Overrevving 700R4s?

In normal drive, the automatic transmission makes the drive kinda boring, but in the D gear right under drive, it's easier to peel out and the rpms hit higher. Is it bad to constantly drive it in this gear(Overdrive)?

I think all that gear (if I understand correctly) is your 3rd gear. By not having the transmission in the overdrive gear, your just not letting your tranny shift to 4th gear. So basically, the highest gear your driving in is 3rd, not 4th. I think in 4 speed autos, 3rd is the 1:1 with 4th being the overdrive.
To try and answer your question, if your running high RPM's most of the time, yes it can be bad. And you'll also get worse gas mileage, because your not using your overdrive.

Alright now I'm just confused. the normal drive IS overdrive?

Alright now I'm just confused. the normal drive IS overdrive?
yes, circle d is overdrive

If I were you, i'd use the regular D for when you want to peel out or go a bit faster but then use the overdrive for when you're just cruising..

What I tend to do, when I get on the highway, and I like to get quick to 60 mph, but what I do is shift it down to D, get up to 60 (Or higher, depending on traffic) and then switch it off to overdrive..

If I were you, i'd use the regular D for when you want to peel out or go a bit faster but then use the overdrive for when you're just cruising..

What I tend to do, when I get on the highway, and I like to get quick to 60 mph, but what I do is shift it down to D, get up to 60 (Or higher, depending on traffic) and then switch it off to overdrive..

Sounds like a good idea. I'm definitely a manual guy though...no way around it.

I notice no one said anything about gear 1 or 2. Since those are my lowest ratios, those should give me the most power but I shouldn't try it should I?

You would have to be absolutely sure where your rpm will be if your going to drop to 1st or 2nd. If your tv cable is adjusted properly you should be fine for downshifting automatically, especially if its just in drive and not overdrive. Your trans has 3 gears only. Much like a th350 except the 700r4 has converter lockup or overdrive which when engaged drops the ratio to 1:1 for highway mileage. So the 700r4 has 3 gears and then the converter lockup, or 4 speeds. When you put it in just D it prevents the converter from locking. This makes the converter heat up which makes your trans heat up. NOT good to just ride around with it in D. for a quick boost it probably wont hurt anything. If your going to do it a lot its best to get a trans cooler. It could make the difference in the end. Just make sure your tv cable it set right.

You would have to be absolutely sure where your rpm will be if your going to drop to 1st or 2nd..

Otherwise it's a nice way to fry clutch packs :thumbsup:

better a clutch pack than a pushrod...although I dont know if you can mechanically over rev with an auto...Your shifting is more or less controlled by a pressure spring in the tailshaft of your trans(anybody correct me if im wrong on this) so in normal conditions it shouldnt let you downshift to early. Your stock motor is going to blow before the trans will though. You have to get a torque converter rated at higher rpms if you want to go reving very high.

Knew a guy with a forged 383 that he was reving out to 7000 rpm on stock 700r4's. He was also changing them out once a month but he was pumping almost 500rear horse through them and launching on 315 DR's...obviously the man was crazy but it worked for him. Nice car...point is your going to blow your motor before your going to have to worry about the trans...

That all depends on build date of the car. In '87 GM addressed issues with the 700 not holding up. If it's one of the cheesy ones....... :dunno:

ultimately there's a check to prevent excessive pressure from going to a lower gear and causei over revving. in most situations.

Like if your driveshaft or u joint breaks while your launching....bad things....

Your trans has 3 gears only. Much like a th350 except the 700r4 has converter lockup or overdrive which when engaged drops the ratio to 1:1 for highway mileage. So the 700r4 has 3 gears and then the converter lockup, or 4 speeds. When you put it in just D it prevents the converter from locking.


Sorry but wrong. Overdrive is a gear with a less than 1:1 ratio, I woulda thought you know that. The 700r4 and 4l60e have 4 gears.. the ratios being 3.06, 1.63, 1.00, and 0.70

hmmm......poo.....i have been duped.....i must go to my room of shame.....

Could swore that it was that way....CRAP!!! now im pissed!......

http://www.gearvendors.com/hrgm4s.html

http://www.s10v8.com/viewtopic.php?forum=5&topic=13049

now that im thoroughly confused......splain lucy...

i believe you are right but I was convinced that it only had 3 hard gears....

...i am not worthy....

It has 2 reduction gears (3.06:1 and 1.63:1), 1 equal gear (1:1), and 1 overdrive (.70:1). Sorry, not quite sure what your confused about.

in my mind when i think of overdrive i think converter lockup. However this is not the case. I was really only partially messed up in my thinking. im not confused anymore since I came to the realization that im partially retarded.

so 4th is a gear and the lockup is just that.


I dont know where I get this stuff from....

I guess you're forgiven this time.

i think you wouldnt want to be shifting through 1-2 by yourself..cuz it wont do anything different if you floor it in non-overdrive.

im pretty sure the car will redline the engine before shifting if the pedals to the floor (if its set up right..) so cycling through the gears yourself will probably give you a worse pickup..

so cycling through the gears yourself will probably give you a worse pickup..

Not really, it will only make the trans have a little 'down time' before it shifts, which in turn means you go slower..

Dont matter if you prefer manual or not, shifting it on an automatic is just dumb unless you're going up hill or downhill or something different than trying to go fast..

BTW if thats what you meant.. then.. I just rephrased it. :)

yea, the tranny will shift faster by itself than with you messing with it

back to this guys question , just get a shift kit so you can shift to any gear at any rpm.

back to this guys question , just get a shift kit so you can shift to any gear at any rpm.

I dont think the trans would shift down at a too high RPM even with a shift kit.. I know ive accidently put the gear shifter to 1st when I was going 45-50ish and the trans finally shifted down to first finally when I slowed down to 35 MPH..

well i am saying he could shift manualy, if someone decides to shift down past redline that is there own dumb fault.

if a transmission is not making it to redline then manual shifting might come into play. But you still want a shift kit in there if your gonna do that a lot.

It's better to pull it down into "D" when playing around.
There is actually an additional "forward" clutch pack that's engaged in that shifter position. So you have more clutches holding the additional torque when you mash on the go pedal. To go one step farther, when you shift down to 2nd position, the fluid pressure goes into "over-boost" mode. So you not only have more clutches engaged, you have more fluid pressure to keep things from slipping.

Most auto trannys won't down shift if rpms are too high anyway. The governor won't allow a down shift that will over rev an engine. On aggressive drives (sport driving?) that we used to do, I would come flying up to a curve, hard on the brakes and pull down to 2nd gear (Turbo 350). It wouldn't down shift until rpm/mph was at the correct factor, then it would kick down and bring the engine back up, close to rev limit.

Rally Sport has a good thought too. W/pedal-to-the-metal, the tranny shifts at max rpm anyway. So you probably won't gain anything by manually shifting, but it would be a good idea to at least pull it down into D anyway. We all know that over revving a stock TPI (or should I say an engine w/a stock TPI intake) makes you slower, so use your best judgement.
Any kind of a shift improver is a good thing.

If you're not being stupid, or something. As long as it feels good and doesn't make any harsh jolts (firm is good, harsh is bad) , shift it all you want to. I do.

One more thing. I have seen the reverse drum in earlier 700R4s baloon out from over revving. The later (1988-up) units do hold up well.

...hmmm.....thats very interesting. I didnt know about the additional clutch pack and overboost thing....cool.