e4od and how much to toughen it up?

[MtnHaul]

Found another nice low-mileage '94 IDIT but it has an e4od which for some reason scares me. How much power can the stock internals of the e4od take before you are really rolling the dice? I would add an aux cooler and upgrade the TC but I have seen such a huge range of costs for upgrading the trans itself that I am wary about getting into one. Monster transmission sells an "HD" trans at $1900, but then John Woods is around 4k and I think I've read that BTS is also more in the 4k range--don't know about any local builders. Never owned an e4od and don't plan to do much towing but I do live in the hills and would sometimes be loaded heavy or towing heavy. I do think the auto trans would be nice for quickly ducking in and out of CA traffic though. So in a nutshell, what sort of costs are realistic in order to have a reliable and reasonably tough e4od? And yes I have read quite a few threads about building up e4ods but I was curious to get a fresh opinion here

 

[Black dawg]

The 95+ transmissions......even some small block ones I have seen, had significant hard parts upgrades. If I were to go back to an e40d, my plan would be to come up with a newer core and then add a good converter.

 

[pafixitman]

I can't give you a cost to "make it more durable" but as you mentioned, Woods and BTS are the go to guys. 4k seems about right for BTS. His warranty is "any power, any time".

That said, being in my second IDI with the E4OD, clean, cool fluid is the absolute most important thing with them. I do the 4R100 pan because it is cheap, has a drain and adds capacity. I run B&M plate style coolers and install a temp gauge. I think the aux cooler on a 6.0 is good, but don't quote me. Make sure the TPS is adjusted correctly, connections at the trans are clean and tight. Obviously don't tow heavy in overdrive.

My current truck has the Banks trans command. My dually I installed an upgraded valve body in (forget what brand). If the truck is that good and you are on the fence, ZF swap it.

 

[gandalf]

I would agree with PAFIXITMAN said above. I think, though, that the BTS warranty is "Any Power, and Torque". You're not going to beat a BTS transmission, though they are pretty pricey.

I have an E4OD in my truck. It was rebuilt before I bought the truck, and has performed flawlessly. I've changed the fluid in it once, and I added the best cooler available at the time, a Long Tru-cool Max, model LPD 4739 I believe. As an example of it's performance, I drove from San Jose to Elk Grove last week, to look at a 6x12 cargo trailer, a distance of about 260 miles round trip. My transmission temperature ran at 150 degrees the entire trip, at the low end of the scale for transmission efficiency. I was running with no load, speed between 60 and 65. My mileage, btw, was a hair over 16 mpg.

 

[trackspeeder]

If you're not going to do any heavy towing. You will not have to go crazy with a rebuild.

To make the E4 more dependable.
Get a better tranny cooler. TrueCool or a cooler from a 6.0.
Upgrade the accumulator body with a Trans Go Tugger kit, or Sonnax Sure Cure kit. Both kits address the sloppy shifts.

Most important, get rid of the stock converter. This is the weak link in the E4 and 4R.
A multi plate billet face converter is what you want.

 

[franklin2]

A guy in the know told me one of the better E4OD's to get is from the Ford dealer. It will have all the upgrades installed and comes with a decent warranty. That was several years ago, haven't checked lately what they want for one.

 

[RetiringColt]

I second what Trackspeeder said. Sound like most of what goes wrong with the E4OD is in the front pump. Sloppy or delayed shifts has a lot to do with fluid pressure and timing. Superior also makes a good kit. Ford used plastic for the drain back valve instead of metal. And lighter springs for the pressure regulator. I need to pull mine and go threw it too. There is a lengthy but informative video by transmissionbench.com they also sell parts at a reasonable price. I'll probably order from them this summer.

 

[MtnHaul]

Thanks for the replies. You guys pretty much confirmed what I had suspected. This is the truck,

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/cto/d/mountain-view-1994-f-turbo-diesel/6855995463.html

The guy wants too much money for it so I'm gonna' wait a bit. I asked him if he had upgraded or replaced anything and he told me he had not and that it had never been programmed--yeah not the best thing to hear from an IDI owner, and he did state it was an IDI not P-stroke The 35 tires and trailer brake controller make me a little nervous but at least he added a trans temp gauge. Only reason I would consider it is that the rig only has 95k and is dang clean.

 

[david85]

I agree with most of what's been said. Regarding towing in overdrive, that is something I'm not convinced is such a big problem as some make it out to be. I've held the forward, reverse and overdrive planetary gearsets in my hand when I rebuilt mine. You want to know which one was the most massive? Overdrive. The E4OD is built for towing in all its gears.

Lugging an engine may not be the best idea, but don't feel like you have to tow at 3000 RPM just because you're afraid of burning the transmission if you unlock 4th fear. Most of this myth probably comes from older transmissions that came with a warning tag on the window visor to downshift out of overdrive if towing a trailer.

Basically, a ford factory/dealer spec 1995+ OEM transmission paired with a good billet converter and big cooler is all you really need. If you want to chase the purple dragon above 30 PSI of turbo boost, then you can still look at upgrading the internal hard parts. Steel carriers, more clutches/pack, billet parts, cryo hardened parts, and so on...

More clutch packs can be nice, but I personally think most of the exotic parts are a waste of money.

1995-1998+ specs is more than enough for most of us (with a good converter and cooler).

 

[Macrobb]

Part of the problem, IMHO, is that speeds were lower back then, and power levels as well. I can totally see not having enough power/RPM to handle OD(E4OD or 5-speed) at 55MPH.

It's different when you are going 65-70, with a turbo pushing 10+ PSI of boost and doubling your stock power levels. Then, towing in OD makes total sense, and you aren't lugging it either.

I know that with my rig, hauling my 970 Bobcat(12K lbs by itself), if I drop below about 60, I have to downshift to 4th. Get up to 65 and I've got the torque to hold 5th... on near-flat ground.

 

[WarNose]

BTS quoted a transmission for me at around 5000. I found a guy here in northern california to build me an upgraded one a lot cheaper. It came with all the updated 95 parts. He recommended a billet intermediate shaft to make it bullet-proof, being that it is the weakest part in the trans. I don't know if my truck makes enough power to need that but I paid more for it anyway.

 

[kuskoal]

When I rebuilt mine, I threw the whole trans away(PO put 4r100 parts in there... ***) Started with a 95 case(updated put.p, and updated everything. 6 pinion planetaries, rollerized the center support, all the goodies. With a transgo tugger kit! Shifts firm (pretty hard cold, but nice when warm), and I just used a single disk converter. Works great for my centurion.

The next step in the build is the bigger 4r100 lines and a triple disk when the Cummins gets shoved in.

 

[Thewespaul]

Whats wrong with 4r internals then?

 

[trackspeeder]

Whats wrong with 4r internals then?

Actually nothing, except the forward clutch. 4R isn't fully splined like the E4. So it's common to replace the 4R part with the early E4 part.

 

[Thewespaul]

Actually nothing, except the forward clutch. 4R isn't fully splined like the E4. So it's common to replace the 4R part with the early E4 part.

That’s what I thought, didn’t know about the 4R being splined, learned something new