$2,000 for a transmission rebuild?

[icanfixall]

Buying a rebuilt trans depends on who built it. Are they any good at doing this work. If they sound good and can prove it then think about getting your truck high enough for the trans to fit with the trans jack. I did this E4OD trans removel and installation and its a tuff one man job... You must have 29 or 30 inches of clearance for the trans and jack to fit under the truck..... Now nobody makes a floor jack that will lift your truck that far... Most will only lift 17 inches... So now what are you going to do... Put blocks under the tires... Ok... Now how are you going to build a platform under the floor jack to lift the already 17 inch high truck another 13 inches...... Now don't get the truck too high or the trans jack wont be able to reach the engine adapter plate.... Yeah.... I had more issues than you could think up doing the trns swap alone... Brian at BTS told me they just lift the back of the truck and roll the trans in from that end..... He said the engine is almost at the correct angle to bolt up the new trans.... Wish I knew all tht before I did my job..... Will I do another trans job.... Nope.... Once in a lifetime is enough... PS... No way can any of us on this board press lift an E4OD trans off our chests to the engine... They weigh right at 300 lbs.... Be careful under the rig.... 300 lbs can and will hurt you very easily... Be sure you support the engine by the edge of the oil pan. The weight of the engine will be too much for the bottom of the pan to support and the engine motor mounts shouldn't be used to support the twisting weight either. A small bottle jack works fine on some blocks of wood. You have the ability to raise or lower the engine that way... Or a sizzor jack or screw jack.....

 

[kas83]

DragRag, please re read what I posted. The reason so many stock converters fail is due to insufficient line pressures when it comes to locking the converter. A triple disc is literally the 'cheater' to get away with lower pressures. I can show you MANY 500+ hp trucks running low stall, single disc converters and being very dependable. The secret? Modified valvebodies with higher pressures.

You don't do valvebody mods, therefore you are 'starving' the lockup clutch of pressure, and are dooming to repeat the flaws inherently designed into this transmission.

 

[DragRag]

Hmmmm, not so many problems as of yet with plenty of trucks on the road. Your theory may be correct, but I am just not having a lot of problems.

 

[Revelstoke]

Well, I just finished a tranny/transfer case rebuild. I insited they pull th flywheel/flexplate. Good thing they did, as he found the flex plate was cracked all the way across. I'm a big believer of getting in there before something big comes apart and triples my repair bills.

 

[OLDBULL8]

Fifteen days ago I learned a lesson about tranny rebuilding. DO NOT get a tranny rebuilt by any tranny shop unless they are affiliated with ATRA which is a network of tranny rebuilders throught the USA which will honor the warranty. http://www.atra.com/
Took my truck into a tranny shop recommended in Fargo ND, come to find out the guy never worked on trannies, he had to call a tranny shop to know how to take the TC out. He never found the leak because he wasn't aware that he had to pressure check the TC. Five of the six nuts were loose, which caused the flexplate to be bent, and a TC stud cracked the TC which is where the leak was. Six hundred miles later, leaking all the way to Grand Island NE. Into another tranny shop BG&S, tranny was replaced with a rebuilt one and new TC (Precision TC) and Aux. cooler, cost $2767.19. Hauled a 35 Ft. trailer with a 33 Ft. 1950 Sparton TT, trailer and load of 12,750, full load of fuel 1140 lbs., 600 lbs. in the bed, truck weight 8000 lbs. Gross weight 22,490, from Denver CO to Aiken SC, then home to Delphos OH for a total of 3000+ miles. All of that in OD, because the OD switch was broke. To keep the warranty in effect, had to take it to an ATRA shop within fifteen days, which I did today, passed the inspection OK. Replaced the OD switch today also, another $62. Now tell me these Ford trannies are no good. By the way hauling that load the tranny never exceeded 180*, most of the way was at 65-75 MPH, avg. 11 MPG. I really didn't have to replace the tranny but with 170,000 miles on it, why not? As long as they had it out.

 

[trackspeeder]

DragRag, please re read what I posted. The reason so many stock converters fail is due to insufficient line pressures when it comes to locking the converter. A triple disc is literally the 'cheater' to get away with lower pressures. I can show you MANY 500+ hp trucks running low stall, single disc converters and being very dependable. The secret? Modified valvebodies with higher pressures.

You don't do valvebody mods, therefore you are 'starving' the lockup clutch of pressure, and are dooming to repeat the flaws inherently designed into this transmission.

Most multi disk converters should have the regulator spring replaced to make them work their best. Some will include this spring. Changing this spring will save the single disk units too.

I agree, valve body mods are a must for the E4OD. Specially when towing heavy or working the tranny hard. Many of these units die from low pressure and long drawn out shifts.

 

[kas83]

Most multi disk converters should have the regulator spring replaced to make them work their best. Some will include this spring. Changing this spring will save the single disk units too.

I agree, valve body mods are a must for the E4OD. Specially when towing heavy or working the tranny hard. Many of these units die from low pressure and long drawn out shifts.

Thank you. What I posted earlier isn't theory, it's the NUMBER 1 reason for E4OD, and other trans, failures.

Torque converters fail for one of two reasons, high stalls requiring the converter clutch to absorb much more torque, and wearing the friction surface down, or even tearing it off the off the converter hub. Second reason is due to insufficient lockup pressures, both during lockup, and also while locked. Long, drawn out lock ups require the to endure more abuse, and low pressures, once locked, allow it to slip.

 

[Chappy]

Thanks for everybody's help on this issue, sounds like everyone has there opinions and what works best for them. That's why this site is so great, you get everyone's opinions and then you can make your decision. Here is the outcome of my issue.

Having a young family makes it tough to drop 2 grand so I wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing. I told the tranny shop to drop the tranny, see if the torque converter was original (and not replaced with the recent rebuild) and change the oil and check for signs of wear.

Turns out it was the original torque converter and it had .010" of play resulting in my hard vibration. They changed the fluid and couldn't believe that the fluid was a year and half old. They said it looks brand new and shows no sign of wear. Since I do not do any heavy towing I decided to install a new HD TC and to service the transmission, but not a complete rebuild. After install truck runs perfect and feel I made a good choice.

Complete rebuild - $2,000+
Actual to replace TC and service transmission - $855

Thanks again for everyone's input