The wife took her rig into a local independent shop for tie-rod ends R&R, and mentioned occasional shifting weirdness. I had just driven the car 300 miles and noticed no irregularities, but she drives it more than I do, so...It has the AW55-50 5-speed AT. The nitwit tech made the cardinal mistake of "topping up" the tranny by removing the B-4 band anchor, not by adding ATF in the dipstick tube WHICH IS THE ONLY CORRECT WAY TO DO IT. So, of course, now she has no 3rd gear. So here's my question: Bob Warnke at Sonnax says the band can possibly be "re-captured" through the B-4 servo port, see par 3. @ http://www.sonnax.com/tech-articles/TASC-TIP-02-08.pdf; has anyone out there done this successfully?

 

I'll answer my own question, in the hope that anyone else who has suffered the same fate reading this thread will take some solace. After much looking around on line and a 'phone call to a very helpful fellow at Sonnax, I found a published article on re-catching the reverse band on a Jatco transmission. I intend to try his technique on this rig. In principal it should work. Will post again after I try it. The article can be found at http://www.sonnax.com/tech-articles/TASC-TIP-05-04.pdf

 

I did the same thing on my 2000 v 70 wagon / I took the plug back out , put a shop rag somewhat in the hole and drilled a small hole 1/8 inch in the trani case just below the plug hole. the rag caught any of the drill particles that may have went through . pulled the rag out, used a pick to pull the band back up in place through the plug hole, used a pick to hold the band in place while putting the plug back in place . plugged the drilled hole with a small short screw coated with some rtv. trani is fixed and no leaks .

 

Hey demostackdog2, good for you! Great minds think alike. I tried the Sonnax dude's method. No go, so I drilled a 5/64" hole in the web on the case just in front of the band anchor hole. Slid a piece of newspaper coated with grease in to catch AL shavings. Put a piece of coathanger in to hold the band in place. Put the anchor home, and put a small screw in the drill hole (which snapped off) but no harm, no foul, and no leaks. Works fine. Some times we gotta find our own workarounds when some idiot wrecks our world. Happy motoring.

 

Any pics? Please post this looks like useful stuff. Nice job!!!