AOD has been gone through in my pickup several times and has lost 3rd and overdrive again so I really want to upgrade. My thoughts were to go to a 4r70w or the e40d and use an after market trans controller. Any opinion s or advise for this swap. Also will my transfer case for the aod bolt to the 4r70w or the e40d. All advise is greatly appreciated.

 

Yes, the transfer case will bolt up. Somehow Ford messed up and made their transfer case pattern the same through all models except the later 6 speed stuff. Same pattern and same splined shaft size.

Your plan is a good one. It's not cheap but it's really the only overdrive choice you have besides going to a manual.

There is a slight chance the trannies might be different lengths. So that means you will need a different length front shaft and rear shaft. But Ford made them, it would be behind a f250 or 350 with a 351w. That reminds me also, you may need to adapt some u-joints here and there. You are basically upgrading to a f250/350 driveline and you might encounter larger joints with it. The do make adapter joints if you need them.

 

I have also heard the transmissions to look for are the 95 and 96 is there any real truth to that or are most 4r70w and e40d transmissions created equal. Any recommendations on a trans controller for the already fuel injected 5.0

 

Yes, they upgraded the E4OD after 95 or so, and most all rebuilt E4OD's are rebuilt with 95-up parts. The 4r70w is a newer tranny anyway and I haven't heard anything bad about it.

There are a couple of companies making controllers, I have never used one and don't know if one is better than the other.

 

Yeah that is funny about the t-cases.. Ford seems to go out of their way to make sure EVERYTHING is different on every other component they ever used or made so how did they end up with the exact same t-case for so long and across so many models.

As for the transmissions the 4R70w is like a super upgraded AOD with all electronic control and somehow it seems to be more reliable than the higher capacity E4OD, and it's close to being the same size as the AOD so you may even get away without changing anything else in the drivetrain.