41TE "Bullet Proofing"

[Ondonti]

I've tried getting in touch with Racerstev, but no luck so far. Nobody seems to have current contact info for him. And I'm unsure if AJ Berge is still doing work on these anymore, I know he will not divulge what he does to them due to previous issues with someone claiming his work as their own.

I may just have to do what they did and trial and error it till I find what works The main thing is to get a car going that runs it, so we can work on getting the stock controller hacked. Getting the shift programming right is 80% of the battle on this tranny it would seem. And there is still currently no aftermarket controller that will work on it yet, or at least none that have any support for it. I suppose you could buy a PCS and build your own harness and work out the programming on your own, but they have no tech support at all for it anymore. I ran across another possiblity somewhere and posted it somewhere in one of these tranny threads, but it was a couple years from being released still IIRC. And Megashift development seems to have stalled due to no one having a car to test on since Una and Racerstev gave up on using the 41te.

How about that guy who was posting about modified 3 speeds? I only have one neon contact and he might have vanished too.

[boots]

The problem with the 4 speed your basically starting from scratch. Last I talked with PCS ($1000) they were still an option only as a strict drag racing setup and will work just fine for that application. You still need a pelquin $1000 diff, dss axles ($1000-$1500), and $1000-$1500 converter. From there you get to figure out what breaks next.
The 3 speed is to the point that it handles pretty much whatever we throw at it. Occasionally we burn a band up or high gear clutches quick a simple fix at the track.

[Ondonti]

The problem with the 4 speed your basically starting from scratch. Last I talked with PCS ($1000) they were still an option only as a strict drag racing setup and will work just fine for that application. You still need a pelquin $1000 diff, dss axles ($1000-$1500), and $1000-$1500 converter. From there you get to figure out what breaks next.
The 3 speed is to the point that it handles pretty much whatever we throw at it. Occasionally we burn a band up or high gear clutches quick a simple fix at the track.

Do you have any contact info for Steve?

[boots]

I do not, last I heard he doesn't want to do any transmission work. What are you looking for?

[Force Fed Mopar]

Looking for the info on modifying the valvebody to allow the fluid to flow faster and allow firmer shifts. I know he was drilling out holes in the valvebody, I'm assuming the feed holes? All the pictures he posted of it on neons.org are gone now.

[Ondonti]

I do not, last I heard he doesn't want to do any transmission work. What are you looking for?

We are just looking for him to help out with some information since he dropped development of the 41te but he did some things that might help others. ForceFed obtained a car built in the 1990's that was famous for using the 41te/a604 with a very large direct port nitrous system and he has been trying to keep it within the original build framework. The car has not really run much in the last decade but it has fueled many fantasies.

[Shadow]

Looking for the info on modifying the valvebody to allow the fluid to flow faster and allow firmer shifts. I know he was drilling out holes in the valvebody, I'm assuming the feed holes? All the pictures he posted of it on neons.org are gone now.

I May have that info as I followed that closely and downloaded a Lot of it. (will have to find where I put it)

BTW, We bought Steve's tranny, so I have it complete with Pelequin here at the shop

[moparman76_69]

The only thing I found is the connector pinouts, exploded views, and what looks to be a flow chart of what info the ccd sends back and forth to the ecu. I apparently didn't save any of the info out of racersteve's thread.

[RoadWarrior222]

Go digging here
http://oskin.ru/pub/chrysler-dodge/manuals/

[boots]

From my understanding if you drill the holes larger and do not have a way to change the programming it's a waste since the stock computer will compensate. If you plan on using a standalone then that's a different story. I talked to Steve over a year ago when I was thinking about dropping the 3 speed and going to the 4 speed. He said all his notes went with his car when he sold it, so not a bunch info there. Best thing to do is to pull the valve body like he did and start enlarging the feed holes step a time and test it. Pelequin stocks the diffs so that's a plus.

[Aries_Turbo]

i may have the pic of the valve body holes.

im looking through my pc's over the past few years.

Brian

[RoadWarrior222]

There's maybe the sensor faking route to try, so it will let pressure go higher etc.

[Force Fed Mopar]

I May have that info as I followed that closely and downloaded a Lot of it. (will have to find where I put it)

BTW, We bought Steve's tranny, so I have it complete with Pelequin here at the shop

i may have the pic of the valve body holes.

im looking through my pc's over the past few years.

Brian

This would be awesome

[Force Fed Mopar]

From my understanding if you drill the holes larger and do not have a way to change the programming it's a waste since the stock computer will compensate. If you plan on using a standalone then that's a different story. I talked to Steve over a year ago when I was thinking about dropping the 3 speed and going to the 4 speed. He said all his notes went with his car when he sold it, so not a bunch info there. Best thing to do is to pull the valve body like he did and start enlarging the feed holes step a time and test it. Pelequin stocks the diffs so that's a plus.

Correct, the computer will smooth things out again. The plan is to get the car going so that I can try and work with Shelgame to get the stock controller hacked. This way we should be able to firm the shifts up under power, while keeping the stock logic in place for smooth shifts in normal driving and wear compensation.

[Aries_Turbo]

This would be awesome

here ya go. i knew i saved it at some point.

Brian

- - - Updated - - -

Correct, the computer will smooth things out again. The plan is to get the car going so that I can try and work with Shelgame to get the stock controller hacked. This way we should be able to firm the shifts up under power, while keeping the stock logic in place for smooth shifts in normal driving and wear compensation.

until the tcu is hacked, disconnect power from it everytime as long as it isnt overlapping/binding between shifts.

[Force Fed Mopar]

Awesome thank you!

[RoadWarrior222]

Uh oh, the worst happened, I now own one (I kinda expected that I would at some point) don't have possession quite yet, 3.8 AWD T&C Ltd, delivery Monday.

So the spacer plate mods totally useless without programming? I am after severe service tow and haul type durability at the moment, though I may find ways to "turn the wick up" later also. 120K on tranny right now. What do you think "May as well" if I have the pan off, or leave it until supporting mods figured, or more substantial work?

[Reaper1]

I say leave it alone. The transmission's hard parts already have wear and so do the clutch packs. The TCM can certainly learn, but it already knows what's in there and if it tries to learn on a transmission that already has wear, you might kill it.

My rule of thumb is that if it is known that the fluid hasn't been touched in 70,000 miles...leave it alone. Let it just live until it dies. Under that...I would change the fluid and filter.

One thing that is 100% that you NEED is a HUGE external cooler and bypass the one in the radiator.

[t vago]

Thank you all who have posted information regarding TCMs.

Ever since I bought a 2005 Dodge Magnum to replace my previous ride, a 3.5L / T850 manual 2002 Chrysler Sebring Convertible, I have been toying with the idea to do something with the Magnum's 42RLE transmission. Recently, I have become very interested in controlling it, independently of the existing PCM. I figure that my programming could do a much better job at getting good fuel economy than the PCM.

I know of the existence of both the PCS unit and MegaShift, and also know those two avenues may be considered to be closed to consideration. I have been reading over the original patent for the 41TE controller, and I am convinced that I can perform both the necessary PWM solenoid control, and do the adaptive CVI support. I used to do a lot of programming on the HC11, and am going to examine the 89 TCM code that was posted here.

My primary interest is fuel economy, but I am also sure that I can support the performance aspect as I have read about on this board.

[Vigo]

Is yours a 2.7 or the rarer 3.5/42rle? Too bad it snt one year newer or you'd have the VLP to play with too. I wonder if shift quickness couldnt be controlled just by altering the VLP stuff.

My 2.7 06 Magnum got a BEST of 26hwy but consistently got 25.x. I never could hit the 28 epa number, which is one of the rare times because usually most cars can exceed it!