Is it true that an automatic transmission that performs firmer shifts will have an extended life over that of one with soft shifts?

 

A tranny with soft shifts is already well worn. A new tranny will have firm shifts. A performance tranny will have snap your neck shifts.

 

By no means would I claim to be an expert about anything,but from what I learned is that a firm shifting trans lasts longer because the clutch`s have less slippage due to the higher line pressure.I have an AOD Street Fighter trans by TCI w/Super Street Fighter non lock-up converter and a floor shifter in my `90 F-150. It doesn`t shift so hard that it would snap your head off but it shifts fast without any slippage.

 

An auto tranny has a lot of clutch disks and bands in it which grab and release to perform the shifting. As with a manual clutch slipping these things will wear them more, so a more abrupt shift will result in less wear of these components compared to slow and lazy shifts. The shifts don't even have to be hard enough to chirp tires.. and actually shift that abrupt increases wear on other driveline components like U-joints, the shift should just be quick and decisive over a fraction of a second and not so smooth they are hardly noticable.

 

My c6 doesn't have slow shifts, but they can be unnoticeable and I can't remember at the moment whether it under hard acceleration or gradual slow acceleration. Anyways I have a newly installed B&M deep pan on there for added cooling and capacity. What sort of lifetime Is my c6 looking at which currently has 50k if I don't drive my truck HARD, ever? Can my question be answered?

 

You could see another 100k to 150k miles if you don't tow or dog it and change the fluid every 20k.

 

I think you can expect many, many more miles out of your c6 as long as you take care of it.

Mine has 220,000 something miles on it ands its still going strong. It spent most of it's life behind a 351.