Gentlemen, I purchased a 69 Crew with 460 mated to C6 in January. With your help, I have learned quite a bit and have made a number of repairs/upgrades. OK, here's my question. It seems as though my tranny is not shifting into 1st. I'll try to explain, I only notice two shifts while driving. I've tried downshifting from Drive to 2nd (that worked) then slowing and downshifting to 1st, nothing happens, but the shift indicator on the column reads 1st. I'm thinking it's linkage, but don't want to start messing with adjustments until after I let you gurus give me some ideas. The truck runs awesome, but I think starting in 2nd probably isn't such a good thing. I also noticed that I don't have the kick down rod, tried looking in the junk yards around San Diego, but it seems that when they separate the engines from the trannys, they like to throw this bugger out, so have had no luck finding one. By the way, this is my first truck, I have ordered a manual, but after weeks I'm still waiting for it to show up! so any advice you can give is appreciated

 

If yo ucan only hit 2 gears right of nuetral, then it sounds like a linkage issue.

you can disconnect the linkage at the transmission pretty easily. Put the shifter as for down as possible (lowest gear available) then remove the linkage and see if the shifter on the tranny will drop one gear lower.

Often, custom exhaust woek can be in the way of dropping to first gear.

If you had a kick-down, you could at least find first by putting your foot in it :-) You may be able to fabricate a kick-down rod. It doesn't take mouch force, but it is an odd shape.

 

If you take-off from a dead stop in D and it only shifts once, I don't think it would be a linkage problem, probably more like something stuck in the governor or valve body.

The governor tells the tranny how fast you are going. In the standard valve body, the tranny won't shift down to 1st if you are moving faster than 35 MPH or so. If the governor is stuck at a high speed position, it could be giving the valve body false speed information and not shift to 1st automatically or manually.

Taking-off in second won't hurt anything, the C6 was designed to do that manually if you put it in 2nd. If you were trying to get up a real steep hill while towing something in 2nd real slow that would normally require 1st gear, you would probably cook the oil and cause some damage. But normal everyday driving won't be a problem.

I wouldn't worry about the kickdown linkage, especially if you have a 460 in front of it. You should have no problem passing anyone in 3rd gear with that engine on the hiway. If you think you need that extra kick, simply drop it down one at the colum--it's the same effect. Just remember that everytime the tranny shifts, especially under a load, some wear takes place in the clutch packs. The less often it shifts, the longer the clutch packs will last.

 

Didn't some columns only have a Drive and 2nd gear? Or am I thinking of another breed of monkey? Maybe someone in the past has replaced the column with one from a different application. Or the column is correct for the application & maybe the engine and C6 was transplanted from another.

Also, if you feel 2 shifts, you're hitting all gears- 1st to 2nd & 2nd to 3rd.

 

If he has a 460, it was obviosly swapped in. It most likely came out of a car. All non performance car C6's I've delt with wouldn't go into 1rst manualy or with throttle above 15-20 mph.

Not having a kickdown is a bad thing. You will burn up the transmission, if it isn't already. Besides forcing a downshift into 2nd, (or 1rst under 20mph) it increases the line pressure of the tranny to full pressure, to hold the clutches and bands tighter to avoid slipping under full power. With a torquey 460, it will burn up quick. I'd get a lokar cable kickdown kit.

 

Gents, thank you for your replies, it gives me something to go by.
JDS71, the tranny taking off does shift 2 times, however I can not get it to downshift to 1st. The non stock tilt column reads 1, 2, D, N, R and P. As far as the kick down rod, I am finding there are 2 schools of thought, one you don't need it and two you do. After reading many forum threads and doing some research, I have come to the conclusion that keeping it as close to stock as possible is the most reliable way to go, so I am going to reinstall the kick down (somehow).
Pat67shorty, yes the 460 came out of a Lincoln, not sure about the tranny. The guy I bought it from couldn't tell me much about the mods that were made, so I am in a hit and miss learning curve. I have located the Locar cable in El Cajon, but I would like to try and find the stock piece if possible.
LikeMFords, I will check out your suggestions when I get my manual.
Gtex, I'm going to try your suggestions tonight, sounds like an easy way to start narrowing it down to the root cause. As far as making the rod, I've seen your gallery and believe that you could probably make one, but I'm not quite there yet. By the way how much do you charge for custom kick downs, I know someone that would be interested : ) Thanks again for all your input.