@mueckster Your expertise is required

 

If you keep track of the overall costs I'd be really interested in that. i've considered getting mine professionally rebuilt by one of the pros with super heavy duty last-forever parts for 5000, but wow that's a ton of money. I'm not above digging in there myself if i can save a few thousand dollars.

 

Amazing work...following

 

The coast clutch is reusable. It needs to be cleaned up.
They are cheap enough to replace. So it is the rebuilders choice to replace it.

 

Thanks again! I disassembled the rest of the trans today and could not discern where the all the fine metal came from. Maybe the torque converter?

I do like to use the trans to decel and like to drive with the OD off when I'm not on the freeway. I can feel them with my fingernail. The one in Jimmy's video has the same marks (2 instead of 3). I can't find a new one. They are all remans or used. I think you're right. I'll polish them up and call it good.

I've spent around $2500 so far on parts, tools and fluids.

Thank you yet again! I repped you this time. I've got bigger problems I think? See below.


Transmissionbench homemade tool used to remove a snap ring holding the overdrive/ intermediate piston housing.


Case is almost empty.


Dirty case plus engine degreaser


and a little biodiesel glycerin soap.


Equals a pretty clean case.

The next two photos show the difference between my direct clutch drum and the one Jimmy from transmissionbench is rebuilding. His has a 4 tab metal thrust washer and mine does not. You can see in the one Jimmy has, there are 4 notches for the thrust washer. Mine does not have those notches. I'm going to chock this up to a different revision unless someone ( cough trackspeeder ) thinks otherwise.


My direct clutch drum. There is no 4 tab thrust washer.


Jimmy at transmission bench has a metal 4 tab thrust washer.






Now on to my first real issue. I got the pump split in two and found what I think is pretty bad wear on the pump rotor mating surfaces. They look substantially worse than the ones in Jimmy's videos. I think I'm in for a replacement which also seems like it is reman or bust. Can't seem to find a new one. The metal clad bushing the torque converter rides on looks a little chewed up too. The rotors themselves look ok. Someone tell me I'm wrong. I don't really want to buy a new pump.



Pump split in two.


Wear on the pump rotor mating surface.


More wear on the other halves pump rotor mating surface. Also notice wear on the metal clad bushing.


Pump rotor side one.


Pump rotor side two.

 

Keep in mind that the one that Jimmy is demonstrating with is out of a gasoline-powered vehicle. The Diesels have more friction plates and steels in them. I don't see The Notches in your coast clutch drum for the four tab thrust washer. The greatest concern I have about the wear in your pump is the uneven wear marks. If you have to go with a reman pump, since new ones are discontinued, I think I would have a machine shop look at yours first. My money would be betting the gray non magnetic sludge in the valve body came from pump wear. The clean bell housing looks great. I wanted to paint mine, but it had to go back together pretty quick. Looking good.

 

You have the later direct drum with no washer. The early drum E4OD has a washer. Remember, many E4 and 4R parts will interchange.

Now for the pump. Put it back together and take it to your favorite Ford parts dealer. Use it as a core for a rebuilt pump.

 

you know one question to ask would be about past service of the transmission.. in your profile the truck has some 207K miles on the unit. What is your time owning this truck, and how many mile did it have when you got it.

Just wondering the past service history and if the trans fluid was changed out at some point in the past. Also do you know, if you are not the first owner, how the truck was used before you come to own it.

I bought a 2003 with 162K several years ago.. I check the trans fluid and while it was not new it was not smelly or super dark, looks a bit discolored compared to new. .. (the guy I bought it from was 2nd owner and he knew the first guy. I asked if the trans had be change and he did not know.. so I was assuming not or just a pan drain at a oil change place in town. ) His buddy pulled a 25 ft boat in the virginia beach area and his son pulled a single axle landscape trailer one summer.. rest of the time it was an unloaded daily driver.

I drove it home drained the pan and refilled doing this 4 times over the period of couple months. (not a daily driver for me). At one point I dropped pan to install JW valve body, cleaned the hamster on the magnet and some of the off color stuff you see on the bottom of pan, replaced the filter and refilled with new TF. I added the 6.0 cooler as well which required about a qt of additional fluid.

Reason for asking is we will be going full time RVing next april and will be pulling a 30 ft airstream for the most part. I tend to be easy on taking off, pulling hills I am not the first guy to the top etc. I know the 4r100 trans has it weakness as you and other have found out.

Just wondering if your experience at 200K is a precourse to what I can expect or was your unit not well maintained and/or droven like it was stolen most of the time.

 

Thanks. I'll look into that. Repped you this time.

You are the man! Thanks again! I'm not a fan of the stealership, but I'll give my local one a call on Monday and see how much it is from them. Tried to rep you again, but FTE won't let me.

I got my truck at about 100k miles in 2006. I don't know the prior service history as I bought my truck at an auction. I've serviced the transmission every 20-30K miles using the flush procedure on FTE. In my prior flushes, the fluid never looked like it did this time.



I spent a few hours today disassembling some of the assemblies and checking for bad parts. I think I found the source of all the metal sludge. My forward clutch drum was packed with the grey sludge all around the outer perimeter. I had to scrape it off with a small screwdriver as wiping it with a rag did not remove it. The clutches in this pack did not look any different than the rest of them have.


Forward clutch drum full of hard paste like sludge.

 

thanks man good info.. this is a lot of crap in there..

hope Mark K is following along and has any insight on how this happens and how to avoid it.

I have watched jimmy take apart the transmission and all i can say is WOW.. I still don't have any idea how it works to put power from the engine to the drive shaft and do that from dead stop to 70 MPH or more and then to slow down and how the EBPV actuator and help to slow a truck as well..

this truly is a modern marvel of engineering.

 

You found the result of the heat build up in your tranny,,, but the cause?? The whole internals are bathed and washed in fluid. I don't see how even at 220 degrees F could melt anything plastic. Which leads me thinking that at some point the drum it was longer being lubricated. Pump deficiency? Port blockage? IDK. Is any part of the drum blued from heat? I bet some easy off oven cleaner would get that off. Don't get down wind of it. I

 

Brake Cleaner or a 5 gallon bucket of unleaded will clean anything LOL

 

How do the steels look. Usually in this case they have burn spots on them.

 

As a matter of fact they do have some dark spots on them. I'll get a pic of them when I disassemble the forward drum again for reassembly. You know these trans really well.

Didn't get much done this weekend or today. Too many other responsibilities got in the way. I did spend a little time with some hard parts and the parts washer this afternoon. More to come soon.

 

I feel I got a tremendous amount of work done today. Had a couple of hiccups along the way. Nothing too catastrophic. Metal clad bushings and me are not friends. We were fighting today, but I won. See below.




The parts washer getting some action.

The 1 piece bushing install is below:


I bought this bushing driver set to get the metal clad bushings in and out of the trans.


This is the setup I used to get the 2 rear case bushings out. I banged them both out from the inside out.


The Sonnax 1 piece rear case bushing instructions say to grind a notch in the rear of the case to stake the bushing in place.


The notch I made is at the 12 O'Clock position.


This is the Sonnax 1 piece bushing and the install tool. I do not recommend installing this without the tool. Damage to the bushing is guaranteed.


1 pieces bushing about to be installed.


I set a ratchet and socket on the inside of the case to hold this end in place while I drove the other side in with a 1/2 impact.


Bushing installed all the way.


Bushing staked into the notch.


You also have to make sure when you drive the bushing it that it aligns correctly with an oil feed tube. It took me a couple tries to get this right as the bushing wanted to rotate as I drove it in.

Rear case parts install is below:


I replaced the lip seals on the most rearward piston.


Rear piston put back in. I didn't get a shot, but the rear spring cage and race go in before the bolts below are installed.


Torque the rear race bolts in a star pattern to 20 ft lbs.


New rear thrust bearing.


More innards going in.


Reverse clutch pack parts ready to be installed:


My first set of GPZ frictions soaking. Soak them for at least 15-20 minutes. New Kolene steels.



Sun shell bushings and thrust washer replacement below:



I replaced both bushings in the sun shell along with the trust washer.


The new bushings were too tight to fit over the output shaft. Not sure why.


I used an old brake hone to ream them out a bit so the sun shell slid over the output shaft with ease.


This is the metal clad bushing kit I ordered that included the bushings that were too tight. I would recommend getting a Sonnax kit instead of this Seal Aftermarket Products kit.


Sun shell and more innards going in.


Forward clutch pack install below:



These are the burnt steels from my forward clutch drum. The dark spots are burn marks. I believe this to be the source of all the metal sludge in the trans.


Use a piece of a plastic file folder to get the lip seal on the forward clutch drum piston to seat in its bore. Jimmy at the transmissionbench showed me this trick.


Forward clutch drum ready to be reassembled.


Forward clutch drum all put back together. My clearance here is 0.037 inches. Well within spec.


These are all the old parts I replaced today:



All the old parts I replaced today.


I hope to make more progress tomorrow. Stay tuned.