Hello all, lookin for some help. My transmission went out a lil over a week ago. I have never done a trans swap but thought I could pull it off. lesson learned, do more research! during the installation I did not have both splines aligned from trans to torque converter and noobishly forced my trans on the last 3/4 of and inch or so by sucking it in with the bolts. truck wouldnt start, did some callin around. was told I had to have torque converter on trans not flexplate before install. I had bolted TC to flexplate and then installed trans over TC. There is no inspection hole so today I had som1 tell me I did it correctly but just did not have it aligned right, not enough wiggling/turning?

EDIT: this is a 4.0L A4LD 2x4 on a 93 ranger

now to the problem. I removed the new trans again. had it looked at by my grandpas friend who knows a whole lot more than me. He said im lucky cause my front pump is still good. but i knew it was too good to be true cause when I got home i went and looked at my flywheel and TC and the flexplate was pushed all the way up to my engine, could barely turn the thing without bending it out a lil first. now the question is, is it just my flexplate that is bent? or did I shove my crankshaft/something into the engine during the forceful installation?

any help/information would be very much appreciated. the ol man is startin to get really pissed that im still borrowing his spare vehicle haha.

 

If the engine wasn't run after installing the trans, there would be no damage to the crank. The tc needs to be installed into the trans, turned until its fully seated, then installed. If no damage was done to the trans or tc, you surely lucked out.

 

I agree with F5. I would replace the flex plate with new or used. If used, check the ring gear teeth for wear, and look near the center where it bolts to the crankshaft for cracks. The flex plate absorbs any slight mis-alignment problems between the output of the crank and the torque converter. If there were problems, they can develop fatigue cracks. Unlikely, but better to look and see than not look at all.
I would want to spin the torque converter into the front pump, and 'feel' the lugs on the converter make contact with the pump gear. Then spin it in place to feel the gears turning properly. I have had the 'ears' on the inner diameter of the small pump gear break off {on a Torqueflite}, so be aware that they have been stressed 'sideways' when you torqued the transmissio in place. If they survived that, they likely will survive normal forces.
I just remembered what the gear looks like. It has 'flats' on the inner diameter, rather than ears, so you likely did not do them any damage.
I use a small box-open end wrench bolted to the face of the bell housing, with the open end end pointing towards the hub of the converter. It keeps the converter from falling out as you manipulate the transmission up to near the backside of the engine. Remove when you are close. Again, better to have the belt and suspenders than have it fall on the floor when the trans decides it wants to flip this way or that.
tom