Have a 93 F250 4X4 w/ E4OD behind a 7.3 IDI. Was wondering which would be the most cost effective and produce the best relibility?? Rebuild the 93' with upgraded parts and torque converter or replace with a newer, 95 or later E4OD? Or should I just buy an aftermarket beefed up trans? What up about just bagging it and putting in a 5spd manual ?? Not sure which way to go?? Truck only has 96,000 on it and in great shape, so hate to sell.

 

I would overhaul the E4OD you got and get your shop to beef it up with a new HD torque coverter as well as some of the fixes of the known problems the E4OD had. Seeing you got a 93' some of the problems with the earlier models would have already been addressed. Make sure you put a big tranny cooler on it.

My E4OD in my 91'F350 has been working flawlessly every since I fixed it up in 2006. I just put on 1000 clicks on the annual trip to the cabin. It is a 4000 ft climb into the rockies and the hottest the tranny ever got was 140 F. I converted my old A/C Condenser into a tranny cooler.

Fixing up your current tranny would definetely be the cheapest solution.

Any of your other proposals have a bunch of issues and would be quite a hassle, possible but for me not worth it in my mind.

Seb....

 

Thanks for the response. Seeing that your just north of the border form me you understand the hills I'd be going over from time to time. Did you stay with the original pan? Was thinking of going with deep pan and big cooler if I did rebuild. What about a shift kit? Yes or not really needed?

 

I stayed with the factory oil pan.

I installed a HD RV-type torque converter ($500).

Replaced my factory shift body with the latest style available from Ford ($500), my truck was a 91'. A 93' should already have the upgraded shift body in it and the only reason for replacing it would be if it if full of crap because you had metal in your pan.

Converted my AC Condenser in front of the radiator to a Tranny Cooler ($50)

Changed oil and filter twice to make sure the tranny was clean and had no particles left from when my clutch in my torque converter failed.

I did not pull the entire tranny apart as it only had 30k on it when I got the truck. I now have 95k on it and things are still running great.

Note, the 7.3l only got 185 hp so I really am at full throttle in OD on most hills. The really steep hills or if I want to pass somebody, I usually take it manually out of overdrive down to 3rd.

I got my FIPL set up to read 0.9 Volt - 3.8 Volt instead of 1.1 Volt to 4.1 Volt so my tranny does not kick out of OD automatically when I apply full throttle. I find the hunting from 3rd to OD to annoying on the hills, also not good for the tranny I hear. If I need to I just go out of OD manually.

Good luck,

Seb...

 

Sounds good Thanks again for response.

 

Some guys end up just getting fed up with their E4ODs and go with a 5 speed manual transmission. This can be done, but it won't be easy to do that at the same price as a good build up of the transmission you already have. The ZF 5 speed is not bullet proof either and has weaknesses of its own.

I assume the transmission is already needing a rebuild?

Your build up should directly reflect what you intend to do with the truck.

Running around light or empty most of the time doesn't require much mods over what is already in there. If you ever plan to tow more than 5000lbs and turbocharge the truck, then I feel a billet torque converter should be used. There is a big difference from 185 to 260 Hp (over 500ft/lbs peak torque).

Your transmission may already have a roller bearing center support but if not, get one. This upgrade should be done for any E4OD.

Front pump can be replaced with the F5 version (1995 and later) which moves more fluid. There are also recalibration kits that you can get to further modify the F5 pump to make it even better and flow even more fluid through the cooler.

You can replace all of the planetary gears with steel carrier gears. This is not required, but its not a very expensive upgrade if you want to really build the truck up. Not needed for most situations.

Big cooler, can't go wrong with that.

If you install a shift kit, use one that changes flow patterns in the transmission rather than one that simply pushes up line pressure. DO NOT use electronic shift kits such as banks trans command. Higher line pressure does prevent some wear on the clutch packs, but it puts more stress on the valves and hydraulics, so there net gains are minimal. Opening up an orifice hole that allows pistons to fill more quickly, will give you shorter shift times without having the negative affects.

Don't go nuts with a shift kit either. Just a mild, crisp upshift for moderate acceleration and a more firm grab at WOT is all you want. Some kits are hard enough to break traction on dry pavement, that is too much and will probably break something eventually.

If you want a fast way out and don't intend to work the truck very hard or turbocharge, then a ford OEM re manufactured transmission will be a pretty good deal if you don't mind paying full price. They will already have most of the common sense upgrades like roller bearing center support and higher capacity pump. Warranty is pretty good too.

 

Thanks for all the information on rebuilding. Don't plan on putting turbo on truck, so won't need huge build up. Will be towing on limited basis, but need the tranny to handle it when needed. Also will be going over a couple of 2500 ft passes when I am towing.

 

Sounds like all you need is an OEM spec updated build. A mild RV/towing torque converter, bigger transmission cooler and a trans temp gauge would help.

Also make sure your factory cooler is clean and not restricted in any way.

 

Thanks for all the advise. Will make sure orig. trans cooler and all lines are fully flushed when I install bigger cooler.