Thread: Will shift kit help?

Originally Posted by BrandonHall10

I know exactly what you're talking about. I went from a '98 Montana Transport (4t60e) to an '04 Silhouette (4t65e). The shift characteristics are so different, I thought something was wrong with the new van. Like you said, higher RPM shift, long shift time.... If you look at the actual tune, the shift times for the more modern vans are super long (over 0.4 seconds) compared to a much quicker 0.2 seconds or so of the older vans. Having said that, I did put a shift kit in the new van, and it helped a little but nothing major. I think it's just the way they are programmed/tuned. To give a softer, more gentle acceleration feel.

I've wondered if the newer ones are tuned to be softer, but this one is definitely not right. Sometimes (more when cold) RPMs climb high and it sort of waits to shift as if it's struggling for something to happen that would initiate the shift, then it's a slow shift. I eventually get the hard shifting, but the delayed shifts can occur over and over, say for a half hour of stop and go driving before it goes to full line pressure. And shutting it off doesn't always make it go back to normal pressure. So a stuck PCS is likely cause here. Btw, I got the van w/ 229k and spent a year or so fixing it up. It also has no OD. I didn't know about the tranny problems when I bought it but I got it real cheap. I'd kinda like to try a shift kit, maybe even replace 4th hub and PCS, but at that point maybe rebuilding the valve body or a complete swap would be a better choice.