I had quite a saga with my '99 Ranger getting the transmission rebuilt around a year and a half ago and have asked about other issues related to it before. When the truck's warmed up and it downshifts around 20 mph, I believe it's going from 2nd to 1st, you can feel a slight thud in the seat. If you coast through the gear change it's much more noticeable than if you're moderately on the brakes. It also doesn't always do it. What could cause that? It almost feels like a shift kit is installed but one wasn't, and I've never seen the O/D Off light come on, signaling a tranny issue. It's the 4R44E automatic.
I'm assuming it's an internal problem, they went through 3 different valve bodies before they got it to more or less stop doing variations of a shifting problem on the same gear change, and this is the most tolerable of them. Not wanting to deal with them possibly causing more issues, I've lived with it and it's been otherwise fine in 18,000 miles. It shifts great everywhere else but that one gear change.
Could something external to the transmission be causing the slight thud feeling on that one down shift?
Basically the guy just did a s*** job rebuilding a transmission I would just live with it if you have no warranty left
Does it have a control cable connected to the throttle that may need to be adjusted?
I'm not sure, I'll check in the daylight hours. I doubt it, by 1999, the Ranger had an electronically controlled transmission. I think Scotty may be right. They also replaced my pinion seal with a part I provided for free and did a terrible installation. It's not fully seated properly and seeps. I didn't notice for a while. learned my lesson on that one.
My '99 Cherokee also has an electronically-controlled transmission and it has a shift control cable between the throttle and transmission that is the first thing to check on those if there's a problem with shift quality.
Good to know, I'll take a look in the morning! Sometimes I wonder if that rebuild shop was very competent with what they do. The original problem with their rebuild job was intermittently the transmission would slam from 1st into 2nd when you started it cold and drove it away. After the first upshift of the drive, it would be fine. The problem was less noticeable in warm weather and came back with a vengeance when it got cold last winter. That was when I made my initial complaint. The 2nd valve body shifted fine cold, then it was jumpy on every single 2-1 shift, drove my girlfriend and I nuts. Then this one has a similar issue but it's more tolerable. A firmer braking keeps it from happening.
Doesn't sound like they were very competent. Wonder if they were installing used valve bodies? The cable thing is admittedly a long shot but probably worth checking out.
Doesn't appear to be another cable running down to the tranny. Only some electrical cables for the IAC valve and TPS sensor. Part of me wonders if the drive shaft could cause that. The truck has the tell-tale, very slight shimmy when you're accelerating from a stop and going slow that Rangers had which comes from a dry slip yoke. They also clunk. The shimmy stops past like 5-10 mph and I've greased mine a few times without pulling it off. The infamous clunking went away, but I'm wondering if a worn slip yoke could cause that behavior.
Could possibly be the slip joint, if its sticking or worn anything that makes it slide in/out could result in a clunk. Did you have anything like that going on before the transmission was rebuilt? How long has the Ranger had this symptom?
It's always done the shimmy thing, it's not irritating enough to do anything about it, not like a drive shaft U-joint that'll really shake. I don't recall this downshift clunk really happening until almost coming to a stop, and upon initially accelerating it would do it. That all stopped after I packed the slip yoke boot with grease. I suppose it's worth a look when I get around to the pinion seal
Where did you get the transmission rebuilt, the House of Pies?
A local shop called Brownies Independent Transmission. They've been in business since the late 50s and are supposedly one of the best in town. Doesn't seem that way, lol.
Maybe they do OK when rebuilding Powerglide and Dynaflow transmissions.
Whatcha say, Sonny, eh? Please, nothing newer than the 700R4.
I have no clue what they do "ok" with, haha. Honestly I would think a 4-speed automatic that originated in the mid 80s and was based on a mid 70s 3-speed would be way easier to rebuild than anything in the modern day. I guess not, at least not to them.