Love the truck! At $300, it was a steal, even if you need to replace the tranny. Let us know how it all goes!

 

Oh sorry I should've specified better. I got the truck for about 4500.00, and I got the wheels and tires for 300.00. I'm ready for something different though. I was thinking about some all black. But that's for another time. I've gotta work on getting this tranny thing figured out before I spend any money on the rest of it. I have big plans, which I'll go into on another build type thread. BIG BIG PLANS!

 

hahaha, the tranny doesnt look that bad honestly...but then again..look at wedding cakes..giant, expensive, and look AMAZING...but usually taste like S***!!! haha. the truck looks friggin awsome man. always have been a fan of the biggest available 92-96 f250-f350's! and as far as black goes, if you want pitch black and pure shine..go with Hummer GMC black. most blacks have some other color barely mixed into it like brown or green or blue, but that particular one is pure. my dad works at a paint and body shop so i know a bit about diff. paints. i had it on my s10 and my lord..haha...its a good looking black.

 

Thanks. It's pretty leaky. Lots of fluid around the front and rear of the tranny which concerns me. But I agree with the wedding cake theory. I know mine looked awesome, and the best part of it was the fresh strawberries on it. The rest tasted like that green floral styrofoam. How do I know that? Well I do alot of audio stuff and I've used it for molds before and sanding it, you're bound to get some in your mouth if you're not careful cause it gets EVERYFREAKINGWHERE!

As far as color goes, I thought about black but I'm second thinking that. I'm not sure what the OEM Ford Colors are, and I intend to go look those up, but I was looking at a three toned combination. The body a grey or charcoal color, then where the silver is now, a burgundy color maybe a little darker. Above and below that, a 1/2" black line, and above and below those either a 1" or 1/2" matching burgundy line, or maybe just leave the black and then run into the grey. That's off the top of my head. I'm sure i'll change it before that ever happens. I'm also wanting black wheels, and then all the chrome pieces, i.e. grills, mirrors, bumpers, etc, I want black as well. Not a big fan of chrome, I prefer black, or smoked chrome.

I think I'll start a build thread today. Although I have nothing to put into it, I can at least lay out my plan of attack and get ideas suggestions comments etc. I'll link it here.

 

haha, tell me bouit the thread when you make it. cause im stilll thinking of my trucks build ideas

 

Hmmm, I'm not sure if it applies when it goes out of gear does it go out of all the gears? I had my transfer case cause a situation where the TC would drop into neutral. Have to stop, park, wiggle TC lever and it'd go back into gear. Issue was the sector shaft bearing through the housing was worn, allowing the sector to wiggle sideways and drop into a false neutral. Required replacing a TC case half.

Awesome looking truck for the money!

 

It does go out of any gears. It's not a bias issue. Doesn't matter what gear it's in. But I have noticed that when it's colder it doesn't do it as much or as easy. Like when I first start it up and drive it. It's almost like it has to warm up before it starts to get bitchy.

I'm actually thinking about pulling it, and taking it apart piece by piece and going through it. It would be an education if nothing else. I'm just not sure if I could afford to buy a whole new one at this point, but maybe replacing it piece by piece over a period of time might be more realistic for my budget.

 

What is the condition of your transmission fluid? Is it light pink and translucent (meaning that you can see through it), or is it dark brown and burnt smelling? If the former, you may just have a solenoid or control issue (your transmission has an electronic control unit which controls the shifts by activating electric solenoid valves inside the transmission).

If the latter (dark, burnt-smelling fluid), you're definitely going to need a rebuild. If you are considering doing it yourself, read the following:

I've rebuilt several automatics, and it's like anything else, it's easy IF you know what you're doing. Usually there are a handful of special tools that you will definitely need, and a handful of others that the book says you need but you can work around without. If you are planning on doing it yourself, you can buy a master rebuild kit which contains all of the seals & clutch parts & other wear items from Rebuilt Transmissions Transmission Parts

Then, and this is the most important part, BUY A BOOK that shows step-by-step how to do it! When I first started out rebuilding, I was in a bookstore at a local vocational/technical college, and found an awesome book that showed how to rebuild most models of automatic transmissions, with step-by-step instructions and pictures. That book saved my keister more times than I can recall.

You will also want a CLEAN place to work, preferably inside a garage with about 10 to 20 feet of lineal benchtop space, so you can pull all of the parts out and lay them out in order and in their proper orientation. Sometimes there are parts that look very similar and you don't want to get them mixed up, or install them backwards.

But here's the caveat - you have to have good attention to detail. You can rebuild the tranny and get 99.99% of all of the parts in correctly, and that .01% that you messed up on will result in you having to R&R the tranny and do it all over again . There are some "quality-control" checks that you can do while you are reassembling (this is where the book will help you), such as checking your clutch pack piston seals with compressed air (it's really easy to fold over the rubber lip of the piston seal while reassembling the piston into the bore).

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If you want to play junkyard roulette, you can buy a used tranny but there a lot of pitfalls with this route, and auto trannies in big, heavy trucks lead a hard life, especially if somebody has used the rig to off-road or tow without the proper fluid changes and fluid coolers.

Best thing to do is work OT or whatever, save up, and get a remanufactured tranny (assuming that you need one) from a reputable source. And thank God for your rig, as the 4R100 and later automatics used in the newer trucks will cost you 2-3x as much to rebuild! I believe that you can get a good rebuilt one for your truck for $1K - 1.5K.

 

That's wonderful information. You wouldn't happen to remember the book name that saved you would you? I have great attention to detail, it's partially the reason my projects take so damned long to finish. I'm a perfectionist and I don't mind taking things apart to get them back correctly. I'll have to check my tranny fluid and let you know. I think, however, when I checked it before, that it was darker color, but I don't remember a burnt smell to it. But again, it's been a while since I checked it so I'll re check it.

I was thinking about just changing it before, and then was like if i have to rebuild the tranny, changing the fluid probably wasn't going to do me much good so I didn't. Probably not the best way of thinking, but that's what I did.

I'd much more prefer to buy a rebuilt one, but the problem is budget. It's hard to save up that much money right now. I don't drive it at all right now, I've driven it about 2 times in the last 4 months, so if I pulled it it's not like I'd be down a vehicle or anything. So given those two things, I don't mind trying to get it done myself. If I fail, what's the worst case, I have to buy a rebuild anyway. So we'll see how it goes. I'm gonna do my research and reading etc before I even try to tackle it so that way I know what i'm getting into.

I'm a big believer in good preparation before tackling any project like this. Especially if I don't have much experience in it.

 

Just went to the link you gave me. That manual in there, ATSG Manual for Ford E406 looks like basically what you were talking about.

"FINDING GOOD SERVICE INFORMATION CAN BE THE TOUGHEST PART OF AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION REPAIR! The well illustrated, easy to read manuals from Automatic Transmission Service Group are both comprehensive and inexpensive! This one is for a Ford E4OD transmission used in many Ford trucks from 1989-98 (Please email for specific applications). The easiest way to tell you have an E4OD is that it has a 20 bolt bottom pan. This manual has approximately 100 pages of everything you need to know about rebuilding a Ford E4OD. There is also an update supplement book available in our store.
"

For $25.00 that looks like a good one. I wonder if you can find something like this at a library? I'll have to do some looking. Not that I mind the 25.00, but if I can find it at a library why not right?

 

Yes, that is the book! And it's a steal at $25, that's what they charged when I bought mine back in the 1980s. You won't find that book in any public library, maybe at a vo-tech school or community college but still unlikely. If you're serious about doing the job yourself, order just the book first, study it and then determine if you want to tackle the job yourself or not.

 

sounds like a plan. Thanks for the info, it's a huge help! I appreciate it!

 

...Am I having a nightmare...?

 

No but that's what it looks like huh! A nightmare!

 

hahaha your gonna have fun man..see when my 4x4 gave out in my truck..4 low went first then 4 high..i took it to my friend Boone who used to be the manager of Williams Transmission before him and his uncle (the owner) got into a fight and he quit..haha..as he was pulling my trans. all i could say was "it good to have friends that know ****" lol