Different valve body, different question

Before I bought the Turbo Action FMVB (no LBA) mentioned in my other post, I purchased a J.W. 50217 FMVB. When I initially tried it, something that I can't recall specifically right now wasn't working correctly, which is when I swapped it for the Turbo Action. When finishing the TA install I found a shift linkage issue that could have been the source of the problem with the J.W., but didn't want to swap valve bodies again to verify this. The TA with the corrected linkage worked fine from day 1.

Getting back to the J.W., the insructions included a step that seems kind of odd now. The instructions covered their manual/automatic, forward manual, and reverse manual valve bodies. That one step was applicable only to the FMVB, and it was to put a cup plug in the case passage to block off the governor pressure hole. I've been looking through various 727 docs and don't see this mod listed anywhere else. Wouldn't this have usually been done as part of the valve body configuration? I can't find an example of how it would have been done, though. How "should" or could it have been done? Thanks - Brad

Depends on whether the VB uses the original factory style steel separator plate or a custom plate. A custom plate omits the feed passage to the governor but a factory plate needs the plug to prevent line pressure from entering the governor.

Makes sense. I found some TransGo TF-3 kit info online that showed it plugs the same hole.

I don’t remember which hole it goes in, but the TF-2 kit has a restrictor that gets tapped into one of those holes in the case.

Yep. TF-2 and TF-3 both get the front band apply passage restricted using a plug w/ a .140" hole. The TF-3 (full forward manual mod) also plugs (blocks off) the governor port, just like I found the JW FMVB instructions said to do.

Until I pull the trans pan & valve body, I can't say for sure that Jim & I actually installed that governor port plug when the JW VB was installed. I THINK we did, since that part of the instructions had been highlighted by somebody to stand out during the installation...

If, by chance, we did NOT plug that, I wonder if THAT would have been why the JW didn't work right, rather than the shift linkage adjustment I made when swapping to the Turbo Action. Now I'm really curious to pull the TA VB and see what we did.

During the trans rebuild and valve body change from the TransGo TF-2 OEM VB to the JW, I do know we removed that front band apply passage restrictor that was part of the TF-2 kit. Neither the JW or TA instructions mentioned using any type of front band apply restrictor, but the TA needs one for anything under WOT operation.