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Broken intermediate servo casting

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Old Feb 1, 2026 | 10:17 PM
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Broken intermediate servo casting

just got into rebuilding an E4OD for my 1995 f-super duty and found the casting which guides the Intermediate servo piston is broken. Has anyone ever seen that failure? Is it fixable? Or am I looking for a new case





 
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Old Feb 1, 2026 | 11:11 PM
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Wow, that's something!

I don't know how that could be repaired by welding etc. with zero chance of getting it in place slightly off of "perfect" that it started at. I've never seen this personally.

Hopefully someone like @Mark Kovalsky comes along and has more input on this.
 
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Old Feb 2, 2026 | 06:44 AM
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If it were me, I'd get a new case.
 
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Old Feb 2, 2026 | 09:02 AM
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I think the chances of having that welded and it functioning afterwards is nearly zero.
 
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Old Feb 2, 2026 | 10:32 AM
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Originally Posted by Mark Kovalsky
I think the chances of having that welded and it functioning afterwards is nearly zero.
Ok, this seems to be the consensus from everyone I’ve asked including local transmission shops. I’m in the process of sourcing a replacement case. I try to find the positive in life so at least I was able to show something few have seen before
 
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Old Feb 3, 2026 | 09:44 AM
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To be clear, I am in agreement with replacing the case.

That said, what was the original problem with the transmission? Ignorance is bliss. I can only assume this has been broken and probably for years. If it has been broken [for years] and you never knew it, what difference would it be if you actually fixed it? From my understanding is that band is only engaged when you are in 2 [yeah, I'm probably wrong but I know it's not used when in D]. Do you constantly put it in 2nd? If you do, maybe that is the reason it broke. I can only suspect that most transmissions are either in P, R, and D most of it's life. N, 2nd, and 1st is probably rarely ever used. Except for those that understand what the transmission does when it's in those positions.
 
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Old Feb 3, 2026 | 09:55 AM
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Originally Posted by 1Butcher
From my understanding is that band is only engaged when you are in 2 [yeah, I'm probably wrong but I know it's not used when in D].
No, you are correct. The band is only used when the shifter is in the 2 position.
 
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Old Feb 3, 2026 | 10:17 AM
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Originally Posted by 1Butcher
To be clear, I am in agreement with replacing the case.

That said, what was the original problem with the transmission? Ignorance is bliss. I can only assume this has been broken and probably for years. If it has been broken [for years] and you never knew it, what difference would it be if you actually fixed it? From my understanding is that band is only engaged when you are in 2 [yeah, I'm probably wrong but I know it's not used when in D]. Do you constantly put it in 2nd? If you do, maybe that is the reason it broke. I can only suspect that most transmissions are either in P, R, and D most of its life. N, 2nd, and 1st is probably rarely ever used. Except for those that understand what the transmission does when it's in those positions.
Eh it’s more preventative, in D it worked ok. But I went to change the pan out for a high volume aluminum unit from mishimoto and saw sand grain size bits of aluminum in the pan. I drive to visit family about 1000 miles from where I live every year and tow 9-11k lbs each time. I figured better to rebuild it now than be on the side of the road. On the steepest grade I drive, coming into CA from Vegas, I’m turning 3k rpm at 40mph and I’m in manual second. What’s the saying? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

interestingly when I bought the truck it had an overdrive lock out device made my intermotive products (see picture)

which kept overdrive permanently off, it was a municipal tire truck out of Bakersfield Ca (with 42k original miles) I guess they couldn’t trust Jimmy Bob and Juan Carlos to manually turn off overdrive every time they got in the truck to reduce wear on the tranny.
 

Last edited by ID460; Feb 3, 2026 at 10:21 AM.
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Old Feb 3, 2026 | 10:32 AM
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Smart move to rebuild/repair before it fails. That is what I did. I went the route with a core transmission and rebuilt that. Since mine was working fine, I could take my time fixing/modifying the core transmission, If I screwed that one up, I could always put the original one back in.

If indeed you do use 2nd regularly, I think it's wise to get a case. I can only suspect the piston bound up and caused it to break the case. But then again, nobody really knows.

 
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Old Feb 3, 2026 | 11:47 PM
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I think you're going the right way with overhauling it.

I've never heard of an overdrive lockout device like that before!
 
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Old Feb 5, 2026 | 06:49 PM
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Unless you use Man 2 for engine braking, it will make no difference. It may even still work, there is no oil pressure on that side of the servo piston.
 
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Old Feb 6, 2026 | 10:49 AM
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Originally Posted by zzyzxpat
Unless you use Man 2 for engine braking, it will make no difference.
Which means that 2nd is used often, which I think most people don't do. I can only imagine that if more people used 2nd often, the problem would be more well known or there is something loose with the band that would cause it move put sideways tension on the piston pin that the case can't hold. Sure, the case could have had a flaw there that 99.9% of the cases don't.

Either way, no one will ever know and and the page has been turned.


 
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