Technical Rebuilt Turbo 400 will not shift

Just got my sons 1947 International pickup with a 472 Cad/Turbo 400 running. The transmission was rebuilt about 3 years ago and has been sitting inside since. It is full of new fluid, and goes into forward and reverse just fine. It just will not shift any higher then first gear. The guy who rebuilt it has done a few transmissions for us in the past and they all have been just fine. Since he did this one 3 years ago he has moved and we can't get ahold of him, so we have to fix this. Any suggestions where to start and what to do?

 

is it getting power to the kickdown wire terminal all the time? is the governor stuck? does it have vacuum to the modulator?

 

I would check to make sure there is intake manifold vacuum at the modulator. 400 TH units normally do not have governor sticking problems. If it has vacuum to the midulator I would then pull out the governor and check that out. The kickdown will not have any effect on normal shifting. This only controls forced downshifts

 

if you put the shifter in manual 1 (low) and manually upshift, will it shift that way?

 

I will check the to see if vacuum at the modulator tomorrow when I have my son to help. I did check to see if it was hooked up and it was, but maybe the metal line is plugged. I tried shifting it manually from 1st to 2nd and it did not up shift. Does the modulator get manifold vacuum or does it hook up to the carb? Now it is hooked to the back of the carb.

 

If it will not manually upshift, I would suspect the governor then. Like I said, TH400 trans normally don't have governor isssues, but anything can happen

 

Governor. Almost nothing else possible. Likely stripped gear. Not hard to repair.

Cosmo

 

Can't imagine the builder would put a governor with a stripped gear in there.
I suppose it could have been put together dry,and then the governor stuck in place with rust, and then sheared the gear off. Five years sitting , in Wisconsin sounds like a long time to me.
I had a rusted and stuck manual valve here a few months ago, that had sit for a while in Colorado.
The owner swore it had been kept dry.
Yes, you need to start at the governor. Everything else is considerably more labor intensive.

 

If the governor is gummed up from sitting, that could do it. They are very easy to pop out and examine. It should come out without a fight, if it does that is probably the problem.

 

It should be hooked up to manifold vacuum

 

I put a vacuum gauge on the line just before the modulator. NO vacuum. It was hooked to the back of the carb right next to the big line going to the PCV valve. I assumed it was full manifold vacuum, it must be ported vacuum. I moved the line that goes to the modulator to a fitting on the intake manifold and now the transmission shifts perfectly. Thanks for all the replies, they put me on track to find the problem. Once again the Hamb comes through. Brian

 

Brian, glad to here you fixed it. A lot of good help here when you need it . I KNOW .LOL. Bruce.

 

I am glad you got your problem resolved. At first thought the modulator was the problem, but ususally they will shift manually. I am glad it was that simple

 

I usually check out the simple stuff first, too many times I have torn stuff apart only to find it was not necessary. Squirrel, Oldsman, you guys nailed it with your posts to check vacuum at the modulator which I did.