ryaneverk2, I'll fill you in on my PSD + 4R100 experience.

I bought this truck - despite its automatic, not because of it - for two reasons: I needed a truck, and this one appeared to be in excellent condition.

I bought it and remembered, within the the first few miles, why I abandoned automatics so long ago.

It slipped and slid from one gear to the next - a little at light throttle, a LOT when shifting under load. With normal, cruise around throttle usage, it would shift to overdrive AND lock the TC at the same time, resulting in nearly a 1500 rpm drop. And, after the TC locked, if I touched the brake, it unlocked. Engine braking on local mountain roads was okay if the TC was locked, but I couldn't keep it locked.

Okay, fast forward. I did all but one trans mod within a month of buying the truck. Those were my first mods on this truck. While doing the fluid and filter change, I installed a Factory Tech Valve body (didn't know about BTS then - Jody T recommends the BTS over the FT, but the FT is quite good), larger capacity, finned aluminum tranny pan, and external bypass oil filter. The temp gauge came with my gauges months later - and a nifty new TruCool will be installed when I put the 6.0 intercooler in.

With the valve body, it shifts quickly and cleanly, but not harsh (okay, once in a while a bit hard). No more slipping and sliding. With Jody T's tuning, it now separates the overdrive shift and TC lockup (sounds and feels almost like a 5-speed now), and the TC stays locked above 38 in OD brakes or not - AND if OD is locked out, the TC stays locked down to 28.

I still hate automatics, but this one is MUCH more tolerable now.

 

Arninetyes, that sounds like the best of both worlds.

 

Not really - while shifting is improved to the point of being tolerable, the trans is still stock. That means if I spend much time doing full power shifts in the 120 hp mode, it won't live long.

I even worry about the 80 hp mode - it has a LOT of torque. The GOOD consequence is that I don't use the power much, and tend to really only use it in a gear, and back off to let it shift. No racing Chebbies for me.

Of course, no speeding or exhibition of speed tickets, either.

 

Thanks for sharing your experience, arninetyes. I also bought my truck despite the auto, rather than for it. Would've much preferred a manual. But, the truck was just about everything I wanted other than that with engine/specs/colors, a fair price, fairly low mileage (55k when I bought it), and in pretty solid shape. Felt like it was the one for me, so got it. My auto has been okay so far, but just don't care for the shift stratgey, tc lockup timing, slow sloppy shifts, etc. I'm counting on the bts vb and jody's tuning to cure most of that, as I've read countless times here and elsewhere. Also plan to install a manual tc lockup switch to lock it whenever I feel like it.

Won't be quite a manual tranny, but should be more pleasurable to drive, at least.

PS - JT congrats again on the free tc and the bts tranny ... appointment.