My Superior Shift Kit thread (W124 300DT)

[bob_98sr5]

Hi folks,

I have been doing some transmission troubleshooting by testing the critical vacuum components (I need to do more of this), but also adjusting the transmission thrust cable and the accelerator cable nut. A few weeks ago, I put in a K1 kit and it made a huge difference from 1st to 2nd. Now I've erroneously said that the K1 takes care of 1st to 2nd, but in fact, it takes care of 2 to 3. Now i can only say from the feel of the transmission, it did make the 1 to 2 shifting a helluva lot better. But according to specs, this is not the way the K1 is supposed to work (its designed for the 2 to 3 shift)

Instructions are amazing and not too difficult to understand. See pic 1.

So I tried to do more adjustments with the thrust cable nut (some people call this the bowden cable nut) to adjust the shift points, but all it did was to make 1 really good, but all the other gears suffered. So I had a feeling that something was not quite right. So having had experience w/ the K1 kit, I decided to pony up $60 or so bucks to buy the Superior shift kit.

After draining the trans pan of all the fluids, I removed the pan and saw that I needed to remove the filter out of the way. I drained it and stuck the 3 screws in a gallon sized ziploc bag.

The K2 was just as easy to remove as the K1 accumulator. Of note, the K2 is directly on the opposite side of the K1, so its on the rear side of the valve body. See pic #2. I took out 3 of the 4 screws, pivoted the plate out of the way, and then removed the K2 Elmer Fudd slowly.

So what do I find? See picture #3. So what's wrong? The plastic ends are missing!!! Flat out G-O-N-E. I thought I mightve dropped it, but no, it cant be. Later I fished around for them, but to no avail.

So given that the springs have nothing to hold it together, it was using the wall of the metal plate and the inside of the accumulator to compress into. Since that would (theoretically) mean that it would take a fraction longer to start the compression effect, it would be akin to a softer spring. And in these shift kits softer springs = softer shifts. I am about 80% confident that my understanding is correct, but if not, please correct me in this thread.

So now I have to order the K2 accumulator from a parts seller Man, I want to drive this thing again! But if there's a silver lining in this cloud, its knowing that my crappy 3 - 4 shifts were probably more due to the lost plastic ends. Nevertheless, I'm going to experiment with the springs and see what happens. I can only thing of positives at this point. Who knows, maybe once I get the shifting all dialed in, I can break 20 second 0 to 60 runs!

Bob

[tangofox007]

I am experiencing a 2-3 flare only when cold. Based on your experience, do you think I should try the K1 kit or the Superior kit?

722.3 transmission / '82 300D.

[bob_98sr5]

K1 fixes the 2 to 3 shift. try lower weight synthetic trans oil, or so i've read. make sure you chekc your vac system first though

[tangofox007]

The transmission shifts great except when relatively cold, so I would think that would reasonably exclude a vacuum issue.

I just called the local dealer to order the K1 kit. The parts man insists that that there is no such part; he talked to a mechanic who confirmed his conclusion!!!

[bob_98sr5]

You know, if I had to do it again, I'd just pony up the bucks and get the Superior kit because it has a spring fix for every imaginable (or common) shift issue throughout *all* the gears.

[tangofox007]

Originally Posted by bob_98sr5

You know, if I had to do it again, I'd just pony up the bucks and get the Superior kit because it has a spring fix for every imaginable (or common) shift issue throughout *all* the gears.

That sounds like the way to go. Every time I try to save money, it costs me in the long run.

[bob_98sr5]

damnit, I'm going to have you do all my shopping from now on!

[81300sd]

Just get the superior kit, worth every penny in my opinion.

[81300sd]

Hey Bob, my instructions from my superior kit show there were 2 styles of k-2, one had just 2 springs and the other had 3 springs and the other associated parts you were expecting. You most likely have the 2 spring train. My superior kit had me remove all that stuff anyway. Check out your instructions a bit better. I will send you a photo of mine and hilight what I am talking about if you need.

Edit. Just looked closer at your photos. Your photo with your superior kit instructions, the far right page. The top illustration, step 1-8. Go up to the K2 and see the arrow pointing down to the smaller box below? Thats what I am talking about.

[bob_98sr5]

(thud---sound of sledgehammer hitting the idiot)

81,

good gawd, how did I ever overlook that!??! You are absolutely 100% correct. I guess I do have the 2 spring train. I think what threw me off and/or confused me was the other diagram under the title "Helpful Information" which shows that both K1 and K2 have the plastic and 3 spring assembly. See the attachment. Also, on the right side of the same instruction sheet, it shows the B1 accumulator spring train as either being a 2 part or a 3 part spring train.

So for others reading, 81 is right. The K2 has either a 2 spring train without the plastic pieces that mate together like the K1 or the 3 spring train with the two plastic pieces. this is shown in the 2nd attachment

So I'm good to go to install this weekend

[bob_98sr5]

Ok, after re-studying the heck out of the schematics, I took off the valve body and went to work installing all the springs yesterday. I have a mess of pics that I'll post online, but that'll be later. The kit's springs allows you to correct alot of the common transmission ailments. I installed springs to soften 1st to 2nd as well as firming up 2-3 and 3-4 to kill the neck snapping flaring I had. I also installed the control shift cable (aka transmission cable, bowden cable, etc) to the transmission. That was a challenge. Find someone with skinny, dainty fingers to help! Or, use extensions. I'll detail more later. But anyways, with the springs installed and adjusting the control shift cable, I no longer have:

1 - 2: Softened shift into next gear and decreased the rpm shift point
2 - 3: NO MORE HARSH KICK into the next gear. I can keep my foot WOT on the pedal, it will shift around 3400 rpm (instead of 4000 or above), hang just long enough before shifting into gear. THere's no more harsh kick. It just shifts into gear as any auto transmission should.
3 - 4: Same as above.

I also adjusted the accelerator cable adjustment nut after I adjusted the control shift cable nut too. I don't think I've found the happy medium between the two, but pretty close.

I would say that because of the almost correct shift points and near elimination of the slipping and flaring, it does feel faster. However, I still believe my 0 - 60 is still higher than it should be. I did a rough count and I feel its around 20 to 22 seconds. But that's alot better than the low to mid 30s I had a few weeks ago (IP seals and copper gasket replacement took care of that). I still need to work on troubleshooting why my car still feels a tad sluggish.

[diesel_fan]

Thanks for this and Bowden cable thread, Bob!
I am about to go through all these steps, that you did, to fix my tranny issue.
Is superior kit includes K1 kit?

Regards,
Diesel_fan

[bob_98sr5]

In the documentation I posted above, the tech support # is outdated. It is 850-575-7877. In the documentation, they keep saying "Early 722.3 vs. Late 722.3 adn 722.4". I called them about that and they faxed me these two docs that clears up the confusion. Trouble is, you have to remove the valve body to be 100% sure!

I'll post all the docs that came in the box later tomorrow.

[bob_98sr5]

Originally Posted by diesel_fan

Thanks for this and Bowden cable thread, Bob!
I am about to go through all these steps, that you did, to fix my tranny issue.
Is superior kit includes K1 kit?

Regards,
Diesel_fan

Diesel,

What's great about this kit is that it covers all the common problems throughout each gear transition (1 to 2, 2 to 3, and 3 to 4). So in order:

B1 accumulator: 1st to 2nd
K1: 2nd to 3rd
K2: 3rd to 4th

So i spent about an hour fine tuning it. I took the wife out to dinner and we took the Benz. She was really impressed that the shifts do not hold on at high rpms and then slam into the next gear. She hates this more than anything, so she was very pleased on the drive tonight.

When you work on this, shoot me an email and I'll help you as much as I can. I'm going to try to write a transmission reconditioning writeup soon before all of it escapes my memory (which is really short!). I took alot of pics, so that should be a big help too

[bob_98sr5]

Here are the docs. 2 of them are on 11 x 17 paper.