'93 F-250 Won't Move Forward or Reverse

[tonyj54]

Okay, gang.

Nearing sixty non-gearhead here (wish I'd paid more attention to cars than girls, sometimes, but it ain't all bad), and have a problem with my '93 F-250.

Original problem was that, on our maiden camping trip with our 1966 truck camper, the rear wheels were wobbling badly, as if from bent axle, broken bearings, ???. I just couldn't imagine that the F-250 couldn't handle the weight of the camper(approximately 2500#'s), but there we were. So, when we got home, I unloaded camper to prepare to investigate, and parked the truck until I was ready to work on it. Next time I came out (couple of weeks, at most, not quite sure), truck would not move forward in Drive. No 'kick-down' from tranny shifting, nothing. It would drive around backwards like a champ, but wouldn't move forward.

Fast forward to few weeks ago. Got truck to move forward little by little, sometimes to circle yard, but mostly just several yards, slowly, then nothing. So, I got it far enough out that I could back it onto concrete pad to get rear end up and pull hubs to check it out. Put it up on jackstands, pulled tires. Cranked engine, put it into Reverse, expected results, hubs turn. Put it into Drive, wheels turn, just a little slower, maybe.

When I tried turning hubs by hand, wheels would turn easy in one direction, but took a crowbar to move the other way. Went to pull hubs, found left rear locked on tight. "Aha!", says I, "locked up brake." (Remember, non-gearhead here, so don't judge me too harshly just yet). Finally got hub off, proceeded to install new brake shoes, both sides. Re-install hubs and tires. Crank engine. Shift to Reverse, okay, it moves. Shift into Drive, nada.

Now, it has been a lifelong tenet of mine that you NEVER change transmission filter or flush fluid(especially at close to 300,000 miles), as everyone that I've ever hear heard tell of doing it told horror stories of the aftermath. BUT, I let myself be talked into it anyway. Pulled pan, lost two quarts or so fluid, cleaned the magnet of just dust, no large shavings. Felt encouraged. Bought new filter and gasket, put them on. Replaced fluid lost during change.

Cranked engine. Shifted to Drive. No kick-down. Nothing. Held breath, shifted to Reverse. Nothing there, either. Looked at my sweet wife, who, with tears in her eyes, simply says "I'm sorry". Me, too. Picked up tools. Get on forums, looking for answers.

Had a semi-truck repair guy come over on a few days ago with his code-reader. Looks under the hood, finds EEC connector, but his plug is different, so he can't hook up to it. Crawls under truck, looks at me and says "You don't have an electronic transmission, anyway. There's no sensors over on the right side. Only electrical connection is where Neutral Safety Switch plugs in.":***:

Okay, thought it was an E4OD. OD light on shifter knob, alternately blinks on-off, or stays lit, according to its mood, I suppose. While I was changing filter, found a metal plate that appears to have once read EAOD. Never heard of such.

HELP!! Need my truck running, for work around the farm, as well as camping.

 

[trackspeeder]

Want the good news first. Ok, You do have an E4OD. There is a solenoid plug on the passenger side of the tranny. It's behind the heat shield.

Ok, bad news. Forward clutch has failed. Time for a rebuild,

Changing the fluid on a high mileage tranny will not cause it to fail. It is doomed anyways.

 

[icanfixall]

I agree with whats posted above. Your "mechanic" that came to read the codes has no idea what he is doing. I'm sure he means well but still. Its really simple to look at a trans and know its a 3 speed C6 or a 4 speed E4OD all electronic trans. The computer that tells the trans what to do is beside the parking brake. Its likely just fine so don't need to dig it out of that horrible place.. By the way the person that told you to reuse the trans fluid is really wrong. Plus no amount of changing the trans fluid will cause an auto trans to fail. You came here looking for help and the correct answers. We can as a group tell you whats right and whats wrong. This group of owners and drivers know more about these trucks than any dealer out there.

 

[icanfixall]

Because this trans company is close to you I would recommend them for a bulletproof trans rebuild. Its called Suncoast and they are in florida too. My first choice is Brians Truck Shop aka BTS in Leadville or Lead Hill Arkansas. I have one of his in my rig and its great.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

As posted already, you SHOULD have the E4OhDevil transmission. Whether you still have that depends on the creativity of some previous owner of your truck, unless obviously you are the original owner. For example just on this site it seems like half the factory-E4OD trucks have been switched over to manuals of all varieties - heck my own transmission was never even offered behind an IDI but it works very well (especially when it's not me but our teenage girl shifting it, something to be said about a woman's touch I guess). Then there are the C6 and Allison automatics too... The E4OD has a giant wiring harness, half of it hooks up to the left side of the transmission,but the other half goes on top of the transmission over to its right side where the solenoids connector for is hidden behind a metal plate so it doesn't melt down from the exhaust heat, but the wire loom is visible up above said plate. The big-truck repair guy must have missed that, and his code reader didn't work cause these trucks run Ford's own "EEC-IV" type electronics system instead of the later more universal OBD2 setup (which is likely what he had a scan tool for).

Nearing sixty non-gearhead here (wish I'd paid more attention to cars than girls, sometimes, but it ain't all bad), and have a problem with my '93 F-250.

Original problem was that, on our maiden camping trip with our 1966 truck camper, the rear wheels were wobbling badly, as if from bent axle, broken bearings, ???. I just couldn't imagine that the F-250 couldn't handle the weight of the camper(approximately 2500#'s), but there we were.

When I tried turning hubs by hand, wheels would turn easy in one direction, but took a crowbar to move the other way. Went to pull hubs, found left rear locked on tight. "Aha!", says I, "locked up brake." (Remember, non-gearhead here, so don't judge me too harshly just yet). Finally got hub off, proceeded to install new brake shoes, both sides. Re-install hubs and tires.

Transmission issue aside, the wobbling wheels concern me. Your truck has the "full-float" type axle, that one is the same for F250s and F350s, heck even dually F350s have the same wheel ends. For that beast a 2500 lbs load is nothing, wheels should not be wobbling at all. If that were a front axle I'd be inclined to think maybe loose bearings, but remember on the rear you have the axle shafts bolted to the hubs, and said axle shafts are not exactly flexible. Meaning if the hubs were wobbling bad enough for you to notice it the hub seals would fail and dump all the oil out and bearings would self-destruct in short order, that is unless the axle shafts don't shear first near their flanges that bolt them to the hubs. If you didn't see any abnormal wear while your were working there, and when you got the drums off the hubs felt tight on the bearings instead of wobbling all over the place, I'm suspecting you may have bent wheels. Depending on how bad the damage is you may not even notice it at low speed and/or with light load, but load the camper on and hop on the interstate and she'll be shaking and wiggling. Since truck is down right now it may be worth it to pull the wheels and take them to a tire shop and have them checked on their machines.

Also, since I mentioned hub seals, did you replace yours when you did the brakes? In my experience the factory seals are more or less a single-use item, and tend to get damaged during hub removal. Besides with as many miles as you have on your truck, good chance someone already replaced them, the two most commonly used seals are definitely a single-use item, especially if they've been run for a while allowing them to bond to the spindles like they're designed to do. Point is, if you did in fact pull the hubs, and not just the drums, then you may be in for a nasty surprise once you get the truck running again. May be worth to take the time and pull the hubs again and install new seals on them, the Timken brand ones come with the proper installation tool and work good, bit on the expensive side tho.

And paying attention to girls is a good thing, cars come and go but the right girl will always be there.

 

[tonyj54]

(1) it seems like half the factory-E4OD trucks have been switched over to manuals of all varieties - Then there are the C6 and Allison automatics too...

(2) Want the good news first. Ok, You do have an E4OD. There is a solenoid plug on the passenger side of the tranny. It's behind the heat shield.

The E4OD has a giant wiring harness, half of it hooks up to the left side of the transmission,but the other half goes on top of the transmission over to its right side where the solenoids connector for is hidden behind a metal plate so it doesn't melt down from the exhaust heat, but the wire loom is visible up above said plate.

(3)I'm suspecting you may have bent wheels. Depending on how bad the damage is you may not even notice it at low speed and/or with light load, but load the camper on and hop on the interstate and she'll be shaking and wiggling. Since truck is down right now it may be worth it to pull the wheels and take them to a tire shop and have them checked on their machines.

(4)Also, since I mentioned hub seals, did you replace yours when you did the brakes?

(5)Because this trans company is close to you I would recommend them for a bulletproof trans rebuild. Its called Suncoast and they are in florida too. My first choice is Brians Truck Shop aka BTS in Leadville or Lead Hill Arkansas. I have one of his in my rig and its great.

(6)And paying attention to girls is a good thing, cars come and go but the right girl will always be there.

Thanks for all the responses and info. Addressing each of the above individually:

(1) What other transmissions would be suitable for this truck? I've thought about going with a manual, so which would be the optimum as far as probable availability and cost.

(2)I'll be going back under the truck to check out the connector for bad contact, etc. Could that be part of the problem, as this whole scenario just seems to have have happened very suddenly?

(3)I bought the tires and wheels from a guy here locally. Maybe my great deal wasn't so great.

(4) No, I didn't replace hub seals. Honestly, I'm not exactly sure what you mean. (Non-gearhead)

(5)Yeah, looked up Suncoast, and they have an E4OD listed for $2572 (which is pretty much inline with other prices I've been given). Paid $1000 for the truck, and work has been hard to come by since moving here almost four years ago. Hence my question about alternative transmissions in #1 (manual being my preference, I think, for several reasons)

(6)You're absolutely correct. We'll celebrate thirty-nine in August.

Thanks again, in advance.

tonyj

 

[icanfixall]

Several members here have removed their auto trans and installed the 5 speed ZF manual trans and its working very well for them. Plenty of postings about whats needed for this swap. Its usually easiest to find a truck that has this trans and swap over all the parts.

 

[tonyj54]

(3) Okay, looked up hub seals. I've always heard them called wheel bearings (I think?). to-may-to, to-mah-to?

No, didn't replace them.

 

[79jasper]

Hub seal is definitely not a wheel bearing. Lol
Aka wheel seal timken 370047A
Wheel bearing timken SET38
Google those for pics.
The timken PN above is the two piece bearing type seal that you want.


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[tonyj54]

Hub seal is definitely not a wheel bearing. Lol
Aka wheel seal timken 370047A
Wheel bearing timken SET38
Google those for pics.
The timken PN above is the two piece bearing type seal that you want.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks. I stand corrected.

 

[tonyj54]

The Timken 370047A comes up as the rear l&r for a 4WD application. Is that still the correct seal? I know these are covered in Wheels for Dummies, but, there we are.

Thanks.

 

[79jasper]

AFAIK, exact same axle.
Long as it's a 10.25.


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[tonyj54]

10.25?

 

[79jasper]

Are we not talking about the rear axle in your truck?
My bad, thought we were. Lol


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[tonyj54]

79jasper,

Yes, we are talking about the rear axle of my truck. But, if you read the first several words of my original post, you'll see the words "nearing sixty non-gearhead here". I wasn't joking when I wrote it. I'm attempting to learn the language. So, if you could explain what 10.25" refers to, I'd be grateful.