rowdyram
Senior Member
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2014
- Posts
- 504
- Reaction score
- 218
- Ram Year
- 1996
- Engine
- magnum 5.9
Ive had a couple people message me with trans questions and a couple people asked for a write up so here it is. I'm no trans expert but I've built a handful of these and repaired/modified more than i can count. a lot of this info will be the same or similar for the A500, A518 and A618.
disclaimer- not my fault if your break stuff or hurt yourself
so.. i guess ill start with the most important. Fluid, I'm a firm believer in fluid and filter every 30,000 miles. ATF +4 fluid only! and that brings me to the next thing and probably the most important mod for any trans, a cooler. trans fluid quickly looses its lubricity above 200 F and that in turn causes friction that causes more heat. put a cooler on it, and if you run it through the factory cooler also consider a 180 F t-stat. (For many reasons). i prefer the Tru-cool from thermal products. it has progressive passages, as the fluid heats up it becomes thinner and is allowed to flow through more of the cooler. but any quality name brand cooler will work. bigger the better.
next- the valve body. i don't care if its a daily driver or you pull a 5th wheel i strongly recommend a shift kit. a basic Trans go jr. kit is about $30 and will make a huge difference. the TG tfod diesel kit is the next step up, yes its called a diesel kit and it comes with the springs and directions for v6 v8 and v10 applications. there are several kits but the 3 I've used and like are those 2 and the fairbanks transaction kit. this kit come with 3 levels and you can do anything from mild to breaking U-joints for $70. a couple important adjustments are line pressure and throttle pressure. line pressure is adjusted at the driver front corner of the VB 3/16 allen wrench. CCW is to increase line pressure. Ive gotten mixed answers as to the value per turn but i do know its not a lot. i dont even count the turns. on a stock VB the spring seat should be half way between the reainer and PR valve bore. If your installing or have installed a kit it will tell you where to adjust it. if its a TG kit give it one extra turn in. (ive found them to be a bit conservative) TV pressure itself cant be adjusted but the stop and cables are adjustable. the stop is the base pressure setting. if you want kickdown sooner on deccel (closed throttle) move the stop in a little. after adjusting tv stop the cable must be readjusted.
Band adjustments, im not going to cover that in detail here. that info varies between trannys and is easily found. What i do want to address is that it seems people dont understand what the adjustment does. i hear a lot of people thinking a band adjustment will fix shifting problems. all the band adjustment does is keeps the band to drum clearance right where it should be so the shift timing is correct and you dont get overlap or "band drag" only in severe cases of overlap will an adjustment fix a funny shift and if it does it means your band is far too worn or it was adjusted incorrectly before.
Internals-if you have a A500 your SOL. If you have a A518 or A618 there are tons of upgrades. im not going to cover the A618 because i doubt thers many oil burners hanging around here. for the 518 the best and cheapest way to bulletproof your trans is to go to the wrecking yard and buy a blown 618 core. almost all of those internals will fit in the 518 case. the shafts are bigger the planetaries have more pinions and are stronger and the direct drum holds more clutches. you can likely pick up a blown core for a couple hundred bucks. the 618 drum is wider so you can run a wider band. call up a trans supplier and order a front band for a 1969 426 hemi tf727. i dont recall the exact width but its about 1/2 wider than a standard intermediate band.
while your doing the front band a power wedge band anchor and an upgraded band strut are highly recommended. servos, pistons and accumulators-SONNAX!!! get their stuff. it is not recommended that you do any major VB or pressure modifications until you take out those leaky plastic parts that are just waiting to break.
so there is a ton of mods for our transmissions but a shift kit, 618 internals, a couple little parts and updated servos, i promise it will handle even the gnarliest 408.
another thing, the stock 618 frictions are plenty you dont need to buy altos or blues its a waste of money in these trannies.
so i just kinda threw this together and i probably missed a bunch. if you have questions comments or wanna call me names feel free.
disclaimer- not my fault if your break stuff or hurt yourself
so.. i guess ill start with the most important. Fluid, I'm a firm believer in fluid and filter every 30,000 miles. ATF +4 fluid only! and that brings me to the next thing and probably the most important mod for any trans, a cooler. trans fluid quickly looses its lubricity above 200 F and that in turn causes friction that causes more heat. put a cooler on it, and if you run it through the factory cooler also consider a 180 F t-stat. (For many reasons). i prefer the Tru-cool from thermal products. it has progressive passages, as the fluid heats up it becomes thinner and is allowed to flow through more of the cooler. but any quality name brand cooler will work. bigger the better.
next- the valve body. i don't care if its a daily driver or you pull a 5th wheel i strongly recommend a shift kit. a basic Trans go jr. kit is about $30 and will make a huge difference. the TG tfod diesel kit is the next step up, yes its called a diesel kit and it comes with the springs and directions for v6 v8 and v10 applications. there are several kits but the 3 I've used and like are those 2 and the fairbanks transaction kit. this kit come with 3 levels and you can do anything from mild to breaking U-joints for $70. a couple important adjustments are line pressure and throttle pressure. line pressure is adjusted at the driver front corner of the VB 3/16 allen wrench. CCW is to increase line pressure. Ive gotten mixed answers as to the value per turn but i do know its not a lot. i dont even count the turns. on a stock VB the spring seat should be half way between the reainer and PR valve bore. If your installing or have installed a kit it will tell you where to adjust it. if its a TG kit give it one extra turn in. (ive found them to be a bit conservative) TV pressure itself cant be adjusted but the stop and cables are adjustable. the stop is the base pressure setting. if you want kickdown sooner on deccel (closed throttle) move the stop in a little. after adjusting tv stop the cable must be readjusted.
Band adjustments, im not going to cover that in detail here. that info varies between trannys and is easily found. What i do want to address is that it seems people dont understand what the adjustment does. i hear a lot of people thinking a band adjustment will fix shifting problems. all the band adjustment does is keeps the band to drum clearance right where it should be so the shift timing is correct and you dont get overlap or "band drag" only in severe cases of overlap will an adjustment fix a funny shift and if it does it means your band is far too worn or it was adjusted incorrectly before.
Internals-if you have a A500 your SOL. If you have a A518 or A618 there are tons of upgrades. im not going to cover the A618 because i doubt thers many oil burners hanging around here. for the 518 the best and cheapest way to bulletproof your trans is to go to the wrecking yard and buy a blown 618 core. almost all of those internals will fit in the 518 case. the shafts are bigger the planetaries have more pinions and are stronger and the direct drum holds more clutches. you can likely pick up a blown core for a couple hundred bucks. the 618 drum is wider so you can run a wider band. call up a trans supplier and order a front band for a 1969 426 hemi tf727. i dont recall the exact width but its about 1/2 wider than a standard intermediate band.
while your doing the front band a power wedge band anchor and an upgraded band strut are highly recommended. servos, pistons and accumulators-SONNAX!!! get their stuff. it is not recommended that you do any major VB or pressure modifications until you take out those leaky plastic parts that are just waiting to break.
so there is a ton of mods for our transmissions but a shift kit, 618 internals, a couple little parts and updated servos, i promise it will handle even the gnarliest 408.
another thing, the stock 618 frictions are plenty you dont need to buy altos or blues its a waste of money in these trannies.
so i just kinda threw this together and i probably missed a bunch. if you have questions comments or wanna call me names feel free.
