- Understanding gearbox functionality: the gearbox is responsible for transfering power from the engine to the wheels, allowing for smooth acceleration and optimal performance. tuning the gearbox can maximise effieceny and overall performance.
- Adjusting shift points: one of the primary modifications in gearbox tuning is adjusting shift points. this involves reprogramming when the vehicle changes gear, by optimising these points, tuning can lead to quicker shifts which increases acceleration and overall speed.
- Torque Management: gearbox tuning can also affect how the transmission manages torque delivery. this is critical to ensure power is delivered smoothly to the wheels, improving traction and performance during acceleration. proper management prevents wheel spin and improves driveability
- Compatibility with engine remapping: Its important to ensure the gearbox tuning is compatable with any engine tuning done. coordinating the engine and gearbox tuning can lead to a more cohesive performance enhancement, maximising benefits from both modifications.
- Professional tuning: Due to the complexity of modern gearbox systems, it is highly recommended to have gearbox tuning performed by professionals who specials in ECU and TCU tuning. this ensures that the tuning is done safely and effectively while minizing the risk of potential problems.
Gearbox Tuning
Mike Knowles • December 11, 2025
What is gearbox tuning and what are the benefits ?
Gearbox tuning is where a tuner such as MSK Remapping changes the programming inside the gearbox control unit, often referred to the TCU or Transmission Control Unit. It works in a similar way to tuning an Engine Control Unit or ECU, we take a copy of the software already on the vehicle and we change the permatures to better suit the vehicle and its current set up, it is then written to the TCU and test driven until the desired outcome is reached. The sort of things that we look to change are shift speeds, giving the transmission faster response times between the gears allowing for faster acceleration. Torque limiters which control how much force is allowed from the engine to reach the road, this is particularly important when you start to increase engine power as if you leave the transmission standard, then you wont be extracting the full power from your engine. Anither important change is clamp pressure, when the engine runs more power it has to go through the gearbox and therefore it is important to make sure the clutchs dint start slipping whuich is why we look at clamping pressure to stop that happening. Shift points, when a vehicle has an automatic gearbox it can often feel it takes to long for the gears to shift up or down, through tuning we can changes this to make the gearbox more responsive. There are also lots of other advantages like optimising launch control and much more.
Should you have your gearbox tuned?
In conclusion the answer is yes, there are a number of benefits to having your gearbox tuned as we have gone through in this article. However in terms of when is best to tune the gearbox depends on your aim for your vehicle. Stage 1 tuning usually operates within the safe parameters of the engine and gearbox, so torque limiters are not an issue when delivering engine power to the wheels, however you can benefit from faster gear changes to improve performance. If you decide to go beyond a stage 1 to stage 2 and further, then gearbox tuning becomes more important, as stage 2 starts to take the engine power above what was intended for the vehicle it is important that the power is transferred correctly through the gearbox to the wheels so that the full effects of the engines performance can be used but also in a safe, reliable manner.
