Wont engage 3rd gear. HELP!

[72 charger]

Hey guys been fiddling with the kick down on my car, its a 69' 383 matching 727 combo holly 600 on it, the kick down was for a 2 barrel carb so we had to move the hold down nut for the throttle cable forward and weld the throttle link that connects to the kick down off the carb stud shut some to get it to engage the kick down on the tranny all the way while the throttle is fully engaged. Before this adjusting was done the tranny would shift boom 1,2,3 right away as soon as you took the car down the road. Now it shifts fine from 1-2 and actually engages the passing gear but will not shift into 3rd at all and just whines in second. Any ideas on what will cause this? Pretty stumped on what to do.

 

[tpodwdog]

punt !....i had no idea that the kick down had anything to do with up shifting. did you disconnect from the throttle and take it for a ride to see if it would go into 3rd with it disconnected?

do you want me to get you some pix of my holly kick down ??? say the word and ill go snap a few off for ya! im not a tranny expert,,,just tryin the process of elimination!

 

[72 charger]

I dont think the kickdown has any sorta relation to it not shifting into third either but i dont know for sure. It just sorta baffles me that it will not engage third now at all. Just trying to see if it could possible be the kickdown or if its a different problem...

 

[72 charger]

Ok well here are some photos of the kick down, it fully engages the kick down lever on the tranny when the throttle is all the way engaged. Any sort of suggestions on what would be causing this issue would be appreciated! I still have no idea if the kick down is the problem.

 

[red 69 runner]

do not drive the car without the kick down hooked up,this is not just for passing gear the linkage has to work with the throttle to build pressure in the valve body.when i bought my car the linkage was missing and the car shifted 1 2 3 really fast.after taking to a transmission guy i got it straightened out,he said if I would have kept driving it the transmission would have grenaded itself.you may just need to adjust the linkage a bit.Hope this helps.

 

[70rr-brian]

OK, just at a 1st glance it looks like the linkage arm is all the way at the back of the butterfly arm. Have you tried putting a spacer like a bolt or something to move it further back and see if you have any better results?

I may be totally wrong but it just seems too far back.

 

[racedodge]

if not adjusted correctly the throttle lever rod (aka kickdown rod) can cause the transmission to shift very quickly or delayed between upshifts.

when a transmission fails to shift up, it is getting to much pressure (shifts are operated through hydraulic pressure). OR... are you sure you have your shifter lever/linkage adjusted properly so that it is not "in between" gears or not engaging into drive properly.

 

[oldbee]

The easiest way to check is to have have the throttle all the way to the floor(not running! LOL) and try moving the kickdown lever on trans to the rear. It should NOT have any more movement to the rear. Everyone else is correct.Kickdown linkage tells the trans where your throttle is, in relation to what governor is seeing while spinning around. They all interact with each other.

 

[70rr-brian]

Cable length is the key. If the cable has too much slack it will likely be slow to shift to the next gear.

 

[charger360]

with the system cobbled like it is now it is hard to get the right set up but not impossible. just pop the bar off at the carb and run around the block, if it shifts 123 then your trans is still ok. but don't keep it this way as you will burn out your clutches. if all is good then the easiest way to cobble it up is to play around with the length of the bar at the carb. or as in your case you have some adjustment up top as well. rule of thumb is you need to have the throttle lever down on the trans all the way back at full throttle.and when you are at idle there should be some free play between the slot on your bar and throttle pin on your carb not to sure of the exact spec i do it by feel. then i ususally play with the adjustment till it feels like i want it to.i find that if the trans is downshifting hard automatically as i slow down i have it set to tight. so you would give it a bit more free play or slack. you may have to shorten the bar or slot it some more to get what you need sice it is not stock anymore, it does not have to jam the throttle rod back to hard to work ok. hope this helps. cheers

 

[72 charger]

Ok so here is what I have done today. Played with the gear selector to make sure it was engaging the proper gear it is, the car is definitively in drive as it shifts on its own from 1-2, so its not in just 2 or 1. Something that i find to be baffling is now it will not engage the passing gear like it used to. It just simply shifts from first gear to second smoothly and whines as you get on the gas. Im going to try again tomorrow to see if the kick down is engaged all the way as i had it set while throttle is wide open if it is then I will have no clue what else could be wrong. Any ideas?

 

[72 charger]

Ok I disconnected the kick down rod from the throttle and drove it down the street. Shifts from 1-2 nothing after same as if were connected just seems to be quicker but im not sure now if the kick down is even working at all. But i check and when connected to the throttle the kick down lever is fully engaged when the throttle is fully floored.