Hello gents,
Thrilled to be a member! I recently discovered what an awesome truck the Excursion is by purchasing a 175,000 mile 2000 v10 2wd with a 4 inch lift/315/75 damn near perfect condition for the paltry sum of 3000 bucks. I came from the world of explorers and know just about every little quirk they have, owning and rebuilding close to 25 over the years of the models 2002-10.
As for the Excursion, I love it. You all know the reasons so I won't bore you. I recently was doing some maintenance on the truck and worked my way to the transmission. Shifting fine but when I pulled the pan I encountered assorted clutch parts and such so I changed the filter, cleaned the junk out, flushed the lines/cooler, pumped the old fluid back in and buttoned it back up. Hilarious that it still shifts great. I am going to use the Ex as my primary tow vehicle, pulling a camper weighing 8000lbs including gear. So therefore my search for a replacement trans begins.
I am going to risk looking like a real moron in the questions I am going to ask but here it goes.
What are my best options for a replacement? I have heard that the superduty v10 truck transmissions will work but I don't understand why Hollander interchange doesn't list them as a direct replacement. Also, it only shows 2000 as an acceptable year of interchange with no other years listed. I do know there were various updates through the years for the 4R but not sure if the updates negate me from using a different year. I plan on keeping this thing forever but I am doing it on a budget, thus the reason for me looking for a low mileage salvage yard replacement. I look forward to hearing input from the experts! Btw check out my cousin's facebook page and you can see what we build and race at: Littrellfamilyracing
Thanks guys!

 

Welcome aboard man, stay away from MY 01 they have the dreaded mechanical diode. If it's shifting good might be TC starting to let go, I would replace it with a triple disc converter before it destroys the tranny.

 

Only the 2001 diesels had that. The gas engine transmissions did not.

A 4R100 from a V10 Excursion (2wd), V10 F-Series (-250 through -550 2wd), or a V10 van will be an exact swap. You can use model years 2000-2004, or from an Excursion you can also use a 2005. 1999 will technically work, but the early ones had some mechanical and electrical differences that will cause you problems, so stay away from a 1999.

 

My bad thanks for the correction Mark.

 

Thank you guys! Just wasn't sure about it so I thought I would ask the experts! I had no reservations about pulling a 2500 lb drag car with the current transmission but the camper was another story. The power of the v10/4r100 setup was not at all what I expected. It doesn't exactly blow the back tires off the rims but I was pleasantly surprised how different it is from its v8 brothers. Feels very peppy. Future plans are for a supercharger and aftermarket exhaust with full length headers possibly. Gotta let it breathe! And Mark, I love your tag line about Mercon V. That was an ongoing controversy on the explorer forum about the 5r55s/w. Guys were saying that Mercon V was the source of premature servo bore wear, not considering the fact it was a steel piston in an aluminum case. Had many guys running around looking for older versions of mercon fluid lol.

 

I realize you're doing this on a budget, but is a good rebuild on your existing 4R100 a possibility? A used tranny from the junk yard can be a crap shoot.

 

Those 315/75 tires are killing a bunch of the performance if you are still spinning the stock 3.73 gears. The V-10 loves to rev, so deeper gears will really wake it up, I run 35"s and 4.88 gears on our tow rig EX pulling an 11K TT, the effective ratio of 4.39 handles that work very well.

 

Supercharger!!!!

I should be the last one to say this but I would NOT recommend a supercharger on a 8000 lb excursion that will be towing.

There are several reasons why:

1) gas motors are not diesels and sustained boost in closed loop will cause issues.

2) the twin screws will blow hot air and negate alot of the power gains unless water meth is used.

Even a turbo could cause issues if constant towing boost. Torque is what you need for towing and boost at low rpms can cause detination.


You might get away with it if you convert to E85 though.

 

E85 would be the worst for a forced induction gas engine.

If I put the slightest bit of ethanol mix in my Lightning, I will detonate as soon as I hit boost.

Stewart

 

My friends with the supercharged Cobras love E85. But they test the fuel regularly and keep track of who has what octane rating as it changes batch to batch. They also have multiple tunes for when they can't get good fuel. That is probably the biggest problem with it is getting the same fuel each time reliably. Both of my Thunderbird SC's were very picky as well with detonation from station to station.

To the OP, coming from a fleet of 2002-2010 Explorers and Mountaineers myself, I think you will find the Excursion to not be as needy once you get it sorted out.

 

Yes, E85 needs a proper tune, 30% bigger injectors and fuel pump. But I can run 24 psi boost with it in my Eagle talon, vs only 15 psi with 91 octane.

It's mostly achy and has great cooling and it has great antidetination properties.

It's effective octane is around 105 on average and that is what is needed for low rpm boost during towing.

You can't let E85 sit in tank too long either, that the only reason my supercharged V10 doesn't eat E85. That and I do not tow with it.

 

Not if it is properly tuned for ethanol. You can't just switch, the stoichiometry ratio is different. If you use a gasoline tune with ethanol the engine will be lean. That's about the worst thing you can do to a boosted engine.

 

Well, that explains that.

I got unplugged from the L scene back in '05/'06 and E85 was just becoming more available here in California, so if all that info came out on the L forums back then, it makes sense I didn't learn about how ethanol added to fuel can be an advantage.

Based on my experience I just thought it was more volatile with an inconsistent burn rate.

Reps.

Stewart

 

Love the conversation guys! Keep it coming! I think it's mostly about setup. We have run ethanol, distributor at full advance on drag cars with zero issues. There are so many contributing factors to detonation. Some engines can run higher dynamic compression on pump gas while others cannot. I had planned on running a centrifugal type supercharger as opposed to a roots type and a mild tune, injectors and such. I am the very beginning stages of planning so I welcome the input. I would hate to grenade the engine and be forced to drop in a 588 BBF from one of our drag cars! I wonder though how 1200hp would move the big sled