Hey everyone, I had a question about the C4 tranny in my Mustang and thought maybee I could get some answers here. Anyway, I have a 66 stang with a 289, 4barrel, tri Ys, C4 W/shift kit, etc. I was coming home the other night and I was sitting at a light and the light turned green and I decided to give the stang a little excercise, so I held the tranny in first,was on the pedal and around 5500RPM and went to shift to 2nd gear when all of a sudden it felt like it fell out of gear but not completly kind of like a slip (its hard to describe), so I let off the gas, shiftedinto 3rd and slowed down at another traffic light ( I also forgot to mention that I said "Oh Sh*t" at least once or twice during this whole thingLOL) So the light turned green I took off, nice and easy and it shifted 1st to 2nd just fine, but when it shifted from 2nd to 3rd it wacked out for a second then went into 3rd and was fine, then everytime I gave it slight throttle when in 3rd it sounded like it was downshifting right away back to 2nd then back to 3rd. So I said, well maybee its low on tranny fluid? Well I got home and went to put it in "Park" and it wouldnt go, it felt like something was physically blocking the shifter from moving. I knew it wasnt linkage because it had RND21, just no Park. Well I got it in the garage and dropped the pan, and saw nothing, so I dropped the valve body and I had parts all over falling out. Apparently I broke my intermediate band, the one up in the front of the tranny closest to the bell housing. So obviously the tranny is gonna have to come apart, it was rebuild a few years ago, but wasnt used untill last year, could I get away with just changing that band, or would it be more practical to rebuild the tranny? Also another thing I wanted to note is that last weekend I went to powerbrake the car and do a holeshot and it could barely break the tires loose, and my power band is up at around 3000rpm, the car in the last year or so has become a complete dog, could this have anything to do with this band being bad? I don't really know what it does so I am hoping to get schooled on it a little. Then another thing keeps bothering me as well, do you guys think it is my fault this happened from beating a little too hard on my pony? I have thought it over several times and I don't see that being the case, heck I know that is what my wife is gonna say when she finds out!! LOL Thanks, Jack

 

Well your going to have to pull the transmission to replace the band. It cant be done any other way. Just inspect the remainder of the parts and see if there is any damage besides the broken band.

And go forward from there.....

 

i cant remember but can you slip the band around the drum and replace without ripping all the guts out?

either way, its probably the only thing you need to replace.............. probably []

 

Im not sure about putting in the band without pulling it, but I think you have to. When we built mine we slid the band in from the front of the case (where the pump goes). I doubt your abuse is what caused the problem. You probably just hadadefective band. I have a bigger andstronger engine, TCI valve body (that hits 2nd pretty darn hard), and a TCI servo (that clamps down the 2nd gear band), and I beat on it pretty hard. I have never had any problems with it (knock on wood). I useda stock style rebuild kit from Dacco, and it was all high quality parts. For the $80 you'll payfor a complete rebuild kit, I would go that way. It isn't worth tearing it all apart to replace just one band. For that kind of money I would rebuild thewhole thing.

 

I dont think so. First off the OEM band is rigid. He may be able to get the old brokenone out if it is the newer flex type. There is a cutout in the front ofcase where you have to insert the band intothe case where thepump bolts up. I really dont think the ears that anchor the bandto the adjuster and piston stemon aflex band will fit between the housing and the drum if you try to wrap it in from the valve body opening. Mind you I have not tried it but the clearance is pretty tight.

FWIW it wouldn't hurt to try, but that still dosen't explain why the band broke in the first place.

 

yeah i wasnt sure if it would slide around or not. he said the tranny was recently rebuilt, the new band used could have been defective - thats the simplest answer anyways

 

Broken band...I thought you were talking about Journey without Steve Perry. At least my BS reply bumped you back to the top.

 

Van Halen with out Sammy......[:'(]