Tranny Time
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Senior User
Joined: Nov 2003
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From: northern Illinois
Tranny Time
Hey guys, how is everyone? Well the time has come for me to rebuild my 4r44e out of my '98 3.0 4x4. It has started slipping into third and sometimes while cruising it will suddenly start slipping and then kill the motor. I was just looking for advice. Any of you done this? Anybody got any tips or advice? And do any of you know of any upgrades I can make while I'm in there. I realy think that it's kind of pathetic that this thing only lasted 72,000 miles, and would like to avoid going through this again. Thanks in advance for any of your input. On the other hand though are there any other trannys that I could swap in that might actually last a while?
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Senior User
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From: northern Illinois
Yes I do drive it kind of hard, and occasionaly offroad. Nothing that I think should have shortened it's life to 72,000 but then again my last truck was a Jeep Comanche with an ax4 manual that I abused badly and I sold the truck with 205,000 on the odo and it only ever needed a clutch at 150,000 or so. other than that the only thing wrong was that the neutral safety switch was out. I knew I should have never bought a truck with an automatic, but I got a deal on it so I foolishly looked past the trans.
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Joined: Nov 2004
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From: Ventura ,ca. (near L.A.)
Considering the fact that it's a 4x4 thats actually not a premature milege to go out. If he did a bunch of towing with it it probably would have gone out sooner. The best way to make them last as long as you can is to have an oversized trans cooler like from b&m. I would also suggest looking into installing a shift kit to decrease the slipage between shifts and with reduce the clutch wear and also give it a little kick when it shifts. The most important thing is to change the trans fluid on regular basis. The book says 30k, i aways do mine around 25k. My freinds dad that works at the ford dealer as a trans specialist says he changes his between 20-25k and recommends that everybody should do that. Just like an engine if you keep the oil clean the motor has less sludge problems and lasts longer.
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From: northern Illinois
Thanks for the info jimw411. I was talking to a friend yesterday and he said that with the bigger ford transmissions third gear going out is usualy due to torque converter failure. I was wondering if this is a problem with our trucks too? Also I scanned it last night and there were no codes. Does the scanner even deal with the electrical parts of the trans or does it stricly look at the engine?
Elder User
Joined: Nov 2004
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From: Ventura ,ca. (near L.A.)
Actually it's not the gears going out it's the clutch pack that is attached to that gear. The gears that will have problems first are the gears that are used most often. If your on the freeway all the time you will usually lose 4th gear first, and if you drive around with the o/d off (3rd gear) thats usually the one to fail the soonest. If the torque converter has failed it is pointless to just replace that unless it's a new trans and has less then 5,000 miles on it. Your trans is odvouisly worn and you might as well spend the extra $300 on top of all the other junk i mentioned and the torque converter and R&R and have a fresh trans good for another 100k +/-. I would suspect that a computer would only pick up a problem with the trans if the converter isn't going into lock up or one of the sensors is faulty. If it's a clutch problem it most likely wouldn't pick that up. I only know a few things about auto transmissions, they are very complicated. I bought my truck with a manual due to the increased reliability factor along with better gas milege and a $1000 less off the price tag.
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From: northern Illinois
Ok, I was looking around on the internet and found a place that sells a kit for this transmission with an extra clutch in it. However it says that it will not work in a trans that only has 4 clutches from the factory. Do any of you know how to tell weather I have 4 or 5 clutches before I open up the tranny? I just want to have all the parts I need ready before I open this up. Thanks again
