No one touches my truck but me! Not very many people in this day & age can say that.

 

Its one of the biggest reasons why I looked for a truck like this in the first place. Its the easiest and most affordable diesel 3/4 ton truck to work on that I know of, so I can keep it alive for as long as I need it. I really feel for whoever ends up getting one of those 08 powerstrokes second hand after the warranty runs out.

 

"This high performance / heavy duty E4OD / 4R100 transmission and triple clutch converter can be yours for $2749.00 with a trade-in. Can be bought without a trade-in with a core charge of $300.00 to $950.00 depending on year and model. Only 1995 up core returns excepted. The freight charge usually runs $125.00 to $175.00 one way less any freight discounts"

Umm that's twice the price. Heck a decent rebuild kit costs over $1500

The one on ebay comes with a stock rebuilt convertor. Not good IMO.


I'm just saying that with all the money, and probs an E4OD poses, you'd be much better served with the C6/GV. You wouldn't be sinking $1500-3500 into it every 100K miles.

 

Or anything past a 7.3 powerstroke for that matter. Is there really an engine under all of that stuff under the hood?
But if you can figure out a tranny, I think you're good to go with just about anything.

 

Thats why I don't mind spending a little converting my truck to an E4OD. Market value of the truck isn't whats important anymore, the truck is worth more to me if it has capability, I'm not conserned with resale value.



Wheres that number comming from? I paid $225 for my overhaul kit, and they can be found for less.

And all I'm saying, is that if fuel efficiency is your main consern (as it is with me) than it is possible to build a perfectly satisfactory E4OD that will last just as long as the C6/GV option. This is by no means the solution for everyone, but personally I would rather have a true overdrive conversion with a locking converter, than spend money on an addon to an obsolete design. The E4 also has a wider OD ratio than a gear splitter before you begin to acount for the TC slip.

 

I'm with you on that one! Mine is an 86 as well.

 

A lot of good discussion around the E4OD and Gearvendor OD units.

I did a lot of work on my E4OD around a year and a half ago on my 91' and god bless she has been good to me since for running around town. (new RV Torque coverter, new shift body, new sensors which alltogether cost me about $ 1200 in parts alone)

Note, worked with a buddy in Finland on getting his PCM replaced that went bad. From Ford you are looking at $US450, was able to find him a used unit for $200 from a wrecker.

From my experience working on the E4OD is expensive and I have a hard time with anybody that offers a rebuilt for less than $US3,000 installed.

I also put on a temperature gauge in the feed line to the cooler and can't believe how quickly your tranny can overheat if you sit there idling on a hill in gear. Just running around town empty I have gone as high as 180F with the factory cooler. My next job will be to convert the original factory A/C evaporator into a tranny cooler before I am even going to think about doing any towing with this truck.

Milage is around 15 mpg with my intake mods which is not as good as I like it. I have been playing with the new IP timing recently and running high Cetane Biofuel to see if I can get the milage a little higher.

I have thought about putting a gear vendor behind the E4OD but the cost is just a little too steep.


Seb...

 

Temp sender right on the hot cooler line. I like it! I have heard of putting the sender in the pan or in a threaded hole in the side of the case, but yours is the best idea I have seen so far. The stock cooler is not good enough, and is a contributer to many early failures when these trannies first came out.

4.10 gears are not the best setup for fuel economy, thats what my truck had when I bought it (a read dog when you've got a C6!). You may want to consider swapping to a milder ratio, its a lot cheaper than a gear vendors overdrive. With 3.08 gears and a C6 (fuel eater tranny) I average also 15 mpg, but most of my driving is at 70 mph or higher, and every now and then I can still touch 20.

 

I've read up on a lot regarding tranny and gear options for an idi, one thing is and I hope no one takes this personally, I would never want to go through the trouble of swapping out my c6 for a e4od, it's just too much work. Plus I can have the c6 rebuilt approx 6 times before I touch the price of having a e4od rebuilt properly and the c6 would still get more miles each time before rebuild compared to a completely updated e4od.
The c6 is raw, no BS involved, I like it like that, I can only imagine what a nightmare an 08 tranny looks like. IMO a c6 w/ a gv is gonna perform as good or better than what they're putting in the brand new trucks today but the main factor is the c6 and gv will always be more reliable because there's no BS involved. It always seem to me the old school stuff is always so much more hardcore and practical like my little 1990 mazda that I'm dealing w/ now has the most BS funniest looking carberator I have ever seen in my life! If anyone wants to see a pic of what it looks like let me know it's so f'ing fun it's well worth the laugh, it's more or less disgraceful and probably in comparison to what they're trying to do to the power stroke trannys these days.
Yea I guess the gear vendors is expensive but it's possible to find one out of a junk yard. As for my truck the 4.10's w/ the c6 are great around town but on the highway it's terrible, top speed of 72. My other 86 w/ the 6.9(total road unworthy beater) has 3.55's but it's a totaly dog off the line. So... what to do, my f350 is my main truck, so i'm gonna meet things half way and settle for some 3.73's (anyone know what speedo cog to use?). I'll try to get the best of both worlds, but if I run into some money I'll also always have the option of installing a GV and keeping the 3.73's which IMO is gonna be the best setup for any driving style and will potentially get better mpg than the e4od also but that's just what i'm guessing dont know that for sure. If you already got a C6 the e4od is definitely not gonna be worth the upgrade cause even the best e4od just isn't gonna be raw like the c6 GV combo and installing a e4od into a c6 equipped truck seems like such a major hastle and then how many miles can you get out of the greatest rebuilt e4od? Just my opinions though like I was saying.
I think a lot of guys that have newer trucks envy guys w/ c6's especially if they used to have one, especially guys that bought any newer trucks w/ the 6.0's in them I heard those tranny's they put on them were complete junk, big problems...

 

Cool6.9DieselGuy, I'm afraid I disagee with you on many of your points, but first things first. TheRangerStation.com has some usefull info in their tech librairy on speedo correction, there are several calculations to choose from.

The C6 is a solid tranny, and as I said before, I'm not about to dispute that. I also tend to think of myself as oldschool, not that the E4OD is exactly on the cutting edge anymore. However, just adding a gear splitter to a C6 will not yield the same results in terms on fuel economy. The biggest loss in the C6 is the torque converter, adding another gear will not change that. Even if you were to bring the cruise rpms below say 2000, the slip in the TC will begin to increace, keeping you from getting the full potential out of the setup. A well built E4OD would be at least as strong as a stock C6, the stock geartrain in both transmissions are equal, but upgrades that are avalable for the E4 are nearly indistructable.
It is my feeling that most of the early failures are caused by caused by small design flaws in the transmission that can add up to big problems that can drasticly affect the life expectancy of the transmission. But as I have said in a previous post, not everyone makes the minimum corrections to the unit that could unlock the transmission's true potential.
I'm not sure why there would be such a big difference between your two trucks in terms of performance, but my truck had 4.10 gears, and after swapping to 3.08 gears, I can tell you the only time you might miss the more agressive gears is at or below 10 mph. But even then, the torque converter is able to make up the difference, and in most cases I am the first off the line when the light turns green.

 

I think a lot of guys that have newer trucks envy guys w/ c6's especially if they used to have one, especially guys that bought any newer trucks w/ the 6.0's in them I heard those tranny's they put on them were complete junk, big problems...[/QUOTE]
i am not sure about that the torque shift imo is a great trans it is a great improvement over the e4od. they shift great and seem to hold up very well i have not heard of anyone having any problems with them to date.

 

i am not sure about that the torque shift imo is a great trans it is a great improvement over the e4od. they shift great and seem to hold up very well i have not heard of anyone having any problems with them to date.[/QUOTE]

Even the later E4ods and 4R100s are an improvement over the earlier E4s. The torqushift is more complex than earlier E4 based trannies, but from what little I have read about it, they are structurally sound an are quite reliable. I have heard of some early teathing problems, but apearantly those were mainly software glitches that have since been adressed.

 

i did hear that a few of the o3's had a few problems but were corrected fairly easily.the company that i work for had seven 06's some have over 100k on them and there has been no problems and those trucks haul and tow heavy everyday for ten hours a day. even the motors seem to be holding up very good only two have been back to ford for major things.

 

"K100. Build your own Level 4 Enforcer transmission. Fits all 4R100 transmissions, 1998 on. You get all 4 Alto Power Packs. Red Eagle clutches and Kolene steels for 1st, 2nd and 3rd, Kryptonite clutches and Kolene steels for overdrive. You also get a Transgo Shift Kit, power valve, overdrive spiral snap ring, 45 element sprag, Billet triple clutch torque converter and our 300M input shaft. The 2001 4R100 with the diode one-way clutch will have to be retro fitted with the 50-tooth outer race type sprag, see below (not included). You save $135.00 or 10%. All of this for $1211.00."

And that doesn't include all the updates, or tranny cooler,shipping. Fits only '98 on, so you'll be buying more parts to get a decent rebuild.

There are high performance C6 TC's available, around $250. It'll take care of most of the slip.

 

That would make for an impressive build. But unless you plan on racing the vehicle, I don't really think you have to go that far. I supect the most expencive part in the kit is the torque converter, but thats not usually included in an overhaul kit. As for the other uptates, I wouldn't bother with the updated clutch packs or billet shaft, with a shift kit, the stock clutches are good enough for transfering power to the wheels.

Ok guys, I realize an E4OD buildup is not a popular idea, but before I even bought my truck, I knew I would need an overdrive. At one time or another I mulled over all of these options. In the end the GV option is the simpler one, while the E4OD conversion is more complex, and depending on how far you want to go, could be more expencive or less expencive.
But, I still maintain that if you want the best possible fuel economy, A built up E4 is the way to go, or at least it is in my opinion.
For my part I will be running a programable stand alone controller that allows me to have 2 seperate custom stift tables to choose from, semi auto function through the cruise control, and the ability to reprogram any computer controlled function in the trans to my liking. I would classify the build of my transmission as moderate, I only made as much updates as I felt I needed.
This paticular setup is by no means for everyone, and I hope I have not come across as suggesting otherwise. I suspect the debate between the GV vs E4OD will rage on for some time to come , but I'm not sure what else there is that could be added to either side the arguement. Except to use a ZF 5 or 6 speed instead . As I mentioned in an earlier post, it comes down to a matter of preference.