How can an E4OD be this abused and still operate?

I just dismantled an E4OD that I got when I bought a 4R100 to rebuild. The 4R100 was a 2wd version and I am putting it in a 4wd. Since the E4OD was a 4wd, the seller thought the rear housing and output shaft might fit, so he threw it in on the deal.

The transmission has a rebuild sticker on it. There is also a note in yellow paint marker that it was "bad."

I knew that the E4OD was a failure because the converter support was sawed in two! A plate had come loose in the torque converter and rode on the support, grinding it away until it cut all the way through. This must have made a lot of noise, and certainly put a lot of steel shavings into the fluid. I expected a lot of wear in the pump, bushings, and bearings. It turned out that the pump gears and housing were quite good, and the gears are in great shape! I did see some wear on the bushings, but not as bad as I expected.

There were some surprises as I dug down into the gear train. Here is a list.

There was no filter installed. I assume that it was removed when the tranny was inspected and found unrepairable.

When I removed the valve body, accumulator, and solenoid, they were well stuck to the gasket, and all the attaching hardware was properly torqued, so I don't think anyone had been in there yet. I haven't disassembled any of them, so I don't know what they are like inside.

The valve separator plate was also well stuck to the gaskets, and when I removed it I found that there were NO (not a single one) check ***** installed! There was no EPC ball and spring, but I don't know if one is used on this transmission.

The pump was stuck tight to the gasket, so I doubt if anyone had been into the gear train after the failure.

Intermediate clutch plates: only one (1) friction plate (between the pressure plate and the first steel plate. Then three steel plates.

The intermediate clutch piston spring has eaten into the center support, but not enough to scrap the part. It is a ball-bearing type center support.

The big black number 6 thrust washer between the direct clutch and center support was assembled out of position and distorted from the retaining tab pressing the wrong area. This had to put a lot of strain on the gear train back there!

Direct clutch sprag parts are all worn out. Lots of wear, heat, and galling. The clutch plates were not that bad.

I haven't taken the forward clutch apart, but the drum has a layer of black, baked-on carbon from overheating, so it can't be good in there!

The Low/Reverse clutch area wasn't bad.

The park gear is loose on the output shaft, and the number 13 thrust washer between the case and park gear is all beat up and bent, not just worn.

I can't help but think that this transmission was assembled improperly, and with worn-out parts. Whether this was done at the time of the "Quality Renewal" or later is in doubt. With all the check ***** missing, it can't have shifted properly! The missing Intermediate clutch frictions are another major issue.

I can understand parts failing or wearing out. I don't understand parts missing or assembled improperly. These transmissions need some special tools to get back together that Bubba won't have in his driveway, so I think that the rebuilder or at least a transmission shop had to have done the improper assembly.

I don't see how this transmission ever operated properly! Has anyone seen one worse that still made the truck move?

 

I hope this becomes an interesting topic with some answers for you.

I've got an E40D in a 1994 truck with the 4.9 six.

I've seen cases recently where a shop told a truck owner that his transmission was in excellent condition, with no noticable wear on anything, and low mileage (145K)

Two weeks later, the new owner, (ME,) is told by the same shop that the transmission is shot, and can't be partially rebuilt, ever, and at 145K, it's worn out. I was talking to them because the torque converter was doing the lock-up function when I would come to a full stop.

The next shop I went to replaced the front pump, and the solenoid pack. Now, it shifts as it should.

What I'm getting at is, some shops will diagnose a problem by just saying it's BAD, and has to be totally rebuilt.

My job cost less than half of what a complete rebuild would run.

 

Perhaps the person selling the vehicle never had it to the shop that
told him it was good.

 

This sounds like this transmission was just reassembled "quickly", it was never intended to work.

I have reassembled transmissions before and left out the clutches or missed a bearing or 10.. simply due to just get it back together into one piece with the least amount of effort.

Example, vehicle came in we removed the tranny and disassembled it to find out that it was trashed, either we bought a reman or a good used one at the customers request.
Now we need a core to send back to the place where to replacment unit came from for the core charge, so we just slap it back together, just as long as the major components are there they don't care, most of the time they are just scrapped anyway.

 

jk080, when you slop a tranny back together for a core, would you torque the pump and valve body bolts properly? This one had all the valve body, pump, and clutch feed bolts properly torqued. I would have expected at least a few loose bolts if it had been inspected and thrown back together as a core.

The steels that were running against each other look like they matched up for marks from friction.

 

I have had cores returned that were reassembled.
All bolts were tightened.
Everything was in place.
Everything inside was garbage.
Like they had junk pieces and replaced the good stuff.

 

I know the seller of the truck to me... I was the one that recommended that he take the truck to the shop to get it checked out. They out and out lied to both of us.

 

No I dont torque them I use a cordless impact, this will get all the bolts close to torque specs. When building one all thats left is to go over the bolts with a torque wrench, I find that it only takes about a 1/4 turn to get them there. Its misleading to check torque specs when removing bolts, but the cordless impact will get them consistent to one another.

Sure the steels will have wear marks from the frictions.

Stuart is right about robbing the good parts out of a core if I had bad parts laying around to swap them out with , but I try not to keep bad parts all that long.