Tranny Time!!

[super_stroke]

well its tranny time. she's slippin more and more. now the hard part. do i go with a stock rebuild/stock converter, bts, ats, or sun coast? money is a slight issue but not huge. i even thought about buying the rebuild kit from sun coast and having it rebuilt some where. i have about 2-3 week's before i can get it in so give me your opinion's. i'm leanin pretty far to sun coast kit and converter deal. kit is $450 converter is about $1300? let the opinions and sugestion's flow! :burnout

[Lone Ranger]

Well, I think I would look at a heavier duty kit, whether towing or rodding around. It appears that this is the weak part of the whole truck. It was the same in my last F-350 with the E4OD auto. I ordered in a heavy duty towing package, beefed up friction bands so to speak, additional cooler, and some other mods...

My new F-250 has the 4R100 just like yours, all of ours do here as our 7.3s are the same as your last 7.3's up to 2003 only we got them through 2006. I know of three transmission failures in hard going. If I was rebuilding one, I would certainly go for a heavy duty kit of some improvement. We know of about 3 out of maybe 90 F-250's gone bad, to quote Marc "certainly the weak link..." Me? I would Forget the few dollars more, get the heaviest duty one available. Forget all the hard shift mods, that only makes it harder on the transmission. I would say concentrate on beefed up working bands so to speak.

My worth.

[mschn99]

only thing is ranger, firm shifts are better for the trans..........i understand where your coming from.....jerk your head six inches back when it shifts....that isnt good for anything.....but a good, firm, crisper shift than the stock trannie is actually better.........Marc

[Lone Ranger]

Well Marc, what shift mods do you suggest are good?????????? I was under the impression from various sources that the 300 rpm padding in the stock shift was there to preserve the tranmission, and that the hard shift of the various programs was what killed them. We are firmly in the belief here in Oz that this is the main reason for the early deaths of the few we have had go bad, chipped up too much on the engine and hard shifting on the trans. Trans coolers and synthetic oil is a help, but the chipping mods are believed to be the problem. So what has been the experience on your end>???

[super_stroke]

i found this. i think the stage two would be just right. not to much but not not enough.

[mschn99]

well.....its all more complicated than "just the programmer" or "just the use" or what fluid you use.

the weakest link generally in the whole trannie is the torque converter. when towing or hauling heavy loads, they get pretty hot. im not a trans tech, but from what i know, your fluid temp within the coverter can be as much as 100 degrees farenheight higher than the temp anywere else. the torque coverter is prone to a lot of slippage under the right conditions and the factory one isnt as strong generally as the rest of the tranny in an E4OD/4R100..............the slippage creates exxesive contamination and is usually the root cause in a failure of a hard worked trannie.........especially if OD has been used while workin it hard, but that is not a cure all fix, they can still fail without going into OD........

as far as the shifting......head snapping shifting is bad for a trans....that means the programmer is messing with the RPM range as well as line pressures and possibly more. that will kill a trans. the 140HP setting on the TS chip if used too frequently is a prime example. it is ok from time to time...but it is not good to use too often and can cause overheating or possible torque converter problems...........now to the other side....a good, strictly line pressure controlled firm shift is great. it reduces the slippage throughout the trans in all ranges. it is kind of like not "feathering" a clutch in a manual trans.....just engaging it. it is harsh, but the less slipping, the less friction matirial taken off. its a complicated science, and the best way to controll it isnt with a chip, its with a shift kit...but as long as its just a slight bump in line pressure, its actually better for the trans..........Marc

[mschn99]

Originally Posted by super_stroke

i found this. i think the stage two would be just right. not to much but not not enough.

i think it would be worth the extra 500 bucks to go to the stage three and get the better valve body myself bill...but thats just my opinion.........Marc

[Lone Ranger]

Pretty impressive stuff there... Not sure I understand the pricing structure, must be a kit on the top, but further down the 4R100 Stage 3-2 what ever that -2 means? Is $4800+ ???

Probably out of the question to freight one to Oz, we might just look into a kit to put into our own transmissions. Maybe that is the upper price structure and the lower listings are including a 4R100 trans itself...

My E4OD got a new valve body upgrade and "heavy duty towing kit" of some sort of upgraded clutch packs... And a rebuilt torque converter.. About that $2500 mark... I am assuming this Stage III kit could be bought as a kit to upgrade our own transmission, sounds the way to go...

I know about as much on automatics as the dancing chicken In my last Ford, a clutch pack disintergrating plugged up filter and transmission cooler with gunk and scrambled the whole transmission. I would certainly opt for a tranmission upgrade if doing it again.

Thanks Marc and Bill, regards from the Ranger out on the edge of civilisation..

[Glenn M]

I myself think Suncoast is high priced. $1200 for a coverter? I'm running a Dacco multi disk billet 95k stall unit, that you can get for around $525. As for the rest of the trans, there are many sources out there for rebuild kits. Like this http://www.transmissioncenter.net/E4OD.htm one of their combo kits look like they would fit your bill.

[super_stroke]

Originally Posted by Lone Ranger

Pretty impressive stuff there... Not sure I understand the pricing structure

there's two listing's. one above the other. one is two wheel drive the other is four wheel drive. i found the sun coast web site,the price for a tranny w/o converter is about the same as it cost my mom for a rebuilt for her taurus. hey marc, if i get an ats or suncoast do you think this can be done in the drive way or am i better off to take to someone? i've done three or four tranny swaps but they weren't four wheel drive or any thing newer that '90. what do you think?