if you plan on passing...or accelerating at speed.....but if you're running a manual valve body you should be able to get away without
I don't know where the idea of burning clutches comes from. TH350 kick down just forces a down shift. It's not like a 700R4 where line pressure is controlled, so far as I know. You won't like passing without it, but as stated, a manual or semi-manual valve body calibration will allow you to downshift with the stick, at will.
Not needed, but good to have. Trans will last longer and work better with it. You'll probably have more fun driving with kickdown also...
i didnt get why people were saying that either, like you said the worst thing would be no accelerating once to speed (not quickly anyway)
I know, on power-glides and chrysler 727's the kick down linkage also holds line pressue during acceleration to time your up-shifts correctly too. Is this not true of a TH350 or TH400? The concerns for clutch damage stem from not haveing the kick down to do this function.
Don't they shift before they should. Seems the one I ran for awhile without the cable shifted real quick into third. ???????
You will need the vacuum line to the line pressure accumulator on the back of the valve body. Otherwise it will snap your neck on upshifts (unless you like that sort of thing...lol) no matter what the speed. On mopar autos, the kickdown controls everything. learned that lesson the hard way.
That's true for the most part...but in a 350 when the detent forces a downshift, it also increases modulator pressure which increases line pressure by way of the main pressure regulator valve. The 350 will live quite a long time without the cable connected...but a 700 wil fry pretty darn quick!
The only reason Im asking is because I want to run Tripower .I personally would like to leave it hooked up,I dont want. to buy speedways base plates.Linkages will be on same side Causing the kickdown dilemna,
I ran a TH350 for years without a kick down. That was in a trans with a shift kit, and that I drove HARD daily. I bought an old holley double pumper that didn't have have the linkage on it, and I was too cheap to buy a new base plate (and the old linkage was nicer than the new stuff). It's a lot nicer to have the kick down for every day driving, but it will live with out it. If you don't downshift manually it will feel sluggish when trying to pass in third. Upshifts will be as they are with kickdown. If you don't have a decent shifter, you might over shift into 1st or Neutral.
What's the issue with running a kick down on your turbo with tri power? If it's a 2G, you already have a spot on the throttle arm to install it. If you have a 94 or a stromberg setup you can simply use the right linkage arm with extension below the throttle shaft ( which if you have either you probably already have one, just make sure you know that one pulls from the top and one pulls from the bottom) and there you have it. Not rocket science, nor do you need to have or get anything "hi tech" to make it work. Just remember, "neccesity is the mother of invention".
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