Hi need some help here. I own a 1990 bronco II and love it. But my a4ld tranny just went out at a 145,000. I looked in having some one rebuild it, but that’s like $850-$1,200 or more. I have the ford truck manual and thought about rebuilding it my self, but looking at it, it looks out of my league. I’ve rebuilt a manual tranny in a 1989 Ranger, but this looks much harder. Has any one taking an automatic tranny out and put in a manual? If so how hard is it and what did you run into. Thanks for all the help!

 

My Bronco II did the same thing at 171,000 miles. I looked at some tranny shops about a rebuild job. I was getting prices of $750 to $1100 with a 90-day warranty. I looked at used trannys and getting prices of $400 to $600 each with a 3 to 10-day warranty. I decided to buy a REMAN tranny with a better warranty. I bought one from Advance Auto for $1299 with a 15-month 15,000-mile warranty. Believe it or not, when I installed it the REMAN was bad. It lasted about 6000 miles before becoming undrivable. But the company stood behind the warranty and I have 35,000 on this one with no problems what so ever. As a matter of fact, my gas mileage improved with this thing (about 3 to 5 mpg in daily driving). I based my decision on the fact that I had no plans to get rid of the Bronco. So I spent a little more cash for the warranty, and boy did that work out for the best. Good Luck.

 

I have a 86 that had the 2.9 with a4ld in it. The trans went bad and I had it rebuilt for about $900. It lasted a week and I had to take it back. All in all it went back about 6 times in the first year, fortunately the shop made good on the warranty. I pulled the motor and trans out and put in a 5.0 with e4od.
When I pulled mine out it was still working, they finally got it right. But I still couldn't pull an empty trailer without having to take it out of O/D. Not even on flat ground. I have owned two others, and they were both straight shifts, and neither of them had any problems towing very heavy loads. The swap to a straight shift trans wouldn't be difficult if you could find an factory straight shift BroncoII in a junk yard that you can pull all of the parts from. Nothing too complicated about it. It would be a good solid weekend though, especialy if you have 4x4.
One last thing, make sure if you do the swap that you check your year wiring diagrams for a clutch jumper switch. I am not sure what year they started using them, but what they did was design all the wiring harnesses as if they were going to be straight shifts. They put in a switch that sensed if the clutch was depressed when you started it. On the auto versions they clipped in what they called a jumper switch that told the computer you had an auto but used the clutch harness, if you have one you will have to unplug the jumper and plug it into a clutch pedal sensor before the truck will start,
jim

 

Join the league of the junky A4LD owners. Had mine rebuilt about two months ago for $850 with a 6 month warranty. It shifts out great but it has a delay going into reverse, the shop kept it two extra days trying to fix it but said that was the best they could do. A friend of mine has a A4LD in a 1994 Ranger he had his rebuilt last year for $1250 with a year warranty. He has the same slack in his going into reverse his shop said that was the best they could do. As for having to take the truck out of overdrive to pull, mine does not have to. I pull my boat, my four-wheeler and trailer all without any problems what so ever. I have a 1990 Bronco II by the way. I like mine also except for the fact that I have nearly rebuilt it. If I have to go into the motor I will have rebuilt it. Ex- Frontend, tranny rebuild, new flywheel and starter. Hopefully it will be OK for a while now.

 

Thanks alot for the help.