The AW71 in my 91 940 (280000km) shifted really hard, in all gears, but particularly 1-2. I bought this car about 6 months ago, and have been fixing things for the interveneing period. I was not looking forward to replacing the plastic balls in the trans valve body, having done this in a 240 a few years ago. It is not a fun job on your back with transmission treacle dripping in your eyes for a couple of hours.
I decided to see if adjusting the kick down cable would make any difference. Trouble is, being a bit older, my hearing is not great, and I could not hear the stop in the transmission. Then I remembered I had built an engine knock detector a few moths ago, made out of a 15 dollar TV advertised hearing aid that was a piece of crap. (My wife boought it for me). One of those ones you see advertised on TV that allow old geezers to "hear TV shows clearly" and "listien into conversations". Like I said, piece of crap. It magnified EVERYTHING! But it had to have a better use. I removed the mini microphone from the thing, and soldered it to an alligator clip on the end of 10 feet of wire. It allowed me to attach it to the engine block, and listen (via ear plugs while driving)for engine knock when I was playing with boost settings. Worked like a charm.
Anyway, today I attached it to the side of the transmission and listened for the faint click while I plucked the kick down cable in the engine compartment. Well, it wasn't faint any more George! I could hear it clear as a bell.
So, to finish this rather long posting, I adjusted the kickdown so I can just hear a very soft click,not a full contact type click. Took the car for a root, and glory be, the trans shifts like new!!!! It has a positive engagement in all gears, but the shifts are like butter!
Some days things go just right.
A question I have though, if you have read this far, is whether adjusting the shifts too soft will have a detrimental effect on the shift clutches.
John D.