700R4 TV Cable Adjustment Lies, Bull, and What's the Truth?

[Erik the Awful]

Excellent information, thanks! I have a plan of attack now.

1) Pull pan.
2) Install Sonnax 77966-94K sleeve and plunger.
3) Install Sonnax AS404K Holley arm adjuster.
4) Check TV cable adjustment with the pan off.
5) Reinstall pan.

The parts are ordered. I'll post updates when I'm able to get the work accomplished.

 

[NickTransmissions]

Excellent information, thanks! I have a plan of attack now.

1) Pull pan.
2) Install Sonnax 77966-94K sleeve and plunger.
3) Install Sonnax AS404K Holley arm adjuster.
4) Check TV cable adjustment with the pan off.
5) Reinstall pan.

I'll post updates when I'm able to get the work accomplished.

You're welcome...I'd drop the pan first before spending any $$$ so you can see what's up. If you notice a bunch of blackened clutch matter or anything else concerning (or after you cut the filter open, there's metal chunks captured in it), put the pan back on with a few bolts then yank it out for the NV3500...

 

[Erik the Awful]

The fluid wasn't terrible. The plunger and sleeve had a pretty loose fit, and there was a washer installed on top of the plunger. I got it swapped out and adjusted the TV cable. I did have to use the Sonnax kit to get the geometry correct, but the pressures checked out fine and the transmission shifted correctly.

The Sniper hiccuped pretty badly, and then I discovered the PCV had popped loose so the engine had a huge vacuum leak. Tomorrow morning I'll drive it to church (5 miles each way) and see how it runs.

 

[Erik the Awful]

Runs great! I'm still not used to the loose converter yet - I used an S10 converter. It makes me think the transmission's slipping.

I shot video of my "adventure".

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[tayto]

I set the TV cable so it is tight @ WOT. get a helper to hold the gas pedal wide open. confirm the throttle body is fully open. i then use a small pair of vice grips on the crimp at the end of TV. there should be 1/32" of play but you can back off to 1/16" if shifting is not quite right. Then hook up a pressure gauge and you should see the needle start moving with ANY throttle movement. If it doesn't do this then your geometry and/or TV lineup is wrong.

I have never needed or seen a need for that spring that Sonnax gets you to put on the TV cable. Seems like a bandaid for improper geometry or TV lineup IMO.

 

[Erik the Awful]

Yeah, the spring is a crutch, but apparently it's one that works.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

I just got my newly rebuilt transmission in WCJr, and I'm struggling with the TV cable adjustment.

If you google it, you'll find plenty of f'n morons on YouTube and elsewhere saying that all you need to do is adjust the TV cable to where your transmission 1-2 shifts between 10-15 mph, and 2-3 shifts between 20-25 mph. Bull$#!+. That's how I burned up my last transmission.

There are guys who tell you to tighten the cable up and then floor it and it will set itself. Apparently this works fine if you have a factory TBI, a factory TV cable, and a not-so-minor splash of luck. I'm running a Holley Sniper, and so far haven't found any luck. I did measure as carefully as I could and set up my bracketry to mimic the factory TBI bracketry. The arm radius appears very close and the throttle and TV cable distances are set the same as the factory cables. The Sniper does have Holley's throttle arm corrector on it, but not the TV cable corrector that Sonnax sells.

Then there are the guys who tell you that you need to set it with a pressure gauge, but they don't give you a clue which port to use, and the pressure specs are wildly different depending on who you talk to.

I plugged my gauge into the line pressure port on the driver side of the transmission and played with the cable until I got 75-85 psi on the gauge. Then I dropped the gauge and broke it. One quick trip to HF and the new gauge reads much more consistently than the '90s era gauge I was using. Once I got the new gauge installed I took it for a test drive with the gauge hooked up. It maxed out at 90 psi.

Then I tried the with the cable tightened all the way up and floored to self-adjust. I'm getting a very consistent 120 psi max. I can't get it any tighter without it resetting at full throttle. It seems to be shifting fine, but I know that's really temporary if the cable's wrong.

Is my transmission pump weak? Am I checking the wrong port?

If the transmission comes out again, the NV3500 is going in its place.

Read the TV 101 article by Bowtie Overdrives. Very good information.