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73-87 Chevy _ GMC Trucks => Engine/Drivetrain => Topic started by: rich weyand on October 08, 2013, 01:15:49 pm
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Hi All:
Well, most of us have not had our trucks since new. In the time before we had them, we can expect that there were changes made. That can mess things up if it wasn't done right. We all know that, and we spend a lot of our time on our trucks fixing all that stuff. But here's one you probably haven't checked.
Automatic transmissions are pretty standard, off-the-shelf, same-old-same-old kind of things. Except for the governor. The governor controls how the transmission works, when it shifts, and is selected by GM for vehicle weight, engine, axle ratio, etc. All TH350s are the same, but the governors aren't.
So what are the odds that your transmission was swapped out without the correct governor being put in? Or the odds that some previous owner put in a different governor somewhere along the way? Pretty good, actually, as it is a five-minute job to change it out. About as easy as changing the distributor rotor.
So you might want to check to see if the correct governor is in your automatic transmission, especially if it shifts earlier or later than you think it should at WOT. And if you change the engine, you might want to change out the governor to match it.
There are kits to modify them as well, and someone may have done that to yours along the way.
I found the correct governor for a TH 350 on a 1978 K-10 (GM #464200) as NOS on e-bay, and it's on the way. I'll report back.