48RE Questions-Flare on 3-2 downshift

I helped a friend do a partial rebuild on a 48RE yesterday. It had a touch over 300K on it and the 2nd gear band was smoked, no material on it at all. Surprisingly the clutch packs looked really good, we did not get into the overdrive unit. We just changed every seal we could, rebuilt the clutch packs, and replaced the 2nd gear band. Front clutch pack was .106 for clearance and the rear clutch pack was .27 both within the specs I found. I set the band up at 72 inch lbs and backed it off 3 turns.

He said it has a small flair when downshifting 3-2 but works great everywhere else. Would this be a band adjustment or just a side effect from doing a quick and dirty rebuild on a trans with 300K on it? haha.

Hopefully you replaced the shift solenoid. Those are a common problem. I've done just that part twice on 2 48RE's that were acting up and it 100% fixed both. Only a $65 part too!

We didn't actually, he is going to upgrade the valve body soon. It had started to leak fluid really bad as well as 2nd gear being iffy so we did a quick freshen up to keep him on the road. Turns out the leak was from a cooler line that had come out of its bracket and rubbed a hole in it.

I’ve never seen the solenoid/transducer effect the 2-3 kickdown.... Does the year you’re working on still have the mech kickdown linkage or the pcm controlled external motor? If linkage check it.... I’d confirm the band adj also. Was the lining burned from the band due to nobody ever adjusting it? (Common)...... or is this flare a sign of what happened to the last one? Cracked or poor sealing servo?

I believe its an 05, it doesn't have the cable anymore. The last band was smoked completely, and had seen semi regular adjustment, the adjuster was almost through the jam nut lol. He is about to either replace the whole valve body with an upgraded one or buy an upgrade kit and replace the solenoids as well.

hopefully he replaced the drum, if the band was bare then the drum was shot and the new band is not making full contact.