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Last Wednesday I got on the freeway headed north with my car trailer in tow. About 12 miles my truck started to lose speed with the RPM increasing as I was going down a long grade. Then the truck died while I was pulling off of the road. I got out and found tranny fluid streaming out of the bell housing to block flange. Checked dipstick; nothing. Called up the local Napa. They brought me 24 qts of LV Fluid. $232. Later I dumped 7 qts in to move the truck so a friend could take the trailer home. Tow truck came, loaded it up under its own power peeing fluid out.
Had to move vehicles around at home to get my truck up on the lift. I pulled the tranny. Pain in the butt. Had to remove the Starter and Oil Filter housing. The truck is at the max for my lifts Capacity. I had to get another Harbor Freight lift stand to support the engine as well as both the front and rear of the truck. Arms of the lift show som strain. Bottom of the truck was covered in oil.
Upon the tranny removal found that the Torque Converter's snout was scored and the front pump's bearing was destroyed. That is one heavy long son of a gun with the transfer case attached. Bell Housing was full of fluid. Heck of a mess.
Today I separated the transmission from the transfer case. I pulled the pan and found some fuss on the original big magnet and the 3 additional smaller ones I glued to the pan by the drain plug. There was no heavy Sludge found in the bottom. So am I Lucky or will I have to by a new transmission?
I am thinking all I need is a new front pump and torque converter. Time to upgrade. Ford has front pump's available for $800. The Torque Converter is zero balance. No ship date available. I will call Rudy's for one torque converter. The pump can be rebuilt but 2 to 3 week wait.
I did research but could not find anyone here with similar issue. My question is why did that bearing lose lubercation and the seal fail and puke out the fluid?
Its a gamble. Anytime there is bearing failure or metal transfer in a hydraulic system there is a good possibility of future issues if you dont at a minimum teardown to clean and inspect. That being said you very well may get away with replaceing the pump and coverter and throwing it back together. If that is the route you choose I recommend a service (drop pan and change filter and fluid) within 1k miles incase there is debirs inside the trans that gets sent through the system. Just dont be all too surprised if it has any issues after reassembly if you choose not to teardown and inspect.
Sucks to hear it wasn't as simple as corroded trans lines. How many miles?
125,000. About 65,000 since her weight loss. I installed the BD pressure servo at 80,000 mile mark. The second drain and filter change she had. First was at 50,000 miles.
I tow a 15,500lb boat a few times a year 200 miles each way to the ocean, as well to the local waters.
Western Washington doesn't have the salt issues that the north east and mid west states do. This truck has seldom got her tires dipped in the salt to launch the boat. My 05 Dodge showed salt damage from launching the old boat. I had to at times get all 4 tires into the water to launch at the local park. I can't launch the new boat there. Too big.
As to the flush and filter. The transmission is empty of fluid now. As is the torque converter. I will install a filter. Tuesday morning I will order parts; pump, converter, and deep pan. I use Wix Filters except in the truck's oil and fuel filters. Supposedly proprietary Ford Technology that Wix doesn't have. Wix and Napa Gold made by Wix since the late 80's when I raced stock cars in So Georgia at Thunderbowl Speedway. Race car used a powerglide tranny with no Torque converter. Just a drive connector to the pump and a valve to port the fluid. I learned how to R&R and Rebuild PG transmission. $48 for the kit. Would smoke the unit after about 4 weeks running. Heat from the headers dumping on the unit and running the unit in low gear, not in drive was the cause of it's short life.
Still looking for the reason for the bearing failure on the 6R140.
Ordered up a new Torque Converter. Aftermarket. The Suncoast 1700 stall Stage 1 was zero balance. Went with what the counterman at Randy's Off-road said they sell a few of. Will here Friday.
Took the front pump to Ed's Transmission in Marysville, WA. Asked them to inspect it. Replace the" timkin" (sp) bearing and install a new seal that I gave him. He called later to say that the gears and housing were gouged. He had another used pump he could sell me. He will install the bearing and seal.
Plan on installing the pump then clean the case up. The aluminum case is somewhat corroded. Hopefully a Alumabrite acid wash will get it clean enough to pain-t.
Still looking for the reason of WHY the pump lost it's bearing and puked the oil out. Anyone else have this issue. Again only light fuzz on the magnets. No heavy black material in the pan like it seem in the GM and Ford transmission pans I have dropped to change fluid on.
Not in stock. Would take a couple of days to build then shop by truck from Florida to Western Washington. 2 week timeframe or more for my use. Stage 2 with a 1900rpm Stall was available but would not be good for my application.
Stall speed is the speed at which the converter holds back or limits the engine speed if the transmission output is prohibited. When your torque converter prevents the power transfer from your engine to your transmission, it increases the engine’s RPM stalls. For example, when you press down on your gas pedal, the stall speed is the gap between where your vehicle ideals and begins to move. The more stall speed you have, the more pressure you have to put on the gas pedal before your car begins to move.
Okay @goatram since you know your way around transmissions (and I do not but just did some reading on Suncoast's website), I'm going to throw this out there.
Here's their Cat 1 450 HP 6R140 with torque converter... with this being $700 more than the HD towing trans.
Here's the HD towing build parts; Kit contains the following:
- All new Carbon Graphitic clutches
- All new custom machined steels
- Improved heavy duty 4-5-6 Overdrive Clutch pack
- Increased overdrive clutch count
- Custom machined Overdrive apply piston
- New Bushings
- New Transmission Pump
- New Filter
- Guardian Torque Converter
And here's the Cat 1 450 HP build list; Kit contains the following:
- All new Carbon Graphitic clutches
- All new custom machined steels
- Improved heavy duty 4-5-6 Overdrive Clutch pack
- Increased overdrive clutch count
- Custom machined Overdrive apply piston
- New Gasket, Seal, & O'ring sealing kit
- New Transmission Filter Kit
- New pump bearing
- Guardian torque Converter
And from the details of the Cat 450 HP trans,
"This kit is a base rebuild kit using the SunCoast clutch and steel recipes along with a new pump bushing which has been an issue for quite some time with the 6R140. This rebuild kit also includes the filter, overhaul kit, and all the gaskets. This is an ideal kit for someone looking to rebuild a factory stock vehicle with improved frictions and steels to improve longevity in the transmission.
The Pump Bushing
The factory pump on the 6R140 often suffers a loss of lubrication pressure at the converter hub support pump bearing due to failure of the bearing seal. When the bearing itself fails catastrophic failure can and will occur. This new bearing restores normal operation and integrity back to the pump."
Now... I'm just a guy who reads a lot but that sounds like what happened to you, correct? So it may seem that what happened to you can and does happen to these transmissions then, correct? And I'll assume the machining of the new pump to fit in the HD bearing and maybe other parts is where the $700 comes from...
I bought just the torque converter and a used pump to hopefully repair my truck. If you do a search like I did you would not find much of what you just posted about the converter. If it's wide spread as Suncoast is stating where are the threads.
My question was why did it happen. Talk to Andrew at Ed's Transmission and he said the weak link is the Converter. Never heard that Sir! Education is a cool thing. When I was into Rams. Their issue was a thrust washer in their trannies.
Our trucks have the Bosch pumps, Death Wobble, EGR Cooler as some of their issues. I've had 3 F350's. 2 of them had the failed/clogged Copper issue. Ford repaired both. This truck they also had to replace the big **** catalytic converter 2 days after the cooler was replaced. Both trucks and a friend's had the issue around 45,000 miles.
I would have just replaced the seal and not the pump and converter if I just watched the one YouTube video that described my issue. Another said to take both the pump and converter into a shop for inspection.
I still like doing my own work. $145. an hour takes a bite out of my fishing funds. Sure would be nice if like working on Aircraft I could walk in and order parts and install said parts Shotgun Style. That is one of the reasons I hangout and lurk here.
The price of that tranny you linked is $7,348.
The rebuild kit is around $2200 stage 1 minus the Converter.
Stage 2 is around $4595 with the Torque Converter for the stage 2 requirements.
I bought just the torque converter and a used pump to hopefully repair my truck. If you do a search like I did you would not find much of what you just posted about the converter. If it's wide spread as Suncoast is stating where are the threads.
My question was why did it happen. Talk to Andrew at Ed's Transmission and he said the weak link is the Converter. Never heard that Sir! Education is a cool thing. When I was into Rams. Their issue was a thrust washer in their trannies.
Our trucks have the Bosch pumps, Death Wobble, EGR Cooler as some of their issues. I've had 3 F350's. 2 of them had the failed/clogged Copper issue. Ford repaired both. This truck they also had to replace the big **** catalytic converter 2 days after the cooler was replaced. Both trucks and a friend's had the issue around 45,000 miles.
I would have just replaced the seal and not the pump and converter if I just watched the one YouTube video that described my issue. Another said to take both the pump and converter into a shop for inspection.
I still like doing my own work. $145. an hour takes a bite out of my fishing funds. Sure would be nice if like working on Aircraft I could walk in and order parts and install said parts Shotgun Style. That is one of the reasons I hangout and lurk here.
The price of that tranny you linked is $7,348.
The rebuild kit is around $2200 stage 1 minus the Converter.
Stage 2 is around $4595 with the Torque Converter for the stage 2 requirements.
Good day Sir!
Yeah those aftermarket complete transmissions are not cheap! And education is a great thing... I've learned a lot being here as well. I have a S&S DPK to install, well my buddy who's smaller and more experienced will do it in my other buddy's collusion shop with access to more tools and room inside to do it. S&S has their DCR conversion kit almost ready to ship as a plug and play for the CP4, so if mine ever did take a schitt, I'd buy the kit and not have to worry about the DPK kit anymore.
As to DW, I've been fortunate I never dealt with it on my truck but from what I've read, any truck or vehicle with a SFA can experience it. I run Centramatics on my truck and love them. So far so good with my EGR cooler as I try to minimize the idle time. I just daily drive my truck and she's paid off now. She's a keeper as it's awesome to not have that payment each month so I do what I feel will help with longevity.
Taking the info you just gave, that the converters are the weak link, I went to ATS's site and the owner gives a great presentation on that very subject.
I've been on their website before but never looked into the converters before. I have to admit, I like their patented clutch setup. I would like your insight into that...
But looking at Suncoast's converters, it looks they have a similiar set up with their "
Quadralock captured clutch technology"
They are just over $1k more than the DPC and ATS converters...
I also went to Diesel Performance Converters site also... they have a link to a diesel forum there on their converters that you may be interested in. I saw they had a stock stall, low stall and high stall options.
