I had my 4l65e rebuilt buy a VERY reputable guy locally about 8 months ago. Everything was good for a while and then reverse started not working properly. I would have to rev it once or twice before reverse would engage and it would go into gear kinda hard since it had to be revved. Eventually reverse went out completely. I have talked to him and he is certain that is something broken internally and a rebuilt is the only fix. I except that unless anyone has ideas of a noid going bad or something?

The complicated problem is that somewhat regularly I would loose 1st and overdrive. When this happened I would have to put he gear selector into 2 and it would take off in second otherwise there was a heavy drag like two gears were engaged if I left the selector in D. All I would need to do is turn off the key for about 10 seconds and the trans worked normal aside from the revers problem.

Here is the "simple solution"? I had gotten a set of 305/40r22 on wheels because they had matching tires and put them on when I installed the rebuilt trans. I just recently swapped to a far shorter tire(plan to go back to the 305s very soon) and so far for 4 days the loosing 1st and OD problem is gone. I really want to put 305/40s on the new 22" wheels for many reasons. The 305s are also very close to factory height so they shouldn't have caused any issues.

I am going to get the trans redone again as soon as I can afford to put truck down for a week to have it done, but my bigger question is can anyone explain why 4 matching tires approximately factory height would cause me to loose 1st and OD with only needing to shut the truck off to fix it every single time? Especially that a much shorter tire(2"+ overall height) solved the issue.

I am going to measure the 305s tomorrow to confirm one of them isn't massively different in height but they are all identical tread depth, brand, and age.

 

I didn't excpect easy answers but thought someone might have a clue.

Little update is that with the smaller tires it has locked out first and OD about 3 times. It is much better then once or more daily before.

 

Probably just a coincidence. Large tires will cause trans problems for sure, but the weather has been changing alot lately, maybe that is making a difference. Are you sure its mechanical and not electrical?? The dodge ram I just sold not long ago would sometimes not engage first or reverse sometimes. Restarting the truck would make it work fine, or sometimes all it took was going back to park then shifting back to drive. That was an electrical issue.

 

my assumption is the first and overdrive issue is electrical or a solenoid sticking. That is why I was asking if anybody here had an idea because the trans guy is certainly reverse is mechanical issues there for needing a rebuild. But the first and overdrive issue maybe something that traditional rebuild it wouldn't address was what I was trying to gets idea of

 

i wouldnt bet on the tires. Did you have these issues before the trans blew and you had this guy rebuild it?

 

It wasn't having this issue before the rebuild. It was a typical 60e that wouldn't go into 3rd.

I am sure it wasn't the tires especially since they are about factory height, but whatever it is, seems to be aggravated by tires that were on it.

This guy is awesome and been doing it for 35+ years but my only complaint about him is he is strictly stock he doesn't know or do anything performance.

 

Most likely an internal issue.

Either you have a pressure issue with the pump or there was a tolerance issue when it was assembled.

Is this vehicle tuned at all????

 

No this truck is factory tuned. No custom tuning.