It looks like the rod needs to come closer to the center of the transmission in order to pass through the hole in the case. You will probably have to pull it far enough out that the tip will slide over into the guide. The "lump" on the rod is spring loaded, so even if the paking pawl moved out of the teeth it will still allow the linkage to rotate to the "park" position.

 

Well some success!! Pulled the shafts back out and pulled the downshift lever out. At first I still couldn't figure out exactly how it needed to go back in there, can't see a darn thing up there.

Got my inspection mirror out and it all became very clear where it needed to go. Back together it all went with little issue. After pulling it apart and back together a few times, you end up learning the little tricks to get it to go a little easier.

There were 2 reasons I decided to do all this. 1) the pan and shifter linkage had a leak that was getting pretty bad 2) was hoping to find that the filter was in bad shape or something obvious that might explain why the thing don't like to shift into 3rd.

Got her all put back together and no change at all with how it shifts. Still hangs up going into 3rd. I think I've tried about everything. Vacuum modulator, adjusting the intermediate band and now filter and fluid change.

When in drive, it just hangs up and will not go into 3rd unless I roll out of the throttle. If I'm giving it just normal gas, it will get up to around 40 and just sit in 2nd and never shift. I could drive it all day there and it won't go. As soon as I let off the gas a bit, it drops right into 3rd.

There is no slipping or hesitation, just hangs up.

But, at least I accomplished the leaks . So far not a drop so that's good. And I certainly learned a lot about the internals of that dude so not a waste of time.

You think it coule be the governor that is hanging up? Not sure exactly what it is that is supposed to be kicking it into 3rd. And the odd thing is it happened all of a sudden. Wasn't gradual.

When I got the truck there was no kickdown linkage. I drove it like that for some time. After I bought a kickdown cable from lokar and hooked it up is when it started doing this.

 

I don't know anything about adjusting kick-down linkages, but it sounds like you've got it adjusted wrong.

Maybe it's too far out and it's staying "kicked down" in 2nd until you let off the gas?

If it didn't start doing it until you put the kickdown linkage on there, I'd actually take it off and see what it does then. If it quits acting up, you know what's causing it.

 

That's an excellent suggestion, and I should have mentioned that I tried that. It seems to be adjusted correctly. There is plenty of slack in there until you get to WOT. When driving and you step on it, it kicks down just as it should.

My theory is, that the kickdown, and associated curcuit in the valve body, was disconnectd for about 5 years. So maybe there was some sludge and gunk in those passages. When I hooked it up and used it, maybe it dislogged that into the rest of the valve body and now that's hanging up. Total wild guess

I should have pulled the valve body apart while I had it off and cleaned it all out probably.

If I cycle throught the gears manually, with the shifter, it shifts fine. Only when it's in drive.

 

The modulator valve and the valve body are what controls shifting with the C-6 via vacuum, right? So I would assume that it is the valve-body if the kick-down linkage is adjusted correctly. That, and if it shifts fine manually, that makes me think the modulator valve or the valve body (just to be sure, is the valve body PART of the modulator valve? I'm learning here too. ) are indeed the culprit.

Cleaning things can't ever hurt, in my experience. Though it would be kind of a tick-off to pull things right back apart after you get things set the way they should be.

 

Oh yeah....expecially given the fact that I just put $70 worth of new transmission fluid in it Ha

The first thing I did was replace the vacuum modulator. I've learned since then that it don't control the shift point but only how firm or soft it shifts.

Talking with Dave (Chop Top)....I'm also thinking it may be the governor. He didn't specifically say that but just from my understanding of all the components.

I just this week purchases a 70's era original ford tranining manual on C6 transmissions. It's 54 pages long and steps though everything from how it works to troubleshooting. So will spend some time buried in that too.

 

Not directly...the modulator ties into the valve body but not physically part of it.

Top picture is after pan is removed. You can see the valve body and vacuum modulator separate.

bottom picture shows how the vacuum modulater shaft come into a port that then goes up into the valve body.

 

Wow, I think I'll keep my 4-speed standard. Of course, automatics are nice, but I like how simple a manual is.

Thanks for helping me kind of understand the orientation of the parts there. I watched one of those car/truck shows that come on on Saturday morning where they built a Chevy Turbo 400 automatic for a mud truck. They said they changed out the valve body so it had to be manually shifted. I was thinking the valve body went into the transmission, but wasn't sure. Also didn't think the valve body was that big.

The modulator valve is the brass looking canister that mounts to the outside of the transmission right? I notice what looks like the vacuum line running from it.

 

yes you can swap the valve body to be completely manual. Had a mustang I did this with as well as the TH400 going into my Nova (behind a BB 427).

I agree with you on the manuals. Autos are great but love the manuals. Would love to do a ZF5 swap on this 460 some day.

I'm BY FAR a complete ametuer on the C6....I only got this far with the help of Bill, and my friendly shop manual. In fact, this is the first time I've seen the inside of a C6....so I took lots of pictures while there.

But as always...when something don't work, you end up learning a lot about it. Either that or tow it to a shop and get your credit card out

 

I learned from a very old guy, I won't even call him frugal, just an inexpensive fella, if you need to fix something, learn to do it yourself. It gives you experience, it gives you the tools you need to do the job if you have to do it again, and you don't have to take it to some shop where some bozo can screw up what you're sinking your money into.

I jumped on the band wagon right quick. There's just something amazingly cool about being able to do your own repairs, know how things work, and plus when someone is in your tools, and they go, "What's this?" You can tell them what that funny shaped thing does. Did I mention how much money it saves in the long run?

I found the actual rebuild guide online for the New Process 435, and have the PDF files on my computer right now. That's the transmission I have in my truck. Let me know if you ever need to files and stuff for the NP435 if you want to do a rebuild. Most of the stuff I gather and learn about has to do with my truck (you love what you have, I guess), so I'll help you anytime I can if I can help.