Ok, so my 92 f250 5.8 Auto Transmission has been towing nearly every single mile of its life. I reckon one of these days its gonna go boom. The first 120k miles of its life it was pretty much used to tour the U.S. towing a fifth wheel. Currently, the last 15k miles its been towing anywhere between 3,000-5,500 lbs every single day. I am interested in doing some work on this truck in my downtime next winter (I'm a Commercial Landscaper). I was thinking of tearing out the engine and freshening it up, cams, better heads, headers, exhaust, .030 overbore, rods, pistons, rings etc... At the same time, I was going to have a looksie at the transmission and see what kinda shape it is in, seeing as how I'm thinking of adding at least a good 175 hp to get it around to 350 hp at the wheels and about the same in torque. So seeing all the towing I do and the added power, I'm wondering if the abysmal E40D tranny will hold up. Also, thinking of switching to 4wd components if I were to do so...most of the money in that swap is in the transmission. So what are my options? I figure something else has to fit that's better, I am not talking about some uber expensive transmission, somewhere in the neighborhood of a rebuilt E40D.

 

If you want a stronger transmission than the E4OD then you have the choice of a built E4OD or a ZF manual, assuming you want to keep overdrive. And if you really do build a motor that strong you will also need to upgrade the EFI and fuel delivery systems because the existing parts won't support it.

 

Anyone have any experience using a built E4OD here? I want to retain my automatic transmission. I know the E4OD is not exactly fords best transmission, if I went with a built one, would it be reliable, or would the defects still be present? I did figure I would need to upgrade more than the transmission to support the extra power. There is a lot I didn't mention that I know I will need.

 

actually the E4OD tranny is a great transmission but like any other auto tranny it has heat problems what i would do is put a shift kit in your existing tranny if it is E4OD and add a transmission cooler also maybe another torque converter but idk about that

 

How does one going about installing a shift kit? Ive heard of them all the time, but this is my first automatic transmission ever. What company and type should I use for towing? What about the trans cooler, any particular transmission cooler? I should check and see if I can find one installed already, aren't they mounted up front by the radiator? Thanks.

 

Your plans for the truck sound good, but you really need to think about your budget before you finalize your plans. Like Paul said you are going to need to upgrade quite a few other things along the way, including the fuel system and you're going to end up swapping to mass air too.

The E4OD can handle the power you're talking about but a stock rebuild is going to cost you about $2500 to $3000 depending on what hard parts it needs. If you start upgrading a few things here and there expect the cost to go up.

And you're talking about a 4x4 conversion too, so let me just toss this out there for you: How about buying a new truck with a 460, automatic, four wheel drive? Wouldn't it be a lot easier than doing all this work and spending all this money on a truck with that many miles on it?

 

well it would be cheaper for me to buy a 4x4 too but i am converting my truck from 2wd to 4wd because of sentimental value

 

135k miles isn't bad, trying to find a truck here with no rust is harder, hardest is trying to find on here that hasnt been modded to hell with big tires and offroaded to no end. Its a good condition long bed, reg cab with vinyl interior, good work truck. We have a lot of tweekers with too much cash and not enough sense. Its humboldt county. Also, I have a dump bed installed in it, sure it only takes a couple hours to uninstall and maybe 3 hours to reinstall it, but still. Also, why would I buy a truck with only slightly more power but with the same unreliable stock transmission? Plus, the cost of taxes and registration on another truck. I would be in the same position? I am in this truck for 900$. Secondly, Ive seen a million places with rebuilt E40D's for around 1200 and some "performance" ones for 1700. I figure most of the work on this truck I will do myself...save for building the trasmission. If it truly will cost that much, I would not do it. Im trying to avoid having to buy a new/newer truck.

 

I just put a TransGo shift kit in my E4OD and while the instructions left much to be desired, the install was not too bad. You drop the pan, then unbolt and drop various components. You swap out some springs, move the position of a few check *****, and add a new plate. You have to drill out some holes in the supplied plate to various sizes, depending on how hard you want it to shift. Having a good assortment of drill bits will save you from running to the store mid-project. This is also a good time to install the transmission pan from the 4R100 (and re-usable pan gasket), which is a direct replacement for the E4OD one, but has a drain plug.

Here is what the removed transmission parts look like:



I had a rebuilt E4OD transmission and new torque converter installed from a reputable shop, they had me on my way the same day and charged me right around $1800. I would imagine that is a reasonable cost for a rebuilt E4OD. When I was researching performance rebuilds, I think the really heavy duty ones were still under $3k.

The difference between the 2wd and 4wd E4OD is just the length of the output shaft and the tail housing, so there should not be a price difference if you need a new transmission anyway. However, I would not agree that most of the cost of a 4wd swap is in the transmission. There are many things that you will need to get and/or change on your vehicle, so I would research that topic (tons of threads on this site) to get an idea on what is involved.

Dave

 

If you want the best valve body or a fully built E4OD contact Paul @ lightning2fast@aol.com. This is Paul from Paul's Clutchboxes. He builds custom valve bodies and complete E4OD transmissions. Very well known in the Lightning crowd as well as Full Size Bronco dot com. He has a sale going on now for his valve bodies with free shipping. Much easier than fooling around with the "shift-kit" products.

If you really want to build a truck with 350 RWHP you are going to need a worked over E4OD. Paul is my first choice.

 

Thanks a ton. So...a built E40D sounds like my best option. Is this something I can try to do myself? If a full rebuild is out of my reach perhaps I can aim for less whp and just do a HD transmission cooler, shift kit and/or valve body upgrade? What is the recommended maximum hp/tq I should put to this E40D with those modifications? More than half my mileage is highway, the rest is filled with start/stops every half hour all day long when I go from yard to yard. I have a lot of mechanical knowledge...but nothing about auto trannies. Ive done a headgasket...radiators...water pumps..starters...and helped with an engine rebuild.

 

I know some of the Lightning guys pushing over 300 RWHP on E4ODs running valve body upgrades only. That is pushing the limits IMHO. Later version E4ODs received some internal upgrades that make them more desirable in higher HP applications. Rebuilding your own E4OD is not impossible, but it is something you should take an objective view of. Take a look at this link from another Forum where Paul is a vendor: 89-96 E4OD products from Paul's ClutchBoxes

You may find his fully built transmissions maybe a viable alternative by the time you factor in your time, tools and hard parts that WILL need upgraded to the later version (post-'95)

 

my truck ate up and spit out 3 e40d trannys and my c6 is the one im sticking with for my truck

 

General rule of thumb on any project:
add up the cost everything you think you'll need, then times it by 3.
Don't believe me? Find out for yourself.

Not trying to discourage you. I love to see people put money into these old trucks and post there results on here.

 

You seem to like to talk about this misnomer that the C6 is is an upgrade to the E4OD. Can you explain? What exactly are you breaking in the E4OD?