Rebuilt A518 very weak forward gears.

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Rebuilt A518 very weak forward gears.

Postby mperryb » Fri Dec 12, 2014 12:36 pm

Hello all I am a new member here. My name is Perry, I live in Arizona. I have always worked on my own stuff. I have built a few bikes and working on an early bronco.
This is my first cummins. My buddy has a first gen that impressed the hell out of me so I decided to get my own.
Its a 92 with 167k on it. Minor mods like intake and had the pump messed with. I bought it with a bad transmission.

I rebuilt the transmission. The overdrive output bearing (the big one) went out and wreaked havoc inside the transmission. I flushed everything washed and cleaned all the parts. Cleaned the cooler lines with solvent and compressed air. I rebuilt it with a kit from eBay with Kolone steels and red alto clutches. Put in a new fancy forward band and did a trans go shift kit and a Goerend torque converter. I filled it with napa atf+4.

My problem is the transmission is very weak off the line and seems to be getting worse. The truck won't even pull up my driveway (it is steep but thats no excuse), as i give it more pedal the RPMs slowly increase.

I pulled the pan yesterday to find slight milky fluid near the magnet, and metal shavings in the bottom, not a ton maybe enough to cover a nickel. I re adjusted the bands and bumped the line pressure a few turns. I adjusted the kick down cable and went for another drive and its even worse. On my street with a very slight incline I had to go full throttle and the thing just kinda sat there for a few seconds before it started to move.

Off with the pan again to find some fibrous shavings in the pan with much less metal. Both times the shavings are right where the pickup would be almost like they are smashed between the pan and the filter. I have had the pan down 3 times and each time the fluid is a bit darker, not burned just darker in color.

Reverse seems to engage like a pro but drive can hardly be felt. I get the problem with the selector in drive 2 or 1. Other than the sluggish performance from a stop it seems to work ok shifts like I think it should and the overdrive even works.

Thanks for the help!!!!
mperryb
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Re: Rebuilt A518 very weak forward gears.

Postby cmann250 » Fri Dec 12, 2014 2:06 pm

Welcome 8)

Reverse and manual low should have the same conditions. What were the specs on the front and rear clutch?
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Re: Rebuilt A518 very weak forward gears.

Postby mperryb » Fri Dec 12, 2014 2:15 pm

Im not sure what you mean by specs. I replaced the clutch packs with the supplied steels and frictions. I think 4 clutches/steels in each. Or at least as many as would fit and still be able to reinstall the snap ring
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Re: Rebuilt A518 very weak forward gears.

Postby cmann250 » Fri Dec 12, 2014 2:43 pm

The clearances.

I'd have to get my book to see what the clearances should be.
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Re: Rebuilt A518 very weak forward gears.

Postby mperryb » Fri Dec 12, 2014 2:52 pm

I didn't mic them when I went together. I watched a vid where the guy said just make sure the clutches spin free and move around when the pack is upside down.
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Re: Rebuilt A518 very weak forward gears.

Postby cmann250 » Fri Dec 12, 2014 3:19 pm

I sent another guy a message. Second opinions are good.

Have you been checking the fluid level idling in neutral? That's a bizarre Dodge thing. If it's full and it's doing that, something inside isn't right and chances are it will need to come out.
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Re: Rebuilt A518 very weak forward gears.

Postby mperryb » Fri Dec 12, 2014 3:37 pm

I have already accepted that I'm gonna have to take it out I just want some opinions first. Ya know maybe i messed something up in the valve body, mixed up some springs someplace, something simple. One can hope.

Yes Im idling in neutral. It actually took me some time to get it up to the correct level. Ill idle in neutral and fill once its on the stick ill take it for a spin than check again. Did that 3 times before the level wouldn't drop after a drive.
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Re: Rebuilt A518 very weak forward gears.

Postby cmann250 » Fri Dec 12, 2014 5:12 pm

The lip seals could be installed backwards. That would not allow the piston(s) to come out all the way and then you'd have clutches that wouldn't engage all the way.

It's easy to speculate with out being able to see it.
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Re: Rebuilt A518 very weak forward gears.

Postby mperryb » Fri Dec 12, 2014 5:28 pm

Yep just hoped for some opinions from some tranny pros. I suppose I could have installed some of those pistons backwards. Maybe get my hands on a book and slowly go through it. I just went along online with assembly vids and was confident I had it done properly, but obviously not.
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Re: Rebuilt A518 very weak forward gears.

Postby Tacoclaw » Fri Dec 12, 2014 5:53 pm

Any chance the TC filled full of stuff and has seeded it right back into the stuff you just cleaned?
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Re: Rebuilt A518 very weak forward gears.

Postby mperryb » Fri Dec 12, 2014 6:06 pm

Tacoclaw wrote:Any chance the TC filled full of stuff and has seeded it right back into the stuff you just cleaned?

No it is a new Goerend torque converter
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Re: Rebuilt A518 very weak forward gears.

Postby ellis93 » Fri Dec 12, 2014 8:26 pm

First welcome to the forum!

Second,go buy one of these.....it will help you more than any YouTube vid.
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.vi ... 1679823283

Dodge A500 A518 A618 ATSG Techtran MANUAL Repair Rebuild Book Transmission Guide

I think what you have is a clutch slipping. Look at the sticky links section on here and go to the second page of the a518 Info tread. On the last post you see a diagram showing what is applied in each gear. Use your symptoms and compair them to what comes on in each gear.
I looked and it said that the thing that comes on in all forward gears was the rear clutch. If memory serves me right that is located in the drum at the end of the output shaft. I'm not certain because I do not have my book in front of me to thumb thru.
FWIW I'd stop running it and down it again before you make it puke something nasty in that fancy converter. Monday I will return to work and I'll look thru my book for you.
93 D250 ,5 speed,4.11s,k&n autometer tach pyro trans boost guages,GDS 60mm h1c 14cm,honed 5x10,hplp/reg,1/8 timing,M+H M2 fuel pin, tims cooler tubz
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Re: Rebuilt A518 very weak forward gears.

Postby ellis93 » Fri Dec 12, 2014 8:34 pm

Rear clutch is what that diagram calls it,the book and everyone else calls it a forward clutch....as in all forward movement runs thru it.
Look here
Image

Here's where I found a decent breakdown of the trans.
http://www.tcsproducts.com/download/57/
93 D250 ,5 speed,4.11s,k&n autometer tach pyro trans boost guages,GDS 60mm h1c 14cm,honed 5x10,hplp/reg,1/8 timing,M+H M2 fuel pin, tims cooler tubz
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Re: Rebuilt A518 very weak forward gears.

Postby mperryb » Fri Dec 12, 2014 9:29 pm

Thank you very much. Ill get it torn out this weekend
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Re: Rebuilt A518 very weak forward gears.

Postby txs » Sat Dec 13, 2014 4:49 pm

all you need to check the clutch pack clearances is feeler gauges. Caleb, the front and rear clutch pistons use ell shaped lip seals and the grooves are ell shaped also, you'd really have to work at it to install them upside down. I would have run the thing with a pressure gauge on a hose plugged into the pressure ports and seen what the line and fc pressures were. Mperry, you sure you turned the line pressure screw the right way, it needs to go counter clockwise to raise the line pressure.
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