OK, so I'm needing to pull that inspection plate off the tranny to see if the paint on the torque converter is burnt. Two things:

Is there a trick to getting that cover off so I don't ruin it?

And I know you need a small telescoping mirror to inspect the converter, but can you see the whole converter from one spot or do you need to rotate it somehow? ;...OR if the paint IS burnt, would it just be burnt all the way around? I would assume that would be the case. I would think it would burn uniformly....?

 

No tricks to getting it off. Small screwdriver and pry it down. Might bend the tabs that hold it doing it but you can bend them back.

TC access with the 4l60 sucks. You aren't gonna see much. Might want to drop the starter and get in there also.

You will need to rotate it. I put a long flat screwdriver in the access hole at the bottom and rotate using the teeth in the flywheel or you can rotate using the bolt on the front crank pulley.

 

Thanks man. And I still want your hood.

 

OK....pulled both inspection plates off and could see the front and rear of the converter pretty good and it looks brand new - no burn marks or anything. Looks like it just came out of the box.

So next thing Fuddle suggested was an additive to increase viscosity - any recommendations?

 

Well in case anyone else has a similar problem with torque converter shudder:

I went to O'Reilly's and picked up a tube of ShudderFixx and the Highly Friction Modified-ATF Supplement (both made by LubeGard). I added both, and then drove the truck for about 15 minutes.

Now normally, I can get it to shudder pretty easy - get up around 50mph, coast for a while and then gently feather the gas, and it will shudder. I tried doing that multiple times and couldn't get it to do it! So I'm extremely hopeful that the problem is fixed. I'll likely still get the TransGo HD shift kit installed, but as of right now, everything seems to be functioning properly.