No kick down at low speeds. 727

[RECHRGD]

Several years ago,after being fed up with the local tranny shops, I bought a new 727 from Cope Racing.  In general, I've been happy with it. The problem is that I, for the most part, have no kick down at low speeds.  If I am rolling up to a light and it turns green while I'm still rolling it stays in third gear when trying to accelerate, unless I manually shift to second.  This is true at both part and full throttle. The weird thing is that on some very rare occasions it has kicked down, but 99% of the time it's a no go.  On the highway it works flawlessly from third to second when under 65 (passing gear).  Any ideas?

[John_Kunkel]

727 transmissions prior to '71 didn't have Part Throttle Kickdown (PTK), the only way to get them to kickdown is to floor the throttle or shift down manually.

PTK can be added to any '67 or later 727 by installing the PTK module in place of one end plate on the valve body. The modules will be found on any /6 904 or most '71 and later valve bodies.

If it doesn't kickdown at low speed at WOT I'd suspect your TP linkage adjustment. Have somebody sit in the drivers seat and floor the throttle then, from under the hood, push rearward on the carb lever to be sure the carb is actually going to WOT. If it is, then push rearward on the TP linkage, if it moves more than 1/4" or so the linkage needs to be adjusted. Since it does occasionally kickdown at WOT the adjustment is probably close but not perfect.

[RECHRGD]

727 transmissions prior to '71 didn't have Part Throttle Kickdown (PTK), the only way to get them to kickdown is to floor the throttle or shift down manually.

PTK can be added to any '67 or later 727 by installing the PTK module in place of one end plate on the valve body. The modules will be found on any /6 904 or most '71 and later valve bodies.

If it doesn't kickdown at low speed at WOT I'd suspect your TP linkage adjustment. Have somebody sit in the drivers seat and floor the throttle then, from under the hood, push rearward on the carb lever to be sure the carb is actually going to WOT. If it is, then push rearward on the TP linkage, if it moves more than 1/4" or so the linkage needs to be adjusted. Since it does occasionally kickdown at WOT the adjustment is probably close but not perfect.

Thanks John, I'll check that....

[RECHRGD]

John, I had probably a half inch or better of movement on the linkage at full throttle.  I adjusted it to about a quarter inch and the trans would kick down at about half throttle or better depending on the speed.  So all appears well and thank you for for advise.  I did notice at full throttle that the shifts were happening at a little over 6000rpm.  I assume that by reversing the adjustment a little, I can get the shifts down a few hundred rpm and still keep the kick down working.  Just a little more fine tuning I guess.......