I know absolutely nothing about transmissions. Will i kill my 700R4 if i shift manually? sometimes at a stop, i drop it into 1st, then shift to 2nd, then drive for 3rd. I have heard that this will not hurt the tranny at all. Is this true?

Also, when I do this, i have noticed that in drive, it wont shift past 3rd gear, and in overdrive it will shift to 4th. Is this normal, or should it shift to 4th in drive too?

 

Drive is 3rd, overdrive is 4th.

 

No, you won't damage the transmission by shifting thru the gears manualy. Just don't over rev the motor/trans.
The trans is designed not to shift into 4th from third at full throttle. 4th or OD is for cruising at less than full throttle.

 

The only real problem occurs on some of the early units when you go WOT in Man 1 or 2 since you will actually have LOWER line pressure than if you left it in D or OD. This has been taken care of on later units.