Hey Sam,
As always you are a big help - thanks. I'll run over to Leif Johnson this afternoon & my son Zack is coming down from Baylor tomorrow - He'll enjoy a quick speedo win. Currently if you are going around 50 mph the speedo reads 18mph - not helpful with the law enforcement folks in full operation out our way.

I'm not too keen in maxxing out the speed at the moment - too many
new nuts & bolts on our truck - I find myself double checking torque readings in my head with every new sound.

Ben in NW Austin

 

Don't worry about any vacuum modulator on an AOD. There isn't one. The throttle valve performs that function instead.

As for the shop not installing a 2" OD band as you requested, well, it's probably because they're cheap and lazy. You've also got to install the matching wider reverse drum which requires the installation of a matching narrower sun shell. The necessary sun shell is just a bit on the rare side because it has to come from an AOD-E transmission which had a short production run. The point is that it takes a collection of parts to go to the larger band and your average shop won't go to the effort to figure out what's needed and make the change. Unless you're racing it, I wouldn't worry about it too much. The 1 1/2" band holds up fine for normal service - especially in Kevlar.

As far as your early shifts go, the governor, throttle valve pressure, and spring rate of the shift valves go hand in hand to determine the shift points. I'd be looking hard at the governor. There are 3 different governors available for the AOD - low, medium, and high speed. The Crown Vics, Lincolns, etc. got the low speed, some Cougars and T-birds got the medium speed, and the Mark VII, Mustangs, and some trucks got the high speed. If you've got a low speed governor out of a big 'ole car with 2.73 gears (a common combination in the big cars), then it will in fact shift too early with a more spirited gear like your 3.73. The Fox Mustang racers with AOD's run into this all the time when they swap to lower gears.

The solution is to either swap to a higher speed governor or to install the Transgo Hi-Rev governor kit in your existing governor. I recommend the latter. The governor is a simple device that's fairly easy to get to and there's not much risk of wrecking anything internal due to inexperience. All you have to do is pull the driveshaft, unbolt the mount, support the transmission under the pan, and remove the crossmember and tailshaft housing. I think there's only six bolts in the housing and you won't even lose that much fluid when you take it off. Once it's off, you'll see a rectangular gizmo around the output shaft. That's the governor and counterweight. You'll see two large Phillips screws in the end of it. Remove those two screws and the business end of the governor will come right off leaving the counterweight in place. Just make sure that you note the orientation of the governor before you remove it as it is possible to install it backwards. Putting it on backwards won't damage anything, but it won't shift at all then. There's no need to remove the counterweight as they are all the same. The Transgo Hi-Rev kit's instructions will guide you from there. There's only a little spool valve and a spring in there if I remember right. Nothing at all to be afraid of.

 

call em (parts) first..

I hear that constant recheck noise in your head goes away about 5000 miles.. maybe due to exhaustion. I have only 210 miles I think, so still happens to me as well.

Sam

 

Thanks Joe (Blueoval),
That helps a lot - I had settled on 2 things for them to try next - I've been studying & listening on this one - not my area of expertise.

1) I read on the mustang forums "On rear ends higher than 3.50 you should install a Trans-go-HRev kit on the governor - ($25) from Summit".
That looks to be what you are saying above - makes me feel more confident that might be it. (It's also nice that it's $25 - everything else I've stepped on in the transmission corner has been made from gold).

2) "Sometimes the Lokar kit doesn't have enough spring return pressure at the trans lever" so you have to add another spring to make sure the cable returns fully.

Does that last one make any sense? I'll do #1 first & go from there.
Thanks again Joe - you've been a big help I owe you one.

Ben in Austin

 

Wow! I learn something new all the time with this dang truck. The lincoln I got my engine and trans out of had 3.08 gears and I have 3.70 gearing in my truck's 9" so I'm gonna have to install this hirev governor too. I never knew there was such a thing haha. I am sure glad I found out about this before I had put the body on and all that so access to the governor should be great. I am searching for pics of someone who has done this but am not finding any for some reason, blueovalrage do you know of any pics of this install?

 

this looks like some pics of the process

{transmission} AOD Governor swap..

Sam

 

Raybestos Blue Plate special is a clutch pack that is really overall kill for a street car and used mostly in full race autos. It's not the end of the world but kind of a surprising choice for the application.

Like said TV Cable adjustment and the Governor are the likely suspects more so the Governor IMO.

 

Good show with the pics, Sam. That illustrates it pretty well. A governor swap or Hi-Rev kit installation in one of these AOD's is NOT something I'd pay somebody to do if you have like doing your own tinkering. It's a really simple job. If you can change you own oil and spark plugs, you can tackle this.

No problem, Ben I try to help where I can. The AOD just happens to be one of those things I've got a lot of experience with. Let me know how it comes out!

 

Blueovalrage and Sam, I really appreciate your help. You guys are awesome!

Ben73058, I have read some posts on mustang forums where guys had installed these governors into their AOD's and they had absolutely nothing bad to say about them. All the posts I read said it made the car funner to drive....which is exactly what we need! HAHA

 

Hey Reed,
Thanks - I've ordered the Transgo HiRev governor from Summit - Should be here mid-week. Wish me luck - I hope this works the truck is undriveable in it's current state it totally bogs down - at some point something is just going to fall out the bottom of the truck.

I also ordered (2) different speedo gears as I ran 2 different gear calculators & it came up with 2 different answers - nice. I've ordered a 21 tooth gear like Sam uses & a 23 tooth (black) gear that is also now available. Replacing those looks pretty straight forward & they cost $15 a piece - not sure about the dialling it in part to get 100% accuracy - we'll see.

Thanks for everything - I'll post the outcome.

Ben in Austin

 

Very good info here!

 

I must be thinking about the A4LD.

 

Hi Ben,

what comes out after you change the govenorspring?

Have the Same Problem with a 1985 Bullnose with build 302 setup an pressure are right but it shifts to early so the Engine cant goes up in rpm that it needs before shifting

 

10 year old thread .

 

If you are near Amarilla check out Precision Transmission. They could fix it or you could call them.