Banks TransCommand - Aye or Nay?

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Karl

Karl

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Elkhart Lake, WI for the summer. Work at Road Amer
My rig has a Ford 460 with the E4OD transmission. After upgrading the exhaust there's adequate power, but now my concern is with the additional load and heat in the tranny.  Shifting has always been smooth, but that translates to slippage and premature wear. TransCommand modifies the ECM shift pressures to provide a more positive and faster clutch and/or band engagement. Does anyone have any experience, positive or negative, with this modification?
 
Carl:

I installed Trans Command with the Banks system on our 98 Pace to avoid the slippage you mentioned. It definitely tightened up the tranny and worked well for 60,000+ miles.
 
I had a 20,000 lb 96 Southwind on a stretched Ford chassis with a tag axle and the full Banks kit, including Transcommand.  I don't know how it would have performed without the Transcommand, but I was quite pleased with the shifting with it. I'd say go for it.

The only problem with the E4OD is the huge gap between 2nd & 3rd.  With the Banks on the 460, performance in 3rd and OD is great, but when you finally have to downshift to 2nd, the RPMS go through the roof and I had to creep along to keep the RPMs below the redline.  Had plenty of power to acellerate in 2nd, but as soon as it upshifted it bogged right down and had to downshift back to 2nd again.  The solution to all this is a Gear Vendors Over/Under drive. I would have had one but we fell in lust with the Dolphin LX we now own! ;D
 
Karl, I'll add my support for the Banks PowerPack and TransCommand--we had that installed (at the factory in Azusa) on a 1990 Winnebago Elandan--it has a Ford 460 with the E4OD transmission.

I'm no connoisseur on this stuff, but I can say that gear shifting is firm and solid, there is no hunting, reasonably gentle hills (don't quite know how to define that) are no challenge (I went from Everett east to Wenatchee, on whatever that pass is, took it out of overdrive and it never once shifted to 2nd), but as "Roamer" points out 60kph in 2nd has the RPM up towards the redline.

I've never regretted the approx $5K Cdn I spent on this modification.

Ciao,

Doug
 
Thanks everyonel for your replies; I'm going to go for it. There is indeed a hole between 2nd and 3rd, so I don't use cruise control when negotiating mountains or moderately uneven terrain - just too much hunting for the proper gear. If the ECM would allow a 5-10 mph drop without shifting, most downshifting would be eliminated, but it doesn't. Too bad there isn't a "Perfectly Flat"/"Mountainous Terrain" rocker switch ;D The Gear Vendors unit would be great, but not in the budget right now.

Thanks again. :)
 
If you haven't done so yet, I too have the full Banks with the Trans Command and I would strongly support it's use. I have the Ford V-10 but our performance has been much improved since I got it done. Banks does what they say that they will.
 
Right on Kirk.  We have the  complete Banks pack on our 98 Pace 460V8 and love it in comparison to my freinds having the same coach less the Banks.  We run circles around him and better fuel mileage on these tag axles, which isn't good to start with.
 
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