A4LD mods (and 4R44/4R55/5R55)

[lil_Blue_Ford]

No parts, FedEx delayed the delivery, it’s been moved to tomorrow. Figured out that I didn’t have reverse servo O-rings but had the gasket coming. Called a bunch of transmission shops, most didn’t answer. One of the bigger ones answered and when I asked for the parts they told me they don’t sell parts and pretty much hung up on me. Called AAMCO of all places and they said they didn’t sell parts and I explained my problem, they told me they would check in the back. Came back and said they were pretty sure they had the O-rings so I ran down there and got them. Asked how much and they said no charge.

Got home and dropped the pan, it’s dripping now. Not sure how concerned I should be that there was no magnet in the pan and the fluid that poured out was clean red but there’s a pretty good metallic sludge in the pan. Not sure if maybe I should leave that go back in or clean everything out, or just put it back the way it was and pretend I didn’t see anything

 

[Dirtman]

Clean the pan, put a magnet back in, change the fluid again in 500 miles, check it and if it's good refill and ignore it.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

And so it begins…

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Due to some delays, I’m only about 2/3 done with the valve body. But it’s progress. Been trying to take some pictures and video as much as I can. I’ll have to stitch all the clips together because I’m not really set up to video what I do very well. Hopefully I can get it all done and back together tomorrow.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

So it’s together. Still have to work out some issues, went from not enough fluid to too much, so I’m still working on getting that balanced out. It will randomly hang in gear or give a particularly hard shift. And I think I’m getting some minor slipping. Thinking perhaps the bands need a little adjustment. Went through the ATSG manual but I’m not seeing anything on band adjustment, or I’m just blind. So it’s not perfect and has some weird cranky issues BUT….

Even with the issues, it’s WAY better than before. I’ve never had an RBV with an automatic that shifted this good. Smooth, crisp, no lag. Very well worth it in my opinion. Hopefully getting the fluid level right and adjusting the bands will get it squared away. I will say that the more I drove it the better it’s gotten and it seems to be stabilizing now. Guessing that’s from working air out of all the passages.

 

[Dirtman]

I have the manual for the 4R/5R that has the band adjustment procedure, It's gotta be the same if not close for the A4LD. Lemme see if I can find it.

 

[Dirtman]

And for some reason after digging through it, there's also no band adjustment procedure in my manual either.

 

[Dirtman]

Found these two threads though...

band adjustment A4LD

How do you adjust the bands on a 92 A4LD, I have a little slipping an I haven't done the for a while Thanks in advance, Dave

www.therangerstation.com

How do you adjust transmission bands?

I have a 1995 3.0L automatic that once in a while won't slip into "D" after backing out into the road from the driveway. I remember reading that sometimes there is an adjustment to the "bands" that will help. Anyone have a how-to to get this done? Any way to properly diagnose that this is the...

www.therangerstation.com

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Found these two threads though...

band adjustment A4LD

How do you adjust the bands on a 92 A4LD, I have a little slipping an I haven't done the for a while Thanks in advance, Dave

www.therangerstation.com

How do you adjust transmission bands?

I have a 1995 3.0L automatic that once in a while won't slip into "D" after backing out into the road from the driveway. I remember reading that sometimes there is an adjustment to the "bands" that will help. Anyone have a how-to to get this done? Any way to properly diagnose that this is the...

www.therangerstation.com

Thank you for that. Don’t suppose anyone knows how to tell if you have a single wrap or double wrap band without tearing the trans apart, lol

 

[Dirtman]

Thank you for that. Don’t suppose anyone knows how to tell if you have a single wrap or double wrap band without tearing the trans apart, lol

No idea lol. But if it helps, here's this?

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

So I’m almost a week into having this and I still haven’t worked out the issues due to lack of time and agreeable weather, however I have been driving it and I still marvel at how nice it is. When I do finally get to turn my attention back to my 88 it’s definitely getting the modified valve body. I never want to have an un modified auto RBV again. I’m thinking once I get everything resolved from this and my engine swap I want to get a mild tune on the computer and it will be a sweet little ride. Not that it isn’t already nice, just nothing I own stays stock for long, lol

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

So, I still can’t get over how this thing performs now! Despite the limited slip rear it will light up the tires if I’m too hard on the throttle from a stop. Not really used to that. If I’m WOT, it wants to hang the 1-2 shift unless you back off a little. WOT 2-3 shift is perfect. Haven’t investigated that yet. Pretty much all of the other random issues that I got after first putting it back together are gone.

Got the intermediate band adjusted but the overdrive band the adjuster was rusted. Damaged my cheap spline drive socket on it. Have to try running a thread chaser down it and see if I can clean it up enough to work.

Not sure when I’ll get to the video stuff, maybe this winter. Transmission parts supplier never responded about my questions. Still need to post up my final parts list, there was a couple things in the picture of parts that weren’t really needed and some things that were. Maybe today I can at least get to that.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

So, the truck ended up totaled in an accident that really shouldn’t have happened. No fault of the transmission though. I’m finally getting to be somewhat functional so I’m going to try to spend a little time working on finishing all this information. Maybe I can make a tech article or something out of it. Going to take me a bit though

 

[Lostmy65]

When these transmissions get rebuilt, do they solve the issues with the vulnerability of these auto transmissions in this generation Ranger. In other words, if these stock trannies tend to fail in the 150,000 miles range, are they just as prone to fail around that same milage again, or are the weaknesses of these trannies fixed also?
Thanks, Robert

 

[Shran]

When these transmissions get rebuilt, do they solve the issues with the vulnerability of these auto transmissions in this generation Ranger. In other words, if these stock trannies tend to fail in the 150,000 miles range, are they just as prone to fail around that same milage again, or are the weaknesses of these trannies fixed also?
Thanks, Robert

That is highly dependent on the skill and knowledge of your transmission guy. My wife's '95 has 89k on it and the trans failed at some point prior to that (her grandpa had it rebuilt when he owned the truck.) I doubt he put many miles on it but it doesn't shift like it should. I think the guy who worked on it was a moron.