Goodmorning to all on this Memorial Day. I'm new here but have been reading treads for some time. I have a 2001 F250 SD 7.3 4x4 automatic trans. with 164,731 miles on it. My problem is that when I'm pulling my 22,000 lb horse trailer up a steep grade it starts leaking fluid in a steady stream out of the front. It only does it when it is under a lot of strain though. it doesn't do it when pulling on level ground. I've been told (by a deisel mechanic) that the front seal is weak and when there is high pressure it lets fluid past. I was also told that it is a easy fix that takes about 45 minutes to correct. I was told that i would have to pull the pan and the valve body to replace it. My question is if this is correct then what seal is it that I need to get and where would I get it from?

 

just giving you a bump,but i dont see how droping the pan will get you to the front seal.

 

It will take a front seal, I'm sure, which means pulling the trans. But if your trailer really weighs 22k, you're grossly over loaded. It will pull that weight, but it will put a lot of stress on the drive-train. If I were you, I'd get built to the hilt trans, with A LOT of extra cooling, upgrade the brakes, put a diff cover on with cooling fins (like the Mag-Hytec or
'08 cover), definitely get gauges, intake, exhaust, and probably an aftermarket turbo too. Then look at tuning.

Our trucks will pull that kind of a load, but it will take its toll on parts (especially trans!). A serious pulling rig needs all of the basic mods, and a few extra to do it safely.

 

Welcome to FTE, This a great bunch of people here with infinite answers to your questions. Here's what I can tell you about my tranny. After adding the Edge programmer to my truck the increased line pressure blew my front seal on my factory reman with only bout 30k miles. After that I went to Auto Zone and purchased a new seal, made by Timken, thought it sounded like a good brand, dropped the trans and installed the seal. It turned out to be the grey silicone seal which from what madvan said the blue and grey seals dont handle the heat the way the the black viton seal does. Well I did'nt know it at the time but first gear was going out, and after about 25 miles of driving I got a flashing O.D. light. got home and the seal with 25 miles on it was leaking. I ran the codes for the blinking O.D. light and it was a transmission overheat code. So I went to napa and bought the ATP seal (viton) Napa p/N# 1-6455 thinking that would do it. But first had to check trans fluid level to see how much fluid was actually lost. turned out to be bout 9 quarts. Now I was beginning to see I had a big problem, top off the fluid and took er for a drive and no first gear without manually shifting. Thats when I called John Woods and came to the determination that first was gone. Im getting lengthy here so to cut it short use the viton seal if you are replacing your front seal. If you have the time and tools try and do it yourself and save $450 dollars in 4 hours of labor dropping the trans because there's more to it than just pulling the pan you have to pull the whole trans. I agree with joe, I should've just got the John Woods trans first instead of replacing the seal to find out all that labor had to be done over again. Here's a link for some more reading on the John Woods Trans Ford Super Duty 4R100 Transmission - Four Wheeler Magazine

 

The fluid seemed to be coming out of the torque convertor bottom cover. If it was comming out of the overfill tube on top then where would it be flowing down to? I am planning on installing a larger cooler but haven't yet. As for pulling the trailer it does great. I have installed an ARE Airade stage 2 cold air intake and Silverline 4'' exhaust. I have also installed a Bullydog 6 position 4 bank chip that I turn down to 50 HP increase when pulling the trailer( as the instructions said to when hauling over 7500 lb's). I am planning on a transmission upgrade aswell but haven't decided on which one yet. I've narrowed it down to either the ATS with the torque lock convertor or the one from BTS. The BTS has a 2 year warrenty and the ATS has a 5 year 500,000 mile warrenty. Does anyone have a prefference.

 

BTS all the way. Much, much better product.

Your front seal is what is causing the leak like mentioned before. You need to remove the tranny to get to it.

 

That is the written warranty. BTS has taken care of clients AFTER the time is up. Not sure what the limitations are on the ATS trans as far as chipping it goes. I was told once but I forgot. Anyways, BTS will not care what you use it for, even snow plowing is warrantied. He will tell you that it is the last one you are paying for,

 

i read somewhere on here that ATS will void there warranty if you use someone Else's chip,only there chip you can use.

 

Not sure but I think they removed that. However, there are still a lot of clauses in it. BTS has no real clauses. I'm sure if you shot it, he probably won't warranty it if he sees bullet holes in it. But, OTOH, knowing him, he'd probably scold you and just fix it.

 

Hey Warhippie, where in Ky are you? I'm in the northern Ky area, near Alexandria.

 

must be in the water. mine isnt leaking but i just had the trans light in the dash turn on after blowing the doors off a tard in a civic. im organizing my funds to make the trip to get a BTS. i already looked for someone selling one but no luck right now.......

 

He could send it to you and you have it installed locally. He didn't care that my installer was a Ford Tech working After Hours. IOW, it doesn't have to go thru a licensed dealer.