, terry re-worked my valve body with his components and it was night and day difference:bows

[Beaudee]

I wouldnt call the valve body a waste of money, terry re-worked my valve body with his components and it was night and day difference:bows

As was his tune with my SCT.Im sure either way is sweet.:tu:

[GoldLS1]

I wouldnt call the valve body a waste of money, terry re-worked my valve body with his components and it was night and day difference:bows


As was his tune with my SCT.Im sure either way is sweet.:tu:

You should try both.... :tex

I didn't know Terry messed with the shift firmness (I'm sure he told me when he was doing it) I ordered a VB a few weeks later as my shift was ok but not to my liking. After the VB install that thing shifted SO DAMN HARD... a few days later I changed the SCT tune as to not break anything. I wonder if they have a VB type mod for my dodge, the shifts in it are HORRIBLE.

[dboat]

I have the line mod valve with the SCT mod.. it shifts just right.. not too harsh when driving granny but quick when driving hard.. Thanks Terry

Dana

[Beaudee]

You should try both.... :tex

I didn't know Terry messed with the shift firmness (I'm sure he told me when he was doing it) I ordered a VB a few weeks later as my shift was ok but not to my liking. After the VB install that thing shifted SO DAMN HARD... a few days later I changed the SCT tune as to not break anything. I wonder if they have a VB type mod for my dodge, the shifts in it are HORRIBLE.

Stock shifts hard as it is.Any more than tune mods would seem 2 much for me.I left the cold tune stock, and the warm ,hot terry inhanced.I would almost say the VB mod might cause abnormal componet wear and tear.Just my 2 sense.Im sure Terry will chime in and explain.Ive read many a argument on this one.:DWhy mess with a perfectly working system.

[boostaholic]

i didnt mean to compair the t56 to the lightning tranny im just saying im a smoooooooth shifter in a stick so im just naturally use to smooth shifts. as for the chevy trannys being crap boxes...:hammer: you can say all you want about our 10 bolts but not the trannys. no bash intended.

thanks for the help guys i just installed my wideband and recieved my tune from rick at amazon tuning solutions so im gonna go load it and see what happens...

[WA 2 FST]

I don't know anything about the trannys GM puts in the trucks, but the one in our TBSS and the auto Vettes I've driven are significantly better than the stock Ford 4R100. Granted, maybe these are newer tranny designs...I don't know.

My 300C tranny is better in stock form than all of them, IMHO. But again, this is possibly comparing apples to oranges, given its a newer vehicle.

[Ohmsby]

you want a hard shift call the Sixer and ask him about the Rat Rod Lightning

[L8 APEX]

The rat rod and mystery button in those gen1's should be outlawed:icon_eek:

I had 5 4L60's in my 95 Tahoe, sun shells ripped out, input shaft snapped in two, numerous converters smoked. That tranny belongs in V6 cars not heavy or fast trucks. GM trucks get the best mileage because they have the lightest weakest transmissions.
The 4R100 comes from the F250 diesels and is proven a tough heavy beast. Pick the two up side by side and you would see. We built hundreds of 700's and 4L60's at the shop. They are full of dinky aluminum parts. Three pin planetary gears where Fords are six pin STEEL planetary gears... The Ford torque converter is 50lbs heavier than the GM converter. The lock up clutch is 3 inches wider than GM... Worlds of difference.

[Ohmsby]

mystery buttons are very fun for those next to you on the track.....:burnout:

[L8 APEX]

As for tune versus valve body I like a little of both. If you raise line pressure then it is hard all the time. The extra valve body springs are shorter than stock so they come in more proportionally than just adding pressure in the tune.

There is also a line pressure valve stock is a .331 diameter, I have been using a .427 lately, some used .500 diameter line valve pistons in the early days.

I adjust pressure offset between the shifts. The stock computer removes 8-11% line pressure between shifts to soften the shifts. I set the offset ot zero for most folks. For lazy trannies or racing I add 5, 10, or 20% to the offset multiplier.

[Ohmsby]

:bows listen and learn

[boostaholic]

terry is busting my balls here on the trannys.. lol. iv just seen alot of 4l80es that are doing really good. hell we have 4l80es in our hmmwvs (military hummer) and they do great.

we can argue this all day so..... lets just say ford and gm suck and that honda rules the roads lol. j.k

i have a update:
loaded my tune from rick at amazon and WOW its a totally diff truck. it now has manners and shifts beautifully and smooth like i wanted. i told him that it prolly had a shift kit so he said he would work around me not knowing. went from a 12.5:1 A/F to around 11:1 A/F on WOT and it runs much much smoother while cruising.

once again thinks guys for the help. terry leave the gm guys alone its not fair :tongue:

[tiffo60]

terry is busting my balls here on the trannys.. lol. iv just seen alot of 4l80es that are doing really good. hell we have 4l80es in our hmmwvs (military hummer) and they do great.

we can argue this all day so..... lets just say ford and gm suck and that honda rules the roads lol. j.k

i have a update:
loaded my tune from rick at amazon and WOW its a totally diff truck. it now has manners and shifts beautifully and smooth like i wanted. i told him that it prolly had a shift kit so he said he would work around me not knowing. went from a 12.5:1 A/F to around 11:1 A/F on WOT and it runs much much smoother while cruising.

once again thinks guys for the help. terry leave the gm guys alone its not fair :tongue:

he was raggin on the 4l60's not the 80's, the 60's are crap and cant hold up to any punishment what so ever

[boostaholic]

i know. i was just stating the 80 just for the crap of it. there is a dude here with me that has a built 60 on a nitrous car making 638 RWHP and it does just fine. his 10 bolt isnt doing too healthy though. i dont know terry, he could be a top fuel dragster builder for all i know so i wont argue with him.

[WA 2 FST]

I was just talking about shift quality from the factory, not modified shift controls, and certainly not build quality... I haven't seen the trannies side-by-side, so I have no clue on all of that.

I assume my TBSS has a 4L60E. Seems fine after 20k miles, but its in a light-duty SUV and my wife drives it, so it doesn't get hammered on unless I'm in it, getting the most out of the LS2. :icon_razz:

[PUMP]

snip ...
i have a update:
loaded my tune from rick at amazon and WOW its a totally diff truck. it now has manners and shifts beautifully and smooth like i wanted. i told him that it prolly had a shift kit so he said he would work around me not knowing. went from a 12.5:1 A/F to around 11:1 A/F on WOT and it runs much much smoother while cruising..................snip
Hope that you have both cold and warm weather tunes with spark retarded some on the cold weather tune. When our weather turns cold, you'll be glad you do.

[boostaholic]

i have unlimited tuning from him for now on so when the weather changes il be getting another tune... il actually be getting a few more. going nitrous come next week :icon_lol:

[L8 APEX]

The 4L80 is a beasty GM tranny I love the later years of them once they fixed their early design flaws. The 4L60 is a weak little box, If one man can lift it then it can't be a good automatic for a truck.
The killers of trannies are power and weight. When you have both of those a 60 will crumble. They may last under stock tuning with torque reduction active. Hell the stock Lightning tuning shifts on 5 cylinders to make it's tranny last. GM limits their shifting torque to 350lb ft or so.. A 4L60 may hold 600hp in a 2800lb car, but not in a z71 or 5000lb truck. The newer version is a beefed 4L60 called the 4L65. The Denali and 6 liter Vortec Max Silverados get the 4L70 Super Duty trans. It has more plates and heavier planetary gears. The new generation of 6spd autos in trucks in 09 will be interesting. About anything in stock form will last a while.
The way to decode a GM tranny is the first digit is number of gears. The second letter is the mounting orientation L for longitudinal and T for traverse. The last pair is the torque rating in newton meters times ten.
So a 4L60 is a 4 spd longitudinal tranny with a torque handling spec of 600 newton meters. Which is roughly 443 lb ft of torque though GM only specs it for 360lb ft engines. Ford uses LB FT instead of Newton Meters. The 4R100 is rated for 1000 lb ft of torque straight from Ford.
http://www.superchevy.com/technical/engines_drivetrain/transmission/0311sc_4l65e_copy/index.html

[nacklas]

The 4L80 is a beasty GM tranny I love the later years of them once they fixed their early design flaws. The 4L60 is a weak little box, If one man can lift it then it can't be a good automatic for a truck.
The killers of trannies are power and weight. When you have both of those a 60 will crumble. They may last under stock tuning with torque reduction active. Hell the stock Lightning tuning shifts on 5 cylinders to make it's tranny last. GM limits their shifting torque to 350lb ft or so.. A 4L60 may hold 600hp in a 2800lb car, but not in a z71 or 5000lb truck. The newer version is a beefed 4L60 called the 4L65. The Denali and 6 liter Vortec Max Silverados get the 4L70 Super Duty trans. It has more plates and heavier planetary gears. The new generation of 6spd autos in trucks in 09 will be interesting. About anything in stock form will last a while.
The way to decode a GM tranny is the first digit is number of gears. The second letter is the mounting orientation L for longitudinal and T for traverse. The last pair is the torque rating in newton meters times ten.
So a 4L60 is a 4 spd longitudinal tranny with a torque handling spec of 600 newton meters. Which is roughly 443 lb ft of torque though GM only specs it for 360lb ft engines. Ford uses LB FT instead of Newton Meters. The 4R100 is rated for 1000 lb ft of torque straight from Ford.
http://www.superchevy.com/technical/engines_drivetrain/transmission/0311sc_4l65e_copy/index.html


Learn something new about the tranny name (4R100)

[boostaholic]

wow 1000... sweet