Overdrive aside and for bragging rights, which tranny is stronger, the C6 or E4OD? I have a 1996 F-250 4x2 with the 7.3 PSD and E4OD. I'm planning on adding many upgrades to this engine, but I'm hesitant because all I read is bad stuff about the E4OD and how weak it is. I planned to combat this by swapping in a C6 (which is much cheaper than the E4OD but has an excellent reputation for it's strength) and adding a Gear Vendors overdrive unit behind it. I know it sounds easier than it probably is, but would a swap like this be worth it, if it's even possible at all? Thanks.

 

Well I can tell you this much - I just bought a super nice 96 F250 CrewCab 4x4 XLT with 47,155 miles on it. It still has the original tires and battery! 460 engine runs perfect. The E4OD is dead. Evidently the crappy throttle position sensor went bad causing the intermediate clutches to fry. It started out by prolonged shifts from 2nd to 3rd and when it would shift it would slam into gear. Sometimes the only way you could make it shift would be to let your foot of the gas. Anyway - a $30 sensor crapped out a $1,700 transmission. Never would have happened with a C6! I've heard horror stories about the E4OD but now I'm a believer or a can't believer. I can't believe Ford would put out something like this.

 

The gearsets in the E4OD are stronger than those in the C6, I'm not sure, but the rest of the internals probably aren't. Properly built (w/ aftermarket converter & clutches...) and with the electronics working good, an E4OD should be as strong or stronger than a C6.

 

The E40D isn't even in the same league. The track record for the E40D is very poor when compared to a C6. I'm no tranny expert but just reading the problems people have with the E40D trans is enough to tell me it can't be as strong. Can it be built to be as strong or stronger I don't know.

 

I agree with RTM the C-6 is the stronger tranny, i see E40Ds start dropping like flies at about 150,000-175,000 there might be builders that can turn the E4OD into good transmissions but i have seen three good trucks that still ran great get sold due to costly E4OD failures. After my experince with that tranny i only buy manual overdrives now, had great luck with the C-6s i have owned. Had a 1968 F-100 with a 360 256,000 miles pulled the motor and put a fairly hot street 390 in thinkin i would have to replace the tranny shortly after but the old C-6 never let me down.
-johnboy