Transmission is slowly getting worse.. Q's inside...

[DK5]

Thinking I should start preparing for whats to come. Its in my '90 K5 DD:

On the highway it doesn't shift sometimes into overdrive, just stays revving way to high, no matter how I push the pedal. Eventually if I slow down and slowly pick up speed it will shift and then I'm good for the rest of the trip. Also slowing down sometimes (decelerating slowly with gas pedal) it will slip into a lower gear and suddenly rev really high. Never used to do that.

191,000 miles on the K5 and I don't know if the transmission was ever rebuilt. I had it flushed at 170K miles when I got the truck. Has been working fine, just slowly getting worse. I'm afraid of putting my 33's back on for the summer; thinking that might make things worse since sometimes it affects the cruise control.


- am I looking at a rebuild/replacement in the near future?
- how much on avg does a 700R4 rebuild cost?
- 4L80E worth it? For a stock daily driven K5? (May go up to 35" tires eventually)
- not sure if I would go manual, kinda nice in a DD to not worry about shifting, but I'll ask this anyway:
-How does a NV4500 shift in a daily driver? I remember my dad's 1ton dually with the hydro sm465 it wasn't too bad because you didn't have to shift all that often (the truck could go from a stop in 3rd gear)

Here is the K5 we're talking about:

 

[TheBeast_88K5]

Sweet cab-cover thing!

 

[4xcrazy]

I paid $825 for my rebuild, but I also removed and installed myself. Shop around and ask shop questions, make sure they do the job right, these things have been around long enough now that most any decent shop should know what they're doing when rebuilding them.

DO NOT try to get off on a $400 rebuild, I tried, and failed bad, had them rebuild it twice then gave up and had an actual trans shop rebuild it that I was referred to by a few friends.

Make sure you have the cable adjusted/set correctly, alot of guy say to release the lock, pull the throttle to wide open and then lock,, I tried this on this 2wd burb, and it didn't work out so great..

I called the guy who rebuilt the one in my 4wd, he told me, too much pressure is better than not enough,,, release the lock, slide the cable TOWARDS the firewall/away from the TBI unit,, until the desired firmness and shift pattern is obtained.

I did this and it's been shifting as it should ever since.

 

[DK5]

Thanks guys. I will call around to see what it costs locally to rebuild what I've got.

Now I'm having second thoughts of an NV4500, it would make for a sweet fun to drive rig...

-where is a good source for a good quality one?
-I should stay with a chevy model (not dodge?)

In this case I would have to park the truck and drive something else follow the instructions as I search the forums... I just hope the tranny will last until this time comes..