thanks to tony and everyone who replied before, i have solved about 50% of my bang shift problem. for any new folks researching this problem, this post proved quite helpful.

downshifting is now quite smooth. going into 2nd from 3rd is like butter, but some of the "lurch" remains going from 1st to 2nd.

i've read in other posts how swapping the tss only partially solved the problem for others, but i've not seen anything stating whether or not they were able to completely solve the issue.

the fluid is 2 months old, the tss is new, the range sensor is new. i once read something about transmission mounts, but i wouldn't know how to check the condition of those.

so two questions:

1. how to check transmission mounts
2. any other ideas for smoothing this "lurchy" shift

thanks!