Need some 700r4 help

[Tiger Joe]

Truck is an 87 4x4. 5.7 700r4 np208 I believe.

So I’ll start by saying I don’t drive the truck much. I frame off restored it 20 years ago, it would be lucky if it has 2,000 miles total in that time. The engine was rebuilt at some point, trans and transfer case are original. Was my dads he never abused it so there was no need.

Last fall I drove the truck, probably October and had an issue with truck not shifting correctly. Honestly I don’t remember what happened. I played with adjusting the tv cable drove truck it was fine so I never looked at it.

Fast forward to this weekend, I pull the truck out of the garage for the first time. No issues at first. Started and pulled right out. Soon as I go to pull out of my driveway, it’s like brakes are locked. Truck doesn’t want to move. I play around and bam truck moves no issues.

When I’m driving I notice the truck is only shifting at 3,000 rpm. And once driving and you stop, it won’t go down into first. On a few brief moment I swear it feels like the front end bucks, but it happens so quickly I can’t be sure all the time.

I never messed with a 700r4, so where do I start? Google machine says governor, tv cable, or the throttle valve in trans is stuck? I guess that’s what tv cable hooks to?

I’m also thinking I’ll drop pan and change filter. That will let me check fluid plus it’s been 20 years so it’s due.

Any other ideas based on my symptoms?

[Dead Parrot]

Not an expert but everything I have read about the 700R4 says that that TV-cable has to be adjusted correctly or near instant death(just a few miles) can happen to the transmission. Not sure what the symptoms of such a death are. I think with the pan off, you can check and properly set the cable. You might get lucky and it will start working correctly once the cable is set properly.

I have an 700r4 I 'Had plans for' that have yet to happen.

[Tiger Joe]

So I pulled the pan to check out things. I followed the old write up I found on here for checking for a stuck tv valve. Everything on mine moves but it does not appear to move enough.

If this works, here is a pic of what my plunger looks like. It’s not touching the tv cable bracket. But according to the spec I found its not popping out enough. Should be out around .860- which is right where my bracket is. Mine is only .640.


So at this point I’m thinking about dropping valve body and putting in a new tv valve setup

[66gmcguy]

I had a similar issue with my trans not downshifting to 1st after coming to a stop. It was a sticky plunger in the governor. I deburred the edges of the plunger a little bit, made sure it moved freely in the bore, and the problem went away. It would do it again after a couple weeks of driving, so I ended up just getting a new governor. Never had the problem since. Not saying that's the problem, but before you resort to a full teardown, I would check that first since it's practically free to check.

[Tiger Joe]

Well I think my trans is toast.

Messed with everything I could. I put truck together it would drive good first 5-10 min then back to crap. I put a pressure gauge on it and at first my pressure in part was 150 psi. So I’m thinking stuck tv valve.

Well in the middle of checking pressure suddenly the pressure drops down to normal range but I lost reverse.

Searching online everything seems to indicate reverse is the first gear to go in a 700 so I’m guessing it’s time for a rebuild