1994 Aerostar E-4WD XL 160,000km.
I was under-coating the van today and I found a problem while I was under there. There is a support beam under the transfer case attached to the frame on the left and right hand side of the vehicle. The transfer case rests on the support beam I guess? The bushings in the end have failed. How do I remove the bushing from the support beam. I can't see any way to remove it. Can the bushing be purchased seperately from the support beam?

A picture of the passenger side bushing with the beam lowered on one side is here:

http://www3.sympatico.ca/rob.rintjema/Images/TransferCase_Support_Bushing_Lowered_PS.jpg

Also there is a problem with the thingy under the transfer case. Can anyone tell me if this is an expensive fix, and if there are any tricks to removing it?

http://www3.sympatico.ca/rob.rintjema/Images/Broken_Thingy_Under_Transfer_Case.jpg

p.s. I may have found the problem with the clunk when going into reverse on my van. That thingy under the transfer case is resting right on the beam.

Thanks,
Rob

 

Sorry to say, but those bushings are not replaceable. They come as part of the transmission support crossmember. I just replaced mine this fall and had to get it from the Ford dealer, (Part # F09Z-6A023-C) special order item $101.50. In the photo, the opposite side bushing has worn down to where there is metal to metal contact between the bushing metal core and the top of the crossmember. One side of mine looked like that and I replaced the crossmember trying to eliminate some minor vibration. I thought either the same metal/metal contact was creating the vibration or else the wear was causing an off center driveshaft problem. While it looks like new, it was not the source of the vibration, but each bushing is now centered on its hanger.
The crossmember is surprisingly easy to remove and replace so you may want to consider finding a used one at a salvage yard.

 

Thanks very much. That is what I needed to know.

 

Rob:

The other thingy you showed is the transmission mount. That's really easy to replace and fairly inexpensive. However, if you are going to pull the cross-member off a junkyard, might as well pull that one too.

 

Was your vibration the lower or upper control arm bushings?

 

Thank you. I will have to look for that as well then when I go looking for parts. If I had not been under the van yesterday I would not have known my transmission mount had failed. Other than some small vibration the van was driving well like this. Note: the one end of the mount was quite easy to loosen up. Hopefully the rest will go easy as well. We will see...

 

These bushings are for the rear crossmember under the transfer case.

Thanks,
Rob

 

Was your vibration the lower or upper control arm bushings? I thought you said you replaced them and it went awqay and got tight again.

 

Muffinman,
In some other posts on other topics I did replace upper/lower control arm bushings but the ones under discussion here are for the transmission crossmember support bushings seen in the original posted photos. The vibration I was refering to in this thread is one that causes my passenger side seat to vibrate. Not a major concern but one that bugs me. Some years earlier, I got the van high centered and in the process of having it winched free, the cross member was slightly bent. I tried to straighten it but could never get it back to the original position where both rubber isolator bushings were centered on their mounts. Lacking any other logical explanation for the vibration I decided the bent crossmember was at fault. I replaced it but it was not the source of the seat vibration - that still occurs. I don't want to hijack this thread, so if you still have questions about vibration issues let's start a new thread and continue the discussion there.

 

I placed an order today for the parts from the dealer Discovery Ford in Burlington. They are supposed to come in tomorrow. The transmission support cross-member is $147.18 (CDN$) and the mount is $53.33 (CDN$).

 

I have the parts now.
The transmission crossmember is ford part # FO9Z-6A023-C
The transmission support insulator is ford part # E6TZ-6068-A
Will install it soon but I still have my front differential in the basement to put on tonight.

 

I installed the new transmission crossmember and transmission support insulator last night (Jan 6, 2005). All went very well. The new crossmember is black and shiny (woo hoo). The transmission support insulator provides extra springy-ness for the transmission to ride on. The transmission is now sitting maybe an inch or more higher than before the job. This will align the rear and front drive shafts better and eliminate the metal on metal contact. Hoping this will solve the problem of the speedometer jumping around slightly and vibration during driving.

 

Found this old thread when trying to figure out what I have here with the original sticker indicating part# F09Z-6A023-C. Does anyone know if this X-member was used on anything else? I don't (and never have) owned an Aerostar, so no clue how I ended up with it!

 

I can't answer your question, Brad, but if you want to sell that thing, I'm interested! PM me.

 

As I've been unable to find a source for the transmission crossmember in Jul2013, I picked up a couple to play with at the JY today. The bushings all seem to be worse on the passenger side, possibly because the engine/trans is offset to that side. However, I know from having done previously, the bushings can be removed and transferred. I have a dim memory of having put JY bushings in my '89, and having rotated them 180° as well. I also seem to remember that they were a press fit to the crossmember.

Top is from mine ('97 AWD)
Middle is 1993 AWD
Lower is 1992 RWD

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This is the 2WD one, and it looked quite good in the JY, with the center tube actually a bit below center when unloaded like this. Unfortunately, when I put this crossmember on my van, the pass side bushings still sag unacceptably. It's still better than the crossmember I took off, though.
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This is the one from my van. You can see how badly it has sagged; it won't even approach centering when unloaded like this.
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The '97 and '93 AWD crossmembers. They've both got bad bushings on the passenger side, and not great bushings on the driver's side. Some of the driver's side bushings are pretty good, though.

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A couple of the bushings are really only held in place by the swedged center tube (I don't remember this from my '89 and '91), and not press fit to the crossmember. I decided to Dremel off the end of one for fun.

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Notice that these bushings are notched, so in order to rotate them I'll have to cut a corresponding notch on the other side.

I don't have a precision measuring instrument here right now, but the bushings appear to be 40mm diameter where they go into the crossmember, in case someone wants to investigate some kind of replacement. The bolt is 10mm diameter.

My current plan is to salvage a set of driver's side bushings, notch them, and reinstall them rotated 180°. It's that, or engineer a different solution. Or find an NOS crossmember.