727 Transmission Issues

I took my a108 to a tranny shop to replace the pan, oil, filter, gasket, which they did. I'd have to work on the street and that's a no bueno. They found the kickdown linkage was not hooked up. A bracket was missing. I got the Lokar cable and bracket to upgrade the system. they said they could install it. They've had the thing since Wednesday morning at 8 and it's now Saturday. They say it's going to be ready later today around noon. Originally, it was supposed to be next day. They said 2-4 hours of work. Depending on if they have to do the accelerator cable with it.

How long does it take to install the kickdown linkage cable and calibrate it properly?

I'm also thinking, since the kickdown was not working, it was burning out my transmission. Should I just spend my money on a remanufactured 727? Any recommended source for a reman?

I figured, even if I have to replace the trans, I still need the kickdown linkage cable set up, so it's worthwhile.

I kind of hate transmission shops. It's a racket.

If your trans was ruined due to the kickdown not hooked up the shop would of drained burnt dark red fluid and had a pan full of residue. Was it still shifting okay? No noises? A trans going bad will "talk" to you.

I will take for granted you have a 318 engine, with correct brackets it should take less than an hour to install the Lokar kickdown cable and adjust it, really easy install.

I had my 727 professinally rebuilt with a shift kit installed also. I have never had a kickdown linkage since I installed everything. Could not afford it and still can't afford to buy the parts and pay someone to install them so you are further along than I am!!! What I did do, following a suggestion by someone that knows these things, is I took a wire and I wired the shift lever on the tranny halfway open. I have been running it this way since I put this thing together in 2002 or thereabouts...the tranny is still going strong with no noises and no bad smells etc. As a matter of fact I can come onto a freeway ramp at 40 or so and drop the shifter into second and it drops and I stomp and can be doing 70 by the time I hit the freeway!!! Someday I will be able to get all of this put together as it should be!!! LOL maybe arrgggg

I have a slant 6.

The fluid wasn't burnt but it was brown. The p.o. put Lucas anti-slip in it. It slips 2-3. I'm p sure the jerks did not adjust the bands. I thought that was part of the service. As far as I know, no chunks of stuff were found in the fluid service.

There is some noise. It sounds a bit like the torque converter winding up.

I guess I should have tried to do the kickdown linkage job on my own, but I'm on the street, no garage (I would not open the pan on a dirty street where crap could get in there). I have a BBD Carter carb. My understanding is that you need to do the accelerator cable too? The bracket seems designed for both. They still haven't called and they close in 45 minutes. Damn it!

Winding up noise is probably the planetary gear set or possibly the pump. Slippage is not good, that is the clutches and that means heat. Yes they should of adjusted the bands. Suspect the kickdown has them baffled, I have never done a slant six, not sure the bracket with the kit will fit meaning they have to fabricate one, plus it is tight in there.

Welp, they did adjust the bands. I take back every bad thing I said.

I just picked it up. They modified a nut to fix the problem. Did not install the Lokar cable. They did not charge me. Imagine. He adjusted it for a hard shift into second but couldn't adjust it for a hard shift into third. It's a soft shift. Said I'd have to shift down to second for a passing gear.

There's also a leak in the back where there's an o-ring. Extension housing. Told me to pressure wash the transmission case and he'd put some silicone there to stop the leak to save me the cost of having to get access to fix it.

He said it the trans seems to be in good shape despite the fact it was driven without the kickdown linkage working properly. So, I had to be patient but it seems like a success to me. Shifts much much better than before.

Mine is a slant 6 too...although I did do quite a bit of work to it...
Mine upshifts pretty nicely, but I have to downshift if I wanna grab a passing gear - although the way it is, usually I just give it a bit more fuel and it takes off pretty well...

Glad to hear yours is doing well now...

Cool! Good news is better than bad.

Sounds like the leak is where the L/R band pivot comes through the case. That's fairly common on high mileage units. I would go along with glopping some silicone around after you get it squeaky clean. It's not a pressure area, just some weepage from a couple old O-rings. Doesn't sound like the "Throttle Pressure" linkage is adjusted correctly since you have to manually downshift. Sounds like they also tied back the lever to a middle position as mentioned above. You should find the time to get that linkage working, it's the only way the transmission knows how much load it is under. It is key to making the excellent Torqueflight operate correctly. Good news that it is working pretty well anyway.

Thanks, KMA4444.

You don't have to manually shift to get it into third. It's a soft shift. The guy was saying for a passing gear it would be better to shift down to second. I'm wondering if that's not related to my gearing? This has 3.91 granny gears in it.

I basically rescued this van off the side of the road. It has taken some work and time on my part to get it reliable enough to take it to the trans shop. next on my list, I'm calling a mopar specialist tomorrow to finish the part of the tune up I can't do: valves, timing, carb. (Anything too precision oriented is best left for pros when it comes to my skill level). Oh, and the exhaust leak.

I'm glad I found a good mopar guy, as one of the things I wanna do is go over everything with an expert. I already have a list of things I want to do over time. But it's invaluable to have expert advice (and help). So I'll definitely ask his opinion on the linkage and the Lokar upgrade.

I can't tell you what a great moment this is: If I can get it down to the mopar guy in a couple of days and get it back by the end of the week, I may even be able to get some BFG's and the slot mags I have sitting in the back on there, which would be really, really great.