Back again with more tranny questions.

Decided to buy a used unit for my '90 3.0 so I can still drive the van while I decide whether to let the shop that did the work last time fix their screwed up job, or do it myself. This is the 4.0 trans that they installed behind my 3.0 engine, and can't stay out of the shop for longer than a few months after rebuild...

I want to replace the seals on the used trans, rear looks easy enough but the front pump seal looks like it might be difficult. The aluminum of the case surrounding the seal appears to be staked to hold the seal in place.

Am I right, and how difficult is that situation to get around? Will I have to re-stake the new seal once I get the old one out?

Thanks for any advice!

Dean

 

I can sympathize with you. My brother has a Ford Explorer with a 4.0L engine and A4LD. About 2 years ago, his transmission died while he was living in New Mexico. Since the truck had 170,000 miles on it, he had no complaint and spent $2500 to have it rebuilt at a transmission shop in Santa Fe. He had since moved back to California. A few months ago, the transmission refused to engage and he was stranded near my house. We had the truck towed back to his house and took the transmission apart. It turns out that the big, thick pressure plates on the overdrive drum and the intermediate drum have the same teeth arrangement and could have been mixed up. That's exactly what the transmission shop did. They swapped those two pressure plates, but the problem is that they are of different thicknesses. As a result, they could not cram all the required friction plates into the drum. Their solution was to leave out one friction plate just to get enough clearance for the snap ring to go on. What happened then is that the clutch piston could not exert enough force on the clutches and they have been slipping all this time, until they are burned out completely. So we swapped those pressure plates, put in new clutches, new piston seals and the clearance came out perfect for both sets.

The moral of the story is that there are a lot of monkeys out there disguised as auto mechanics. To be honest with you, I cannot trust anybody to work on my car anymore. When you pay money for a tune up and they change only 4 out of 6 spark plugs, what is there to trust? I would suggest you go to www.bulkpart.com and buy a master set, a set of bands, thrust washers, and a set of bearings along with a manual and do the job yourself. That way you have only yourself to blame and not be at the mercy of these fly-by-night operators. It's really not that difficult if you have another person to help you (mostly to drink beers with when the going gets tough). I could lend you the manual I have, but that's rather cheap (only $16 at bulkpart.com).

Good luck

 

Thanks for the offer of the manual, Copper, I plan on getting one anyway if I decide to rebuild myself.

Your remark about having yourself to blame for messing up is my sentiment exactly! I paid these guys $1700 for the rebuild and I think it should have at least lasted through the two year warranty period! I was telling the mechanic at my workplace this morning that if I rebuild it myself, at least won't have PAID someone else to screw it up for me!

My main problem is time so that's why I bought the used trans, I hope this works out, I'd hate to get taken again... scary thing is that the used trans looks like a rebuild also, at least I got a 90-day replacement warranty with it.

My original post was addressing the staked pump seal, out in the bright sunlight today it appears that it was hit around the seal flange a few times with a cold chisel. Mechanic and I agreed that a little Dremel work would relieve the flange.

Dean

 

The staking around the seal wasn't hard to remove. When I did my transmission, all I used was some sand paper. But you are right, the Dremel tool would have worked better. The manual says to use a chisel to stake the new seal in just like you planned to do, but do it between the current stakes. It seems you are on the right track. Just a word of caution, the bell housing is aluminum, so you don't have to strike the chisel very hard at all. To be honest, I don't even think staking it in place is really necessary. I have done a couple of transmissions: Chrysler 904 for my Jeep, AXODE for my little brother's Taurus, and the A4LDs for my Aerostar and my other brother's Explorer. The A4LD is the only one where this kind of staking is done, so I think it's probably just a cautionary measure.

Also, when I did the A4LDs, I was rebuilding them completely, so the pump was removed from the bell housing. As a result, I was able to drive the seal out with a punch from the back side. In your case, the pump is in place, so you will probably have to use the Ford tool or some kind of sliding hammer to remove it.

Good luck and have fun.

 

Thanks for the tips and advice, Copper!

So a do-it-yourself rebuild seems to be a practical alternative from what you and others have said here since I found this place. Way I figure it, I've got nothing to lose. The shop offered to fix it (again) labor $$ free but I'd have to pay for any parts, anywhere from $400-$1000 estimated! From what I see $$-wise at Bulkpart.com I could do two trans for that much! And after all geez they yanked this thing out last April and rebuilt it AGAIN and STILL it didn't make it one year!

I still want to negotiate with these guys, think I'll pull their crummy rebuild next weekend and tell them to keep their 4.0 A4LD and give me a good used 3.0 trans and we'll part ways. Seems to me it would be a good deal for both of us, I get a good backup trans to rebuild to my standards and they don't have to see Ol' Blue pulling up on a ramp truck anymore...

Dean

 

Hi Dean:

If you decide to rebuild the 3.0L A4LD by yourself, post here again and I'll try to post my own experience. It's actually pretty easy, but there are a few snags along the way. I'll try to help you avoid the mistakes I made.

Regards