ATS Question-Flamers Need Not Apply

[TFucili]

A friend of mine has an '05, two wheel drive QC. The truck has an older Banks Six Gun, and he recently had a complete ATS trans installed, as well as a PacBrake. The new trans shifted somewhat radically, and extremely harshly, especially into overdrive. He went back to the installer, and they put in an ATS controller. This improved the situation, but the thing hunts way more than my stock 48RE, and the shifts are unnecessarily harsh IMHO. At light throttle it will grab, and I do mean GRAB overdrive at 30 MPH, and lug the engine down to about 1,000 RPM. Bear in mind, I was observing this from the passenger seat, so speeds and RPM reading are +/-. The bottom line is that if it were my truck, I would not be a happy camper. Do you fellas think it is strictly an ATS issue, or is it possible that there is a compatibility issue with the ATS, Banks, and PacBrake combo? I'm especially wondering about the PacBrake trying to control the torque converter lockup.



I'm hoping you guys have some input. He's not a wrencher, and is somewhat at the mercy of the shop on this.

 

[jelag]

If the pacbrake is tied to the ECM per the wiring harness, it has no effect on whats going on... .

The truck needs something to control lock up for sure. . but that circuit is not tied to the pacbrake per say... . its looking for the same signal from the ECM to say ""The throttle is in the idle mode condition, & the switch to call for the exhaust brake is on"" if either of these 2 conditions is not met he lockup TQ circuit should not function... .

On the other hand, if its wired wrong and its locks every time during acceleration and de acceleration this could be the problem... .

Hope this helps...

 

[p-Bar]

I go direct to the source. Call ATS and have them troubleshoot this issue. They know their trannys better than anybody.

 

[Buffalo]

TFucili,



Inthe summer of '02, I drove up to the Denver area & had ATS install one of their transmissions in my '91. 5, W-250. This truck did not have a lock-up TC but, did have a 4-speed auto. This is the first, first gen. truck that they had installed one of their Triple-lock TC equipped transmissions in.



The installer was a newer employee but, seemed quite interested in the install. However, he did not know about all the adjustments that were available.



After the install, he & I test-drove the truck & the lock-up would not disengage & it did not seem to want to downshift into lower gears from fourth gear. We had to use the overdrive lock-out switch to get it to downshift. The installer said that it looked like I would have to lock-out fourth gear each time I wanted to slow down or stop. That was unacceptable!!!



When we got back to the shop, I spoke with Clint Cannon (the owner of ATS) & he went for a ride, with me. On my truck, there is a rheostat that adjusts what speed the TC locks-up. It was adjusted way to low & would not unlock when the installer was driving it. He did not know or forgot about the adjustability. Clint adjusted the rheostat &, to this day, the trans works perfectly!



What I'm trying to say is that your friends problem , hopefully, is something very simple.



Have you tried Chuck's Speed Center (in Phoenix)? I believe that he is an approved installer. There are other local installers, also.



Good luck.



Joe F.

 

[MCummings]

The new trans shifted somewhat radically, and extremely harshly, especially into overdrive. He went back to the installer, and they put in an ATS controller. This improved the situation, but the thing hunts way more than my stock 48RE, and the shifts are unnecessarily harsh IMHO. At light throttle it will grab, and I do mean GRAB overdrive at 30 MPH, and lug the engine down to about 1,000 RPM. Bear in mind, I was observing this from the passenger seat, so speeds and RPM reading are +/-. The bottom line is that if it were my truck.

Sounds like a ATS trans to me.



Had a buddies truck that did the exact same thing, no amount of money would cure it. He even told ATS that he would pay whatever he needed to get it to shift right. They couldn't do it. The only thing that fixed it was selling the truck.



Merrick

 

[TFucili]

TFucili,



Inthe summer of '02, I drove up to the Denver area & had ATS install one of their transmissions in my '91. 5, W-250. This truck did not have a lock-up TC but, did have a 4-speed auto. This is the first, first gen. truck that they had installed one of their Triple-lock TC equipped transmissions in.



The installer was a newer employee but, seemed quite interested in the install. However, he did not know about all the adjustments that were available.



After the install, he & I test-drove the truck & the lock-up would not disengage & it did not seem to want to downshift into lower gears from fourth gear. We had to use the overdrive lock-out switch to get it to downshift. The installer said that it looked like I would have to lock-out fourth gear each time I wanted to slow down or stop. That was unacceptable!!!



When we got back to the shop, I spoke with Clint Cannon (the owner of ATS) & he went for a ride, with me. On my truck, there is a rheostat that adjusts what speed the TC locks-up. It was adjusted way to low & would not unlock when the installer was driving it. He did not know or forgot about the adjustability. Clint adjusted the rheostat &, to this day, the trans works perfectly!



What I'm trying to say is that your friends problem , hopefully, is something very simple.



Have you tried Chuck's Speed Center (in Phoenix)? I believe that he is an approved installer. There are other local installers, also.



Good luck.



Joe F.

Thanks for the info, Joe. Actually, the shop you mentioned did the install on all of his mod's. The controller they installed does have the adjustment for the lockup, but it either is not accomplishing anything, or he is being too conservative with the adjustment. I am not sure if there is an adjustment for the MPH that OD engages, but it sure needs to be raised. We were going up a slight grade, empty the other night, and that thing got to stutter-shifting like you would not believe. It had to have shifted a dozen times in less than ten seconds. I am going to urge him to take it back to the shop.

 

[TFucili]

If the pacbrake is tied to the ECM per the wiring harness, it has no effect on whats going on... .



The truck needs something to control lock up for sure. . but that circuit is not tied to the pacbrake per say... . its looking for the same signal from the ECM to say ""The throttle is in the idle mode condition, & the switch to call for the exhaust brake is on"" if either of these 2 conditions is not met he lockup TQ circuit should not function... .



On the other hand, if its wired wrong and its locks every time during acceleration and de acceleration this could be the problem... .



Hope this helps...

Yes, that is a help, thanks. It sounds like the brake is pretty much plug and play, so should not be an issue. I was remembering how Dodge/Jacobs were making such an issue out of their claim that just because the converter was getting a lockup signal didn't mean it was locked, etc. , etc. , etc. , and ultimately used that as an excuse to leave '05 owners who wanted a brake swinging in the breeze... but that is a whole different issue

 

[Trashdawg]

The DTT shift enhanser will help with the problem.

 

[Buffalo]

On my '91. 5 W-250, lock-up occurs at just under 50 mph. I've tried it at much lower mph's & it doesn't work too well. Seems to drop the rpm's too low when it locks-up at lower speeds.



Joe F.