I used to own a 92 Explorer Sport (Wife traded it in while I was in Germany for a 96 Nissan Sentra ).
It had the 4.0 Engine 4X4 and all the goodies. At trade in it had 205,000 miles with the engine going strong. But the one thing I could not stand on thes SUV was the tranny. The A4LD.
This tranny did fine, until I had to catch a flight out of Atlanta to Germany droping the wife and kids off in North Carolina, leaving from Colorado. No problems in the mounntains but once in Kansas, what do you know, the tranny starts leaking from the top of it. In the end it blew the rest of the way in Missouri losing its third and fourth gears. Three days and $1800 later we were on our way. Six months later in the mountains of North Carolina this Tranny blew. Another six months later still in NC that tranny started to slip. My wife traded it in. Fluids were always topped off and good to go.
After this the Explorer will for ever be known to me as the Exploder.
Its to my understanding that the A4LD was Japenese made (Mitsubishi I think) and was designed for cars not 4WD small trucks and the problem was common, among other things, for the 91-92 Explorer.
I saw my old Exploder again while on leave all cleaned up and pretty being driven by a young High School girl. I informed he that I was the former owner and that the tranny was slipping when it was traded in a month earlier. The look on her face was that of disbelief but when I handed her the owners manual which my wife kept she looked a little more convinced, Non the less she said thanks and drove off.
To this day I still wonder, did she find out the hot temperment of the angry A4LD.

 

A4LD is a French design if that makes you feel any better. Many front seals leak after a rebuild because of poor rebuild practice. Problem is not the seal but internal bushings that are worn because of poor alignment. A large number of rebuilds are junk. If they won't guarantee it more than a year, you know it is junk. After bad experience (found five mistakes including missing parts and friend had same experience), I rebuilt my own.

 

I have been worried about my tranny since I bought my Exploder in October last year with 151,000 miles on it. Supposedly this is the original tranny yet. Fluid was OK when I bought it, changed it after about 5k anyways.

With 158,000 on it now it still shifts right and never slips. Although one day I went to kick it down to shift and it went neutral on me - hasn't done it since though and it was 20 below zero that day.

Hoping to get a tranny from a junkyard this summer and rebuild it myself so I know it's done right - then just wait for this one to fly...

Most of the people I see with tranny problems do the following:
1. pull too much (2 snowmobiles or jet skis are plenty for an Exploder)
2. tear around town too much - lots of shifting and no cooling
3. leave the winter front on too long - blocks air from the tranny cooler
4. only change fluid every 75k or so or maybe NEVER