Who shifts their automatic manually?

[Paul G]

How can I say this? An automatic shifting at anything but full throttle just sounds weird to me.

[67440chrg]

With my rev pattern man shift if I shift at low rpms it bangs into gear but if I bring the rpms up and stay accelerating it works and feels fine.

[Todd Wilson]

Is the thinking behind this that the 1 gear will be stronger then just starting out in D?

Yes, with the rear band applied much of the load is taken off of the sprag which is a known weak link.

This is one of those cases where "you can't have your cake..............." If you apply the rear band in low you have to deal with the fact that the servo releases by spring pressure only as opposed to the kickdown servo that releases by both spring and hydraulic pressure. A heavier spring in the rear servo helps the release as does selecting a valve body transfer plate with the largest fluid channel to the rear servo.

Thanks for that bit of info.  When I used to slug the tractor on a trailer out of a field with the old 440/727 in my 74 D200 I would use low and get it up on the road and then stop and go to D and then head out and go.

todd