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What Should I Do?


Dweano

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Well I spent the spare days I had over the winter off school swapping a V8 into my Ranger, alot of money later and alot of time later...I get it running...drove it maybe 5kms in total (working out bugs)...and now the tranny is effed. Tried to fix it... nope. Ask the experts...and she is likely effed up. $1600 to fix...

Back story: I had a 4.0L with a 4R55E...which I eventually blew (which I accept full responsibility for, big tires and low gears), so I bought a 5R55E to swap in...spend some time and money on that and....it was a piece of shit, flared between shifts, dropped outta overdrive (also due to the big tires and underpowered engine).. so I said screw it I am dropping in a V8 powertrain...

So I did that and now I am back to square one. Except minus a couple thousand dollars and a couple hundred hours.

I am so frustrated I want to sell it...except I would never get anything near what I would want (of course)

I think in the past two years I have drove it maybe...150kms tops in total.

Its a nice truck...here is a pic:





What should I do: swap in a manual? How hard is that? Roll the dice with a junkyard engine? Any suggestions are welcome as I am bummed out...

P.S. Oh it is a 96 Ranger, with powertrain from a 96 Explorer, tranny is a 4R70W
 
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adsm08

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Do you know what is wrong with the trans? The 4R70W is pretty simple. Might be worth just rebuilding it yourself.
 

jwestra

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swap in an m5r2! from an f150 v6 4.2 i got on behind mine and love it!
 

Dweano

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Do you know what is wrong with the trans? The 4R70W is pretty simple. Might be worth just rebuilding it yourself.
I don't, I was sure it was the solendoids but that didn't help...so I cracked down and bought a new valvebody...so I am waiting for that to get here. If that doesn't work I at least have new solenoids and valvebody in case I do find another one that will work

swap in an m5r2! from an f150 v6 4.2 i got on behind mine and love it!
I should...how hard was it? Does it bolt up to the 5.0L? Bolt up to a transfer case? Driveshafts??
 

adsm08

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Does it bolt up to the 5.0L? Bolt up to a transfer case? Driveshafts??
Well, there is a reason that is the preferred manual trans for the 5.0 swap.:icon_thumby:
 

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The 4R70W is a strong, reliable trans, I'll go as far as to say stronger than the M5OD, and I'm speaking from experience. SVT was running 32's with the stock 4.0 and 4r55e, it went at 90k miles and again at 160k miles after a full rebuild was done, at which point is when I bought it. I swapped in a 5R55E from a 99 explorer that had only 58k (was a rollover, I bought and drove the entire ex), drove it about 60k miles, and started having slippage issues, so its then that I decided to do my V8 swap, not cause I needed/wanted more power, but I wanted more trans reliability. I've only put about 10k miles on it since, only cause shortly after it became my dedicated wheeler. My sport trac underwent the same treatment, I use that thing like a 1 ton truck, pulling way more than I should (13k lbs a total of 550 miles round trip) and still runs and drives strong.
Heat is the number 1 killer of automatic transmissions, so make sure you have proper cooling. If it were me, I'd find a good rebuild kit and go through it (as said, they are pretty simple)...

SVT
 

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The 4R70W is stronger than the M5OD... there is a reason they only hung the M5OD behind the 4.2 and 4.6 in the F-series.

But there is much less to go wrong with an M5. Cooling is a non issue which is huge. But the trade off for that is a dry clutch vs a bunch of wet clutches.

In my quest for OD I am going M5OD. I have a fullsize (that has a 4R70W) and thus have no need to try to make my Ranger a second tow pig.

What is your trans doing?
 

adsm08

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I will agree, the 4R70W is stronger. Autos are always stronger than manuals of similar use. They don't have to take the shock of clutch engagement, they have their gears in constant mesh, overall more surface area grabbing.

But as said, more to go wrong.

I prefer manual myself for many reasons, but the big one is that if it breaks it's easier for me to fix.
 

Dweano

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I too went for a V8 swap for better trans reliability...some good that did. Swapped the valve body today...same damn thing...

P-Park
R-Reverse
N-Neutral
D-Neutral (almost revs higher than idle???)
2-Same as D
1-REVERSE!!!

Wtf... I guess I could try to rebuild. Even getting it unhooked from the engine and transfer case will be enough work...lotsa stuff attached and in the way.
 

RangerSVT

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This is not a common problem with this transmission. I'm no transmission expert by any means, but i do know the 4R70W is a very reliable trans. If you do decide to rebuild, make sure to have the converter either rebuilt or replaced...

SVT
 

adsm08

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The forward clutch isn't applying.

The forward clutch is used in all the gears you don't have, and is applied along with the low/reverse band in manual 1st.

If you have access to compressed air you can drop the valve body and test the clutch with the trans still in. Put some air to it's pressure port on the case and if it thunks you don't have a trans problem, you have a control problem.. If it hisses time to tear it apart.
 

Dweano

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THANK YOU!!! I have been bouncing around forums searching for answers for alot of time! This gives me hope...

If it was a control issue how would it be fixed?? If it is messed up..how hard is it to replace/fix... I do pride myself in figuring things out but...transmissions are a scary place
 

Dweano

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Do I gotta drop the valve body?? Can't I just hook up air to the pressure port on the outside and listen?
 

Dweano

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Something interesting I noticed today: In drive (and 2) the rpms go up about 500. Like its spinning with no resistance. I have a feeling it ain't a control problem haha
 

adsm08

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You can't just hit the pressure test port. The lower part of the circuit, from the valve body up to the port, is not sealed if the solenoid isn't closed. Only right way to do it is dropping the valve body. If the clutches test ok and you have no circuit codes I would replace the valve body.

Not sure about the RPM thing.
 

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