Need help adjusting TV cable

[BigTruckDriver]

I have read and searched and it seems real simple to do, I just cant figure it out. This is for a 700r4 trans. I was thinking that the cable needed to be readjusted because of the TB spacer I installed. It seemed to be working fine just a little bit slower on the shifts.

I did what the instructions said as far as adjusting but noticed there were no "clicks" and the button does not really press down. I can maybe get it to go in about 1/8" if I press as hard as I can. Then I drove it for about 3-5 miles and noticed it would not catch 3 and 4 so I guess I burned the clutches up.

I got home let it cool and tried again ,still no luck the button just wont press and no clicks . There is some adjustment coming out of it though ,enough for it not to shift to 3.Man, I hate it when you try to fix something that aint broke and end up screwing it up.

How far should the button press in, and is it easily pressed or hard?

[WhiteBrow24]

when i did mine, i took it to a shop and they adjusted it right there for free.

[BigTruckDriver]

ya , thats what I should of done. Anyways I am still a little confused ,well not really, I am sure I burnt up the clutches. I found another site that made the adjustment a little clearer. I dont think I even adjusted anything the first time out. I have adjusted it again with no luck. I hit 3rd and the engine keeps going but the truck does not. How much is a rebuild going to cost? can I just replace the clutches for 3-4 and how much?

http://www.tciauto.com/Products/Instructions/instructions/gm_tv_cable_adjust.htm

[WhiteBrow24]

just take it to a shop and tell them to adjust it for you. that might be all that it needs, maybe its not opening far enough for it to go into gear.

[BigTruckDriver]

just take it to a shop and tell them to adjust it for you. that might be all that it needs, maybe its not opening far enough for it to go into gear.
Yes thats what I was hoping for but every where I am reading its pretty much leading to burnt clutches for 3-4.

[WhiteBrow24]

well you may read that, but what is it going to hurt to try? i would def go there first, but if you wanna rebuild your tranny then so be it

[AlienTranz]

Driving it with low throttle pressure will burn up your 3-4 clutches. If you just drove it a couple of times and parked it right when you felt it slip, you might be okay. The thing that makes it difficult to adjust the throttle cable is that stupid fail safe checkball in the valve body. It's designed to give you max throttle pressure if the cable breaks, so sometimes if you get to far out of adjustment it can also do this. So when you go back to adjust it you may have to play around with it and nail the throttle a bunch of times to smack that checkball around to get it out of mechanical fail safe. I never leave that checkball in, but chances are if it hasn't been apart that checkball is still there. Anyway here's how I adjust the t.v. cable. Come to a complete stop and take off giving it very little gas, and as soon as it shifts to 2nd gear nail it and it has to downshift to 1st. Just keep pushing the adjustment back towards the firewall until you get it to downshift to 1st. Of course there is gonna be a million people that disagree with me and that's fine, but this is just the way I do it. If you are maxed out on your adjustment and you still need more throttle pressure you can always crimp a lead fishing weight on the cable right in front of the clip that clips on the throttle linkage. Just pull the cable forward enough to give you enough slack to crimp it on right next to the end of the cable.

Oh yeah and yes it is a pain in the ass to get that button to push in to adjust the cable. I just take a long flat head screwdriver and jam it through the little access you have between the intake manifold and linkage, you might have more room since yours is lifted. It's almost impossible to fit your hand in there and get enough space to push the button. Remember push the adjustment back towards the firewall to add more throttle pressure.

[WhiteBrow24]

is the more pressure the better? like say for light foot driving?

[AlienTranz]

You don't want to overadjust the throttle cable, because then it will downshift to far. You don't want you car downshifting to 1st when you are going 50, or maybe you do, but you gonna put a lot of load on your clutches and engine for that. If you want to add more pressure do it at the pressure regulator in the pump, which is accessable with the pan off. They make bigger boost valves and stiffer pressure regulator springs. If you are gonna do that I'd recommend getting the shift kit, because you need to adjust the shift timing so you don't have overlap between gears which will make you think you are getting a nice hard shift, but it's not a good shift it's a bang because the trans is fighting itself. You got one clutch coming on before one comes off( that's B&Ms specialty) They've been very good to the rebuilding industry. Destroying transmissions since well whenever they started in on shift kits

[BigTruckDriver]

Thanks for the info AlienTranz I will try that and see what it does. Man these things are supposed to be simple to adjust. I guess it is simple but a little off and you can burn everything up.....

[AlienTranz]

I was just checking out that crazy long explanation on bowtieoverdrives one of this site's sponsors. I would reccomend you do their method to start with. So max out the adjustment on the cable, and realease the lock so it's locked, then open the throttle to wide open and let the throttle linkage force the tv adjustment out. That is a good place to start since you will only have to move it a little from there if at all. If you have a factory trans it should be fine. If you are feeling downshift clunks you may want to take a little off. I Checked there adjustment on my truck, it added maybe 1/8th of an inch more throttle presssure in mine, but after test driving it I had to take some off, but as per my testing it was almost perfect by their method. If I didn't add that shim to my throttle valve it would have been perfect.

[BigTruckDriver]

I will be home tomorrow and first thing I'll do is start pushing the adjustment back towards the firewall. Maybe I can get a little more pressure and see if its makes a difference. I am still trying to figure out how it went bad. I read the directions wrong when I adjusted it the first time. I pushed the tab in and tried to push the cable back in:whacko: :whacko:. The adjustment slider did not move , or I did not see it move when I messed with it.Maybe when I drove off it could of moved. Anyways I drove it and it started slipping and by the time I got home it would not go passed 2 gear:dunno: :dunno: :dunno: .

I did have some old fluid and about 1 and a half cans of sea foam in it also and sure that did not help:whacko: .

I called some shops in town and they say 900-1000 for a rebuild.

[BigTruckDriver]

I have tried adjusting both ways and no change . I guess its time for a rebuild..... So for future adjustments I should start closest to the firewall????

[WhiteBrow24]

I have tried adjusting both ways and no change . I guess its time for a rebuild..... So for future adjustments I should start closest to the firewall????

maybe future you should take it to a shop lol, i tried to adjust mine, and i didnt have the slightest clue WTF was going on lol.
hope the rebuild goes good man!

[BigTruckDriver]

maybe future you should take it to a shop lol, i tried to adjust mine, and i didnt have the slightest clue WTF was going on lol.
hope the rebuild goes good man!:middle: :whacko:

[WhiteBrow24]

haha, are you going to rebuild it yourself?

[BigTruckDriver]

Yes I am going to start today....

[WhiteBrow24]

take pics and document everything, i wanna do mine, but i dont have the slightest clue what to do.

[BigTruckDriver]

sure thing

[redvett01]

The proper procedture is to push down the tab and pull the outer cable rearward and release the tab. Then step on the throttle and floor it without engine running.