1995 cougar tranny issues

I bought this car about 3 months ago and over the 3 months it seems the tranny just got worse and worse the car has 169,000 miles on it and when im first shift into drive it wont acctually engage until i press the gas and sometimes it will shutter around 35mph unless i press the gas harder or let off. Also recently when im cruising around 50-55 mph it will all the sudden downshift and then rev freely and then kick back into gear which i believe it is kicking in and out of overdrive but i dont have this problem if i get the car above 60mph. I am just curious if the transmission just needs to be serviced due to so many miles or if there is no way to get this fixed and it will need a new tranny?

Ahh, the infamous '94/'95 4R70W automatic tranny.

See Chapter 4 - Common Problems -
Ford Overdrive Transmissions 101 (http://www.tccoa.com/articles/tranny/transmission/index.shtml)

Should also apply to Cougars -
Bulletins for 1995 Ford Thunderbird V8-281 4.6L SOHC (http://www.tccoa.com/articles/misc/tsb/tbird/95-46.htm)