gave him a call got nothing but a voicemail all day, Was thinking just a tq and shift kit, or would a vb be needed???
If you only want to drop the pan once, buy a valve body. If you don't mind dropping the pan a couple times to tweak the pressure screw and TV screw, go with the shift kit.
I've installed a few transgo TFOD HD2 and TFOD-Diesel shift kits and I still had to drop the pan one extra time on my daily driver to get it exactly how I wanted it. With a pre-tested valvebody set up on a machine, you shouldn't have to drop the pan more than once to install it.
As far as holding capacity, I think just a shift kit will be fine till around 450 HP. If you want it to hold more than that, you really need to up the line pressure more than "4 turns" recommended in transgo's instructions for major horsepower applications. If you go more than transgo's recommendation on the pressure screw, you will definitely need to install a voltage regulator or solder in a few resistors to hide the high line pressure from the ecm/pcm.
If you buy a quality aftermarket valvebody, the voltage regulator will be included with like a DTT VB, or if you go with another source such as Garmon, he will likely send out the VB pre-wired with proper resistors/etc to fool the ECM/PCM.
"4 turns" on the pressure screw made 165 psi line pressure in my 95's 47rh transmission.
"4 turns" on the pressure screw made 170 psi line pressure in my 98's 47re transmission.
In my opinion, this is just enough line pressure to hold 500 HP with upgraded clutch packs/ increased clutch counts.
Since you have a stock transmission with stock clutch packs, 400-450 HP is the most it will handle with 160-170 psi line pressure
depending on which type of transmission fluid you use. If you go for an aftermarket valvebody, you will likely see 175 - 210 psi line pressure which is enough pressure to hold 500 HP with stock clutch packs.
Others will have different opinions, it's your truck so luckily you get to decide which route you want to take.
