I have a 1989 F150 with the automatic overdrive transmission. For the other members who have this transmission, where does yours typically shift at, under light throttle? Mine shifts from first to second at 15 MPH, second to third at 25 MPH, and overdrive typically comes in at around 40 MPH. If I am driving real slow and let off the gas at about 35 MPH, overdrive comes in then. Does that sound about right?

 

Yeah that sounds about right. I have played with the TV cable quite a bit and there is some adjustment range available where you can make the trans hold the gears a little longer for added performance.. though this usually decreases fuel economy by the same amount.. which shouldn't be a surprise. If you go too far with the cable adjustment(too much preload) the trans starts to hold gears too long on the downshift and bog the motor, but don't worry that won't damage anything, it's when you have too little cable preload that it becomes dangerous because then the clutch packs and bands are allowed to slip and that will cause premature wear.

 

Thanks Conanski. So how would the transmission behave if there was too little preload? I certainly don't want to cause unnecessary wear on it.

If I were to tighten the TV cable to make the gears hold a bit longer, where would it typically shift then? And I guess that would also mean a firmer shift? I don't want to go too far with it, just enough to get a little more use out of second gear.

What do you think about the aftermarket transmission pans? I am going to replace the one I have now because it is bent (looks like somebody lifted the truck by the pan) and leaking. I can go with a replacement stock pan or an aftermarket pan that has a drain plug and is deeper which holds another quart of fluid. These are also finned, supposedly for extra cooling. Do these do anything, or just marketing hype?

 

Adding additional cooling capacity to an automatic trans is never a bad idea, and although a pan drain plug isn't terribly usefull since the trans fluid should not need to be replaced that often, it certainly makes the job a lot tidier when it is. You will get somewhere between about 500 and 1000 additional rpm out of the trans with increased TV cable preload before it begins to generate other undesirable effects like hanging downshifts, but on the other end of the scale slipping starts to occur pretty quickly once you go below the stock setting, so you have to be carefull to stay above that and absolutely never operate the vehicle with the cable disconnected or fully released.

 

X2 to what Conanski is saying. I have played around with mine and i hold an extra 500 to 1000RPM's. It is easy to adjust, but hard to get it right. You really want to mark adjustment before you move it around so that you can always start over it you need to.

 

Where is the stock setting for the cable? How to adjust it, cause my shifts to late and kicks into od at 60mph. Its shifts so hard too. The funny thing is, ITS A FRESH REBUILD!!! The guys at the shop have it set so where the black thing that holds the cable is pulled all the way out.

 

Hope this stuff helps....







Also, IIRC< there is a Copper TV adjustment bushing that wears, and causes issues...

 

I believe you can also use a pressure gauge attached to a port in the side af the transmission to adjust the cable. That way you can be certain you have at least the minimum pressure. There is a good "how to" on Baumann Engineerings website.

 

I played with my TV cable for a while, and now its perfect (or at least I think so). It doesn't bog the motor or hold the gears too long and I get nice crisps shift but not break your neck shifts like a shift kit does.

Also I run extra cooling also. My truck use to just have the cooler/warmer in the radiator, but I put the air cooler on it when I rebuilt the trans. Ford had a "extra cooling package" offer you could get, which I took off of a junk F150 I had.

People rag on the AOD but its a good trans, esp when you built them up. My transmission buddy that helped me rebuilt mine , and he gave me some extra goodies. lol

 

well i found out that the guy before me put a high dollar shift kit in it. when they rebuilt it they put it back in the trans with out telling me, so thats why it shifts so hard. but thanks anyways guys