Fellow Ford truck lovers/ pretend haters though secret lovers, I've got a shifty problem on my hands.
Got a 91 F250 Custom with a gas 5.0 and E4OD trans. It's been so good to me so I can't see her go out like this.
In the last year She's been shifting hard between 1st and 2nd unless I drove it like I stole it or opposite, like a grandma with 2" thick glasses that thinks she's going too fast sitting still in a parking lot. Normal acceleration caused the hard shifting. Only ecception was to feather the accelerator just prior to shift, allowing smooth shift at generally average take off. Also, Hindsight has finally also taught me that an occasional nasty vibration at a times of high torque in OD was probably torque convertor shutter. Driving to avoid those two conditions (being selective of my acceleration and avoiding OD going up steep hills on the highway) allowed me to drive with almost no issues for a little over a year. The problem has finally degraded to "you can't ignore it anymore".

Now she wont shift from 1st to second at all (no more hard shifting) unless I draw back on the accelerator just right as the rpm reaches the normal shift point between 1st and 2nd. Once in 2nd, it shifts from 2nd to 3rd and 3rd to OD beautifully like it was new.

I know I caused this by trying to ignore the problem for so long. But the truck was normally only used to drive 5 miles back and forth to work and occasional weekend warrior trips to The Home Depot. The reality of pulling the transmission was definitely putting me in the pretend it's not happening category.
My gut tells me I'm well over due for a convertor exchange. My fear is that I'm also overdue for an intermediate clutch pack rebuild. Paying someone else would be close to more than I can sell the truck for. Before I finally pull the Tranny myself, I would be stupid not to ask the collective hive mind for their well educated opinions.
What do ya'll think? ...besides the fact that my procrastination has probably turned a $300 issue into my current pain in the you know what problem.
Thanks! Your humble and selfdeprecating padawan.

 

You need to put a code reader on it first and see what is says. Then google and read up on hundreds of e40d threads with hard shifting. Mine was a burnt out bulb in the third brake light... i kid you not! Felt like i was getting rear ended every time it shifted from 1 to 2.

 

Thanks man! I'll try it and holler back. Assuming KOEO?

 

My PCM is what caused mine to do that and maybe caused an unnecessary rebuild. Perhaps codes will show solenoid pack or connector. The E4OD is computer controlled. Hopefully one of these will be your DIY fix. KOEO and KOER is what I would do. How many miles on the E4? Sandy