AMC Torqueflite 904 turned by a 258 six.

If you leave it in drive, shifts are smooth, crisp and flawless - like a 47,000 mile car should be.

However, if you're feeling rambunctious, and decide to hold it in 2nd, manually upshifting to drive; usually this results in a bit of RPM flareup before finding direct.

Is this something that could be solved with a band adjustment or is this a sign of worse things on the horizon?

Adjusting kick down linkage would be the first step.

I would double and triple check shifter linkage, it may not be 100% going into high gear when working manually.

Both of those are great ideas guys, and thanks! But, kickdown linkage is adjusted correctly and so is the shift linkage. What would be the next logical step having eliminated those two things?

The reason there is no flare up when driving normally is because the load is reduced; "rambunctious" driving increases the load on the trans and marginal components won't perform like they will at lighter load.

The front clutch is probably marginal.

That does make sense. If I leave it in drive, and floor it, it will still shift normally through the gears without flaring up between 2nd and direct.

But in drive, it's still shifting at it's "normal" shift points, although slightly raised. Holding it in second goes well beyond those pre-set shift points and would explain the extra slippage.


Guess I'll just leave it in drive from now on!!

Did you ever get this sorted out ?

Yeah! I sold the car!

That always works.

😃