Transverse Motor Mounts - Torsion/Torque Damper

[9SecVmax]

Hello everyone.

New to this forum. Just purchased a 16 Sport. 15 years of Toyota and I jumped ship to domestic for more performance. Not new to Ford. From the 80's to 2000, I've had T-Bird Turbo and T-Bird SuperCoupe. Factory ordered 89.5 Mustang LX 5.0 as well. Couple of leased F150's as winter beaters when I had my '05 Ram SRT-10. Oh, forgot about a '98 Ranger 4.0.

I cant tell you how great it is to have something that has nutz again and handles. I have the Livernois Tune. May I say that these people have a serious issue with performance. The freekin smile that tune put on my face when I stepped on it. But one thing that didn't. The bang from the front when it shifted first to second. GREAT shift mind you but the torque damper is no longer adequate.  I have calls into Prothane, Energy Suspension and Ingalls Engineering. We MUST have a firmer option.

I let the service manager at my local dealer drive it and the first thing he even told me was you need to update the damper. I am not new to performance suspensions & engines. Technology seems to left me behind though. But we need to get a better option.

You guys with the SHO's have to be experiencing the same thing. I want my tires to chirp like my 79 Trans Am T350 but I'm going to break something. I wont have this tune tweaked until I figure something out. Unless someone else already has ...

[BiGMaC]

Welcome to the forum. 

If you just loaded the tune, hard shifts are expected.... And will remains crisp, but not harsh after 100 miles or so... If the tune has been in place a bit there are two things that have helped the problem you describe short of a new TQ damper.  Many have had harsh shifts develop even after driving a while without issue and the problem was fixed with a change of tranny fluid ( I don't understand it, but know it has worked for many). Failing that, or first if you tranny has new fluid, is to call LME and have them decrease the shift pressure, especially the 1-2. This problem often manifests at shift pressures above about 185psi.  They have been happy to help the SHO guys who went this route. Hope this gives some help... And again, welcome to the forum.

[9SecVmax]

Hi and Thanks.

I do not want the tune changed to make shifting softer. I want it to shift even harder. I'm old school. I wont have the tune changed until I find a new damper. If no vendor has an option, I probably will have a new one custom made with Urethane bushings. I wont bother trying the "shock" type damper because this motor would twist it up like a stale pretzel....

[BiGMaC]

Understand... Best of luck with it! Please keep us informed on your solution.
Keep in mind that there is no tranny/PTU rebuild kit at this point that will beef them up... Several of us have explored this as we view those components as the weak areas in the SHO driveline. A custom here might be worth considering if longevity is a priority and a fluid change doesn't stop the symptom.

[SHOdded]

BiGMaC's advice is spot on, x2 on keeping us updated with possible solutions you discover

[Brucelinc]

Interesting.  There are lots of tuned SHOs out there, some with significant mods in addition to tuning.  I don't know of anyone who has pursued a different torque damper.  I haven't heard Livernois or Torrie indicate that this was a weak link, either. 

Some have certainly had hard 1-2 shifts until the tune has been run awhile.  A few have had the shift pressure reduced which does not hurt quarter mile times at all.  As long as I allow my tune to accumulate a few miles and I keep the ATF fresh, I just get a nice smooth and entertaining tire shreik on the 1-2 shift.

[BiGMaC]

Interesting.  There are lots of tuned SHOs out there, some with significant mods in addition to tuning.  I don't know of anyone who has pursued a different torque damper.  I haven't heard Livernois or Torrie indicate that this was a weak link, either. 

Some have certainly had hard 1-2 shifts until the tune has been run awhile.  A few have had the shift pressure reduced which does not hurt quarter mile times at all.  As long as I allow my tune to accumulate a few miles and I keep the ATF fresh, I just get a nice smooth and entertaining tire shreik on the 1-2 shift.

It is true Bruce... Mike's SHO puts down over 600AWHP with equivalent torque and he is not having any problems with the OEM damper... Nor have I heard anything other than what I noted earlier from anyone running 500+ AWHP. Kinda make me wonder if some hing else is going on...

[FoMoCoSHO]

Does anyone actually know what dynamics are happening when the "hard shifts" occur?

It wouldn't be the first Ford I've owned with weak mounts, even my first gen ST smacked the firewall stock when shifting and CAI/EXH/Tune made it much worse.

I love the hard shift but toned it down as it feels/sounds like the front end it going to grenade. It would be great if a simple mount could fix it.

[Brandon2525]

This is happening to me too taking off from a stop maybe I have a motor mount or transmission mount broke.

[AJP turbo]

You guys with sct should log torque source and spark during a wot pull through multiple gears....turn off the traction control during the pull also actual theottle angle.

I suspect that some of you are not getting torque reduction on your upshifts. Right at the upshift you will see a reduction in spark...maybe about 10 degrees...also torque source will say 7...so your wot pull torque source should be 0 then at the upshift you should see 7 that is when the ecu is commanding torque reduction and its called transmission shift modulation...if you see 2 thats traction control

You guys that dont have live link you are on your own

[Brucelinc]

Our buddy AJ brings up a good point regarding torque management.  When I first got my Livernois tune, I did use the SCT tuner.  Early on, they had a stage 4 tune that had ZERO torque management.  A number of customers were not 100% satisfied with it as a daily driver tune due to pretty ragged shifts.  That is when 4+ was introduced.  It put some of the torque management back in.  As I recall, there were some other improvements but the tune was much smoother and faster than before.

This history applies to 2010-2012 models but my understanding is that the V-8 and V-9 tunes are similar in concept to the stage 4+X tunes for the earlier cars, and as such, have some timing reduction at the shift points. 

When it is all said and done though, a bit of reduction in shift pressure has solved most issues with the ragged 1-2 shift.  LME and Torrie have both made such adjustments for customers upon request. 

http://www.ecoboostperformanceforum.com/index.php/topic,4431.msg68680.html#msg68680

[9SecVmax]

Yep. Driving the LMS tune now for more than a week. Or is it 2 weeks...The 1-2 shift has really softened. It's too soft. My head goes forward then back on the 1-2 shift. Torque Management is very obvious. It wish it could be reduced. 2-3 and 3-4 are firmer. However, NO shift will bark the tires. I want the tires to at least bark 1-2. May not be an option for a 4WD equipped vehicle. I am currently waiting for a LMS update for my 16 Explorer.

You guys turn off Traction control? on street or at track? I have NO dash button. I have to go into the vehicle setup menus. Pain in the a$$.

As soon as Dunn opens up here, Im going to see what this thing will do. Any idea's on times?

[ZSHO]

Did you try it on Mud/Rut mode? Did you also check your tire psi?Do you have access to 93 octane fuel? Z

[AJP turbo]

Torque reductions for shifting is different from traction control......try with advance trac off that will elimante traction control reductions

But you can soften the tq reductions in the tune....but you really dont want to....they are there for drivetrain longevity

You may bark the tires a little but there is a lot of traction available with awd

[FoMoCoSHO]

Torque reductions for shifting is different from traction control......try with advance trac off that will elimante traction control reductions

But you can soften the tq reductions in the tune....but you really dont want to....they are there for drivetrain longevity

You may bark the tires a little but there is a lot of traction available with awd

He is non-pp, I don't think he can turn off advance trak.