So we have recently had VERY BAD luck in our family over the last couple days, I don't want to get too far into it but there was a suicide... First gear has started slipping sometimes in my 1989 f150. I was wondering if there was anything I could do to nurse this truck along and keep it rolling. As you can immagine, I do not have ANY spare cash now.. have house payments, bills, etc to help out with now.. so I HAVE to keep this truck moving, it is the only 4x4 we have for the winter that has just started here, we just had our first snowfall two nights ago. So if anyone has any ideas as to what I can do to keep this thing on the road I would greatly appriciate it. I have already changed fluid and cleaned the filter and that helped some, but it still slips sometimes. Thanks in advance everyone.

 

I'm sorry to hear about your troubles. There's a band adjustment on the C6, but the band is for 2nd gear, so it won't help. Since you've already changed fluid & cleaned filter, there's not much you can do except baby it & keep your fingers crossed. Best of luck to you!

 

Thanks for the kind words, I need all I can get right now. Guess all I can do is stop pulling trailers and mudding with it. I would normally just sell it off and get a newer 4x4, but under these circumstances I don't think I could handle that right now. Plus I love this truck, I have had this one longer than all my other vehicles, and it has been the most reliable vehicle I have owned. I guess all I can do is drive it till it drops and then look for another 4x4. (Ford only)

 

Check the vacuum pipe first. There will be a short length of rubber pipe connected to the vacuum modulator at the trans, then a hard line running up the bellhousing and then another rubber pipe connecting that to engine manifold vacuum. Make sure both rubber pipes are in good condition, replace if bad.

 

I will have to look into that, will be a few days though. Thank you for this piece of advice, as I am sure they need replaced anyways.

 

If the vacuum line is off or leaking, it will cause the trans to think you are at wide open throttle, and cause late up shifts, not slipping.

 

This definately seems like a slip. It is only from a dead stop, sometimes I push the gas to go, and the engine just revs for a second, then it kicks into gear and goes, no problems with the other 2 gears or reverse.

 

Sounds like the trans is fixing to go, when it revs up, it builds line pressure and finally engages the clutch pack. That being said, a C6 is pretty straight forward to overhaul and a basic rebuild kit with new clutchs, seals, etc is pretty cheap. Several years ago all I had was my old 78 Bronco as a DD and the trans went out. Pulled it into the shop at 8pm that nite,dropped the Tcase, pulled the tranny, went thru it with new clutchs, etc and was backing back out with it around 2 am. Dont know that I want to try and do one that fast again by myself, but with somene helping, we did a C6 on a F2504x4 in a day... started that morning around 10am pulling it out, took off that afternoon to Summit Racing for a rebuild kit that afternoon (2.5hr round trip) and were done around 11pm that nite with the truck ready to go.