how does a b&m heavy-duty/rv shift kit feel?

 

Don't know specifically about the B&M, but I can generalize. Also keep in mind I am no tranny expert but I have had several shift kits and liked and hated them all for various reasons.

1) The feel all depends. Yeah good answer eh. Each kit usually has several settings you can use. Mild, firm , hard, street, strip, RV etc. All depends on your kit and the setting. Most settings are done with different spring, check ball and drill combinations.

2) It also depends on the pump in the tranny. If you have stock then the settings from the kit will probably feel the way they sound. If you have a heavy duty or high pressure pump, the settings may be a bit harder than stock would create.

3) For most applications I would recommend mild or an RV setting. At most I would go for firm or street setting. This will eliminate the slippage between gears and this is really what you want with most applications. A street setting is not bad, it will give a nice snap to the shifts. A strip or hard setting will give really snappy shifts to the point of harshness but can be an irritation in many normal driving situations. Additionally if the setting is too harsh you might damage some of the drive train due to sudden stress from "bang shifting".

So these are my opinions.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson

 

anyone else use a shift kit?

 

my friend has a B&M stage II shift kit in his K5 blazer, the thing shifts pretty hard, when it shifts the whole truck shakes and givin enough gas the front end will lift waaay up. it is pretty nice though, im thinkin about gettin one for my C6 for off road purposes.

 

I have a transgo stage II shift kit in my truck. I installed it on the middle of three settings. The truck does shift firmer but not to rough. Full throtle shifts are nice and firm. When hauling my pop top camper I have noticed a 20-30 degree drop in temp. I would think the b@m would be similar.

 

I have the B&M shift kit that is installed by dropping the tranny pan. I found that it shifts firmly for a lack of a better explanation and it doesn't shake the whole vehicle when it shifts. I set mine up for the tow/RV setting and it has been a much better vehicle to drive.(1994 Bronco) I installed the kit in my driveway and it was pretty messy as far as fluid going wild, but it is ot that difficult and the kit comes with fairly easy to understand instructions. Now keep in mind I have never seen the inside of a tranny before or even removed a tranny pan either, so the whole experience was quite educational.

 

Trans Go seems to have the best shift kit for the C6. I had a B&M in mine and it was the street/strip setting. It would leave rubber on both shifts with a bone stock 360 on hard acceleration. I then went to a trans Go and it shifted firm but not rediculously hard. The B&M also screwed up the way it shifted. It wouldn't hit third unless you wrapped it all the way out. That's why I switched. I am now going with a TCI reverse manual valve body but that's a different story.

 

I put the B&M shift improver kit in mine.. I installed it in my valve body and set it to street/strip... I like it .. not to harsh but it will chirp the tires in second when I get on it.. I just paid 26 bucks for it to.. so in my opinion U cant beat that....

 

i was going to set it for the rv/hd setting b/c the truck will have the bed loaded several times.

 

anyone else use a shift kit?