I have never had an AOD but they shift differant . I have a 4R70W that shifts 1 2 3 then OD if you want it to . With the AOD you have 1st , drive , then OD . So if you want to hold second gear to higher RPMs you have to shift from first to drive then pull it back into first fast to get it to hold the rpm . Its hard to do with the shifter on the tree. The only way i have heard of to fix the shifting is to use a manual valve body...I could be wrong here but i haven't heard any other way to do it ..??? A lot of the mustang racers use the gear sets from the 4R70W in the AODs because of the ratio & there stronger ..Just my 1 1/2 cents worth ...Lew

 

That's correct, at WOT the governor takes over and it's the one determining the shift points. Most factory governors are set at 4300 rpms or something like that, the Mustang and Mark VII got a 4800 rpms or so. The kit you're talking about is the TransGo HP kit, and from what I've heard it works pretty good.

Hey, my AOD is in a Lincoln, one that can wind up the speedometer till the needle points at Park Coincidentally same Lincoln rides much like sport-compact, and nothing like a Lincoln

Correct, this is an AOD-specific shift pattern. There are actually two valve bodies, the civilian version most anyone has, and a police version - the regular valve body shifts just like you said, while the police one goes 2-3-OD so if you shift manually as low as you can go is 2nd gear, IIRC this was done so the cruisers can take off in 2nd for operation during severe winter conditions (can't put a civilian AOD directly into 2nd wihout initially going though 1st). If you wanna shift your AOD manually get a floor shifter for it, in my Lincoln I have one from a T-bird GT and after I modified the gates a bit it works pretty darn good.

 

Some interesting stuff there sounds like you know a thing or two about these trannys. There won't ever be a floor shifter in my truck unless it's attached to a ZF.. and I really wouldn't mind that because everything else I own is a manual, but I'm not really interested in doing the swap either. I'd just like the slushbox to bang off 5000rpm shifts all on it's own when I have my foot planted on the firewall, I got no interest in manually shifting it up or down.

 

Haha, Paul, that's about all I know, a thing or two - on a serious note, seems like the TransGo HP shift kit is what you need. However, I'm left with the impression that you already have a shift kit installed in your transmission - if that's the case, you can purchase just the high-revv governor, I think Oregon Performance Transmission can get it for ya.

 

I did a search on TransGo shift kits, and this old thread came up.

I have played around with my AOD TV cable, and my transmission shifts just like you describe when I have the cable too tight, or too much pre-load on the TV cable. The shift points are extended and shifts are firmer, but then it doesn't want to downshift while coming to a stop when in overdrive. The transmission feels like it is binding up, the engine starts to shake and bog and then the RPMs will suddenly shoot up when the transmission finally downshifts.

After adjusting my TV cable a little bit tighter than stock, I have my own AOD shifting pretty good now, a bit firmer than stock. But I wonder if a shift kit will help with my engine modifications (see my signature). I plan on installing 4.10 gears in the future, if that matters at all.

How much different does the transmission feel with the TransGo shift kit, than when you had your TV cable tighter for firmer shifts?

I am not looking for a HARD shift! I have a friend who has a 1988 F150 302/AOD with a B&M shift kit in it, and it shifts HARD, especially out of first, and that got old FAST in normal driving on the street. Can you describe what the TransGo kit did differently in your own truck than the stock AOD calibration?

Thanks!