TCI Manual Without a brake-3rd Gear Flare Fixed But Now 2nd Gear Flares. Frank Merkel please help?

I have a C-6 with TCI manual reverse valve body without a brake. I have an Art Carr Servo and the Ford Racing Low gear set and rollerized kit. Otherwise the trans is a fairly stock out of a '77 Mercury. I've had my tranny guy go thru it 2 times in the last 13 years (you have to love C-6's). It works fine except I've always lived with a flare in high gear. Sometimes its worse than others. I talked to the TCI guy at the Tech seminar and he said try tightening the band. I tried this and it made no difference. I know Frank Merkel has a fix for the trans-brake TCI manual valve body but I think I heard that the fix does not work for the manual valve body without a brake. Is there any hope for this VB or should I just buy a Frank Merkel brake? Frank do you make a VB without a brake?

the only way to fix it is buy a Frank Merkle Brake as far as I know.....


Randy

I thought the 2-3 flare was only on TCI (& Art Carr, GER) trans brakes, & not TCI's regular reverse VB's. I know when Duane had a normal TCI VB in his yellow 69 Mustang it didn't have the flare. The flare only showed up when he bought one of their brakes.

If its not the VB and not the band adjustment where should I look next?

Frank will also build you a VB without a brake.

Where do you have the band set at right now?

FWIW, I had a TCI valve body like the one you have, and I did not like the way it shifted.

I've been MUCH happier with the valve body I got from Jay at Broader Performance.

Greg

512 FAIRLANE , some things to check ,has the vent for the sevro been pluged as per TCI's instructions and has the small piston sealing ring been left off?-the 2nd gear servo -the piston must move free in the bore in the case .ie the spring should push the piston out of the case on its own , and if that's okay try adjusting the band to120 in/lbs and back it off 1 turn only. and yes I done make a manual vb for a C6
Frank

Thanks Frank. It has an Art Carr servo that I Installed several years ago. I think I had the rubber servo when I originally installed the valve body. I put the Art carr servo in later. I can't remember what I had to do when I installed it. I'll recheck that and the band adjustment. I know the servo came with 3 different springs. I believe I chose the middle one. Would the spring pressure affect anything? Thanks again.

I went back and looked at the TCI instructions again. I believe I did install the pipe plug in the neutral hole but since I had the rubber servo I didn't modify it. I bought the Art Carr servo later on thinking that it might help the flare issue. When I installed the Art Carr servo I'm not sure if I left the small O-ring off or not. TCI instructions said to grind the lips around the small o-ring down for clearance. I'm not sure if I did that to the Art carr servo or not. I'm assming I should have modified it the same way as the stock type aluminum? Do you have to do the same mods to the servo for your valve bodies? In other words if I modify mine and it doesn't work will the servo be junk if I switch to one of your valve bodies? Thanks again.

no mod's to the servo piston are required with my vb's. don't grind the flats on the small piston just leave the oring off and find a stock servo return spring with .135"wire and 9 free coils and use it
Frank

Thanks Frank. I appreciate it.

I took my transmission out last weekend to check the Servo and install the new UCC converter. Turns out the pipe plug was missing from the vent hole and the small O-ring was still on the Art Carr Servo. I re-installed the pipe plug, removed the O-ring and installed a spring with .135" dia., 8 coils (heaviest spring that came with Servo Kit). I had the medium one (.120" wire) in it. On the jack stands the trans would shift from 2nd to 3rd and the tires would actually stop for a split second. I drove it slowly and it hammered pretty hard into third and actually bogged the motor slightly. I loosened the intermediate band 1/4 turn and it seemed to help. Took it to the track and it shifts awesome into third but 2nd gear has a large flare and now it hits the rev limiter going into 2nd. I loosened the band another 1/4 turn but it didn't help. I need to check the torque on the band screw to see exactly where I'm at now but does anyone have any ideas. I think tightening the band would help the second gear shift but would that cause the trans to lock with the band on and high gear clutches engaged longer. I don't care if it slams while going slow as long as I don't burn it up going down the track. Thanks for the help.

I need to get an inch-lb torque wrench but I screwed the band screw in one and a 1/2 turns and it got pretty tight so I don't think my band was too loose. How tight can I safely run it. Is one turn out too tight? What else could be causing a 2nd gear flare?

After checking it with an inch lb wrench, my band was actually 2 1/4 turns out so I changed it to 1 1/2 and hopefully that will fix it. I may have to drive it around the neighborhood tomorrow to find out. Too bad the police chief lives two houses down. I can't really get on it.

512Fairlane wrote:After checking it with an inch lb wrench, my band was actually 2 1/4 turns out so I changed it to 1 1/2 and hopefully that will fix it. I may have to drive it around the neighborhood tomorrow to find out. Too bad the police chief lives two houses down. I can't really get on it.

Anxiously watching to see the resolution, as my flare problems are quite similar...

the1969fordguyinky wrote:

512Fairlane wrote:After checking it with an inch lb wrench, my band was actually 2 1/4 turns out so I changed it to 1 1/2 and hopefully that will fix it. I may have to drive it around the neighborhood tomorrow to find out. Too bad the police chief lives two houses down. I can't really get on it.

Anxiously watching to see the resolution, as my flare problems are quite similar...

I should make it to the track Sat. I took it down the street and if felt a little better but couldn't really tell if it will flare or not. I'll update this post when I have a chance to try it out.

Took it to the track. First run still flared some in 2nd and got up on the rev limiter hard. I tightened the band to around 1 1/8 turns. 2nd run still flared a little but didn't get on the chip. 3rd run shifted pretty well and didn't seem to flare much. Still shifts nice into high. I'm considering switching back to the medium servo spring or grinding the notches on the 2nd gear servo that TCI recommends. Its livable now so if I can't get the servo out without removing the trans I may wait until I take it out next time. Went 10.212 at 130.75.