Slow to downshift from overdrive to third gear

Driving down the road in lightly hilly country. When it comes to a hill it stays in overdrive and the RPM drop to about 1,300 and the engine makes noise like it is lugging but should not be at 1,300 rpm. (Maybe a harmonic?) If you give it hard throttle it will kick down and lunge forward and then you have to back off right away. If you give it throttle it light throttle will slowly gain speed without downshifting. Normally when it does this I give it hard throttle to downshift and then back off. On cars before the TCM I would think that the kick down linkage was not adjusted properly.