Kickdown

[Brian VT]

When I got my truck the kickdown rod wasn't connected to anything topside.
If I'm going up a hill and give extra throttle my C6 will drop down a gear.
What purpose did the kickdown rod serve and should I get it functioning again?

 

[IDIBRONCO]

Some of the kicking down may be from the VRV and regulator. Some of it may be due to the position of the part that it attaches to on the side of the transmission. The part may be already positioned low enough the the extra vacuum signal from the VRV can make the transmission downshift. The rod will also make the transmission stay in a lower gear longer while under heavy throttle. That would be if you push the pedal way down when accelerating or downshifting. I seriously doubt that it would hurt anything if you don't get it working correctly again. I've driven several vehicles with no kickdown rod although they were all gas powered.

 

[Brian VT]

Thanks. I'll put it lower on my list of things to fix.

 

[Austin86250]

my kickdown "bushing" is worn so the rod will just disconnect randomly and like idi bronco says the vacuum will still make it kickdown to some extent like up hill but with the rod disconnected it doesn't give you the later shifts on hard acceleration normal shifts for me are 30 and 45 and with kickdown on heavy acceleration is 35-55 which helps alot especially towing
id say its worth getting working again but it seems you have bigger fish to fry so i wouldn't prioritize it

 

[IDIBRONCO]

with the rod disconnected it doesn't give you the later shifts on hard acceleration normal shifts for me are 30 and 45 and with kickdown on heavy acceleration is 35-55 which helps alot especially towing
id say its worth getting working again

My solution to no kickdown rid was to shift manually when towing a load. I didn't do it that often and I could downshift to help slow the truck and trailer down. Of course it was with gas engines so it worked differently than out IDIs do.

 

[Black dawg]

If vrv is functioning and adjusted correctly, kickdown (adjusted correctly) will give later (should be close to gov rpm) WOT upshifts.

 

[Brian VT]

On that note, at what rpm does the governor kick in?

 

[IDIBRONCO]

Usually around 3400-3500 RPM.

 

[Cubey]

When I got my truck the kickdown rod wasn't connected to anything topside.
If I'm going up a hill and give extra throttle my C6 will drop down a gear.
What purpose did the kickdown rod serve and should I get it functioning again?

My RV wouldn't kick down at all properly when the screw wasn't adjusted right. Now it does.