C4/C6 Ford Transmission Shift Lever and Kickdown Basics
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- čas přidán 2. 05. 2024
- In this video Jay Robarge of Broader Performance will explain the difference and location of the manual select lever and the kickdown linkage found externally on the Ford C4 and C6 transmission. Just addressing basic concerns and confusion over which is which.
I learned more than one thing, videos of even the basics can really help a guy out! Thank you for all your efforts
Glad it helped. Thanks for watching.
“Go build another 700 or something”. 🤣🤣🤣 Thanks for the video as along with learning a few new things, you gave me a good laugh.
Im glad it helped. Thanks for the comments.
I appreciate this video. I learned a lot. I have a 1977 Ford F250 automatic transmission, The transmission is original. I was googling for the carbuerator kickdown and found your video channel. So this is something new for me. Thanks
Welcome to the channel. I hope it's helpful for you.
I’m new to it so I’d rather here it from a senior tech, thank you 👌
Happy to help!
thank you so much! 65 mustang and you absolutely explained my issue . this is awesome !
Glad it helped!
Good video just for the content and details that don't exist out there as it is. Inform the uninformed.
Im glad it was helpful. Thanks for watching.
@@BroaderPerformance A C4 problem I have been having that I have never seen before is the input shaft and the output shaft rubbing against each other. Two different transmissions now with the same problem. The end play is correct but still has the problem. I have gone through the transmission but can't find anything wrong. I have ground down the ends both shafts and that seem to have stopped the problem. But I have never seen an explanation for why this happens. 🤔
Thanks. I don't know much about automatics so I like learning.
Im glad it helped.
my car is taking forever to shift once i start from a stop , and i have a small leak coming from my transmission, and i believe you explained my issue spot on. thank you
Im glad it helped. Thanks for watching.
AWESOME INFO!!!👍
Glad it was helpful!
I’m going to confess my screw up
As you just described about the kick down and shift points
I didn’t have my kick down hooked up and my car would be in 3rd gear just past the 60’ mark at wide open throttle with the transmission in drive🤦♂️😂
I asked another racer who does transmissions and he thought for a second and asked if my kick down was hooked up and uneducated me said no… I’ve never had a kick down on the car. He quickly educated me. So I went home and made something to work with my high rise intake and carb linkage and oh man what a difference!!! It actually revs the engine a little to high between shifts but it’s way more consistent
It does help for sure. Thanks for sharing your story.
Another great vid. I share your frustrations. It's that dealing with people thing again lol. Yes and shops can be the worst .
One other thing is when bolting on the aftermarket lever it gets pusged right on , so then the inner section is in the groove and not fully clamped :(
For sure. Thats a good point about the aftermarket lever falling into the groove. Im going to address that at some point.
,,,,,,,,,Thanks for the rundown......I would leave it connected ; as I hate units that shift too soon .......
I recommend connecting it if possible.
I’ve used the Lokar kickdown cable kit to connect the kickdown when an aftermarket intake manifold was too tall to work with the stock kickdown rod.
Much easier than reworking the factory levers for sure.
A modification to the down shift linkage on the C4 in my hotrod that I made works great. Here is how it works.
I removed the Lokar down shift cable I was using. Installed an adjustable micro switch on the carburetor linkage that opens at 75% throttle, a 12 volt relay, a 12 volt door opener solenoid with a small chain connected to the C4 down shift lever. This way the micro switch and solenoid provides an instant down shift. Also connected to the micro switch is a three way 12 volt solenoid valve that dumps the manifold vacuum to the vacuum modulator. So now there is an instant down shift at the same time the vacuum modulator goes to full line pressure. The result is a hard instant down shift that is just great for hot rods. I don't know what it does to the transmission though. But it has been working for 7 years so far. 😊
Might be fun to make that lever arm manual and be hand controlled.
You could probably do that with a choke cable kit if you really wanted to.
😎🏴☠️
100%
Thanks. I took mine off and put washers in it.. not working right now. Another thing is does the vacuum have to be hooked up for it to work right if I shift it manually? It won't kick into Drive until I'm at 4000+rpm.. or hammer it and let off it shifts
You can disconnect the vacuum but it won't shift into 3rd until a high rpm. It would work ok for drag racing but not street use.
I wish that someone could make a C4 kick down shaft seal that don't leak.
The O ring only holds for about 6 months before it starts to drip. 🙄
I have found that if you soak the new O rings in transmission sealer for a month before installation it helps to tighten the seal on the shaft. They are easy to replace.
C4 s and fe engines I swear were designed to leak.
As i just bought a truck with a c6 in it.. this stuff is handy to know
Im glad it helps. Thanks for watching.
If you are cutting off the arms of the stock shift lever, then you are sending it back broken (unless the transmission owner told you to cut them). Yeah, that's the easy way to keep the correct spacing of the shaft, but if the owner isn't putting on an aftermarket shift linkage kit, then the stock factory one cannot be hooked up anymore (because you cut the arms off). I recently had my C6 rebuilt and the shop lost the kickdown arm and nut. Just trying to find stock replacement of that is a nightmare, so finding a factory/stock shift lever arm . . . I cannot even image trying to find one of those. I guess the message here is don't remove, modify, or cut any factory/stock parts unless the owner knows you want to and why.
I addressed this in the video. The wrong arm does no one any good either. You can use an aftermarket clamp on arm to adapt to a factory shifter if needed or a lokar universal lever.
Great info I have 79 f150 C6 won’t shift I have to release the gas in order to shift to second gear I replace modulator then shop put a new also replace trans fluid and filter no change…before I have a 400 engine could this be a problem than you
Be sure you're getting a good strong vacuum signal at the modulator. You could have a vacuum leak somewhere
I did not know the kickdown raises the wot shift points. So could I put a wire tie on the kickdown keep it activated all the time? I realize this will change part throttle as well but will it prematurely wear anything?
No do not engage it all the time. I had stated that in this video.
Why is it that when i leave my C6 parked por about a month the dip stick shows way, way overfilled.
But if i drive it everyday it shows normal?.
What could be the problem and how do i remedy it?
The oil in the converter drains back into the pan when it sits. This is normal.
Hello, I don't know if you or anyone reading this can help me. First of all, respect for the comprehensive and understandable explanation in the video. Now my question. We removed a Ford C4 gearbox because it was cracked and bought a used C5 gearbox and overhauled it. I really put a lot of effort into this. After installation, the gearbox could not be shifted into position “1” and had propulsion in all positions. The wheels also turned forward in the “N” and “R” shift positions. Can anyone tell me what the problem or fault could be? Thanks for your efforts.
There are differences in the shift linkage and internal shift lever. They must be compatible with each other. Hard to explain. I'll try and go over this in a future video.
Im still learning so i always feel dumb 😂
Me too. Learning is a never ending process.