Another A4LD thread

[Shran]

I dunno about the Superior kit, I saw a number of people said the TransGo kit was better so that’s the direction I went. Also TransGo has good customer support. I did all of the A4LD mods I could while I was at it, then tightened the bands. It was a night and day difference for me.

I can't remember why I picked the Superior one now. I just looked and the 4R55E kits from TransGo & Superior are totally different. Same with the A4LD ones. It makes a guy wonder which one is better & why. Can you do both, what if there is conflicting information? Just seems like both companies have some science behind their kits and you'd have to know your way around transmissions really well and if not, it might as well just be their own opinion on what's better.

I tried the band adjustment too, no major change. Had a transmission shop look at it and they had the truck for 3 weeks, ultimately said it had low line pressure that gets lower as the fluid warms up but had no idea why, their suggestion was a $4000 rebuild. Parts stores have reman transmissions for about half that with a better warranty. Figured I'd go that route. If that wasn't an option, for $4000 I will try it myself and have the budget to mess it up several times & still come out ahead!

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I can't remember why I picked the Superior one now. I just looked and the 4R55E kits from TransGo & Superior are totally different. Same with the A4LD ones. It makes a guy wonder which one is better & why. Can you do both, what if there is conflicting information? Just seems like both companies have some science behind their kits and you'd have to know your way around transmissions really well and if not, it might as well just be their own opinion on what's better.

I tried the band adjustment too, no major change. Had a transmission shop look at it and they had the truck for 3 weeks, ultimately said it had low line pressure that gets lower as the fluid warms up but had no idea why, their suggestion was a $4000 rebuild. Parts stores have reman transmissions for about half that with a better warranty. Figured I'd go that route. If that wasn't an option, for $4000 I will try it myself and have the budget to mess it up several times & still come out ahead!

I went with TransGo mostly based on recommendations from the Explorer forums. They said there is some parts crossover between the kits, but Superior includes overdrive springs that can’t be installed without tearing the transmission apart. They said you can do both kits but it’s not really worth it unless you are tearing he transmission apart. Couple other places recommended TransGo too and everyone said they had great customer support. I did a deep dive into whatever I could find and threw a few hundred in parts at it. I did the works, shift kit, O-ring end seals, drilled out as close to max as I could everything that was recommended, did the shifter corrector thing, etc. Took about a month of driving it for everything to settle in and then it was great.

I’m no transmission expert by a long shot, but a drop in line pressure makes me wonder. I almost think I saw mention of that somewhere but I don’t remember the particulars. Pump, pressure regulator, vacuum regulator, separator plate/gasket… something along those lines.

 

[Shran]

Me either. Too many fingers have been in that pie IMO is my conclusion at the moment.

I'm tempted to order the ATSG 4R55E book, the pump alignment tool and a stack of parts & go through it myself. Just don't know if I want to commit that much time to it.

 

[RobbieD]

Well, finally get parts and time to put the valve body back in. I'm putting the bolts into the vb finger tight and while doing so realize that I have 2 30mm bolts not 1...

It could very well have gotten the wrong bolt at the assembly plant. Even at the modern auto transmission assembly plant that I just retired from, humans still load the bolts, whether into the automated assembly machines' hoppers, or by hand individually into the various bores for a machine to then run them down and torque them all.

Wrong bolts at the factory do happen, but modern assembly equipment can detect and reject a non-spec bolt, before and during the process. I'm just not sure what the state of the art in assembly equipment was back in 1994.

It's very rare, but I have seen the equipment in my plant fail to detect some wrong too-long bolts, which actually broke the cast aluminum transmission case to smithereens when they were ran down and bottomed out.

Definitely use the bolt length that's called for in the specs.

 

[jballard81]

I would probably button up what ya got done so far and make your 5 speed swap decision before spending another dime on the auto.

this is 100% where I'm at . Not another dime until I know where I'm at with the transmission. Then I'll go from there. Hope to have some time tomorrow to get it slapped back together

 

[jballard81]

It could very well have gotten the wrong bolt at the assembly plant. Even at the modern auto transmission assembly plant that I just retired from, humans still load the bolts, whether into the automated assembly machines' hoppers, or by hand individually into the various bores for a machine to then run them down and torque them all.

Wrong bolts at the factory do happen, but modern assembly equipment can detect and reject a non-spec bolt, before and during the process. I'm just not sure what the state of the art in assembly equipment was back in 1994.

It's very rare, but I have seen the equipment in my plant fail to detect some wrong too-long bolts, which actually broke the cast aluminum transmission case to smithereens when they were ran down and bottomed out.

Definitely use the bolt length that's called for in the specs.

It's a possibility, I did some research and found at least a couple of other similar incidents. I already picked up a new m6 x 40mm flanged hex head bolt along with some high tack for the pan gasket.

 

[jballard81]

Well, got vb in with the correct length bolts. Everything got the torque wrench. Used high tack permatex on the trans pan gasket (that's nice stuff) and then tossed in 3 qts of ATF like the manual says and gave it 30 or so minutes to work it's way down.

Came back and checked it cold and it was in the right cold range and figured it was time.

Turned the truck on, let it warm up a few minutes and then tried shifting into reverse.

And... Nothing. It didn't shift. I tried shifting into drive and nothing.

It's dark and I'm tired of crawling underneath it today. I'm open for any tips on what to check when I get time tomorrow!

 

[jballard81]

Since it's not shifting at all... Maybe I messed up here?

That's how it looked coming out. That could have totally moved with the z-bar thing and I could have put the arm thing back in the wrong spot...

But assuming I didn't try to move it out of park, there's no reason that would have moved right?

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

If I remember correctly, you have to shift from drive to reverse a few times and check the fluid. I ended up dumping like 6 quarts or so down my 92 before it got happy, then another quart or two while driving it for the first month.

 

[jballard81]

If I remember correctly, you have to shift from drive to reverse a few times and check the fluid. I ended up dumping like 6 quarts or so down my 92 before it got happy, then another quart or two while driving it for the first month.

Good memory! After shifting through the gears a few times, i checked again and there was nothing on the dipstick. i added 1/2 a quart at a time, shifted through the gears and then checked the level. When i got to ~4.5 quarts, i felt it shift into reverse!

kept doing this until it seemed like it doesn't want to take anymore (~5.5 quarts total)
shifting is still slow, but it seems to go into each gear. seems like i still have more to do to get some possible air pockets out of the system. but she went into reverse and moved a few inches!

 

[RobbieD]

but she went into reverse and moved a few inches!

Alive! It's ALIVE!

 

[jballard81]

More good news! took it for a spin around the block and while it's definitely working through what i guess is air in the system, it shifted up to 3rd gear relatively smoothly. there's currently no seat belts in it or i would have tried it out somewhere it can go over 25... just glad it's moving again lol

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

More good news! took it for a spin around the block and while it's definitely working through what i guess is air in the system, it shifted up to 3rd gear relatively smoothly. there's currently no seat belts in it or i would have tried it out somewhere it can go over 25... just glad it's moving again lol

Yeah, I did the purge procedure but it still took about a month of driving to get all of the air worked out. I was starting to worry about how long it was taking when it finally smoothed out and stayed that way. Glad to hear you got it going though!

 

[jballard81]

Update time!
So I took it out to a bigger road today. It still likes to pop out of gear when it's first started, presumably bc of air in the system still. No biggie.

First through third gear feel good and shift pretty firmly. When accelerating to highway speeds, if I give it consistent gas it gets up to 60 or so smoothly. However, when the rpms drop under 2k to coast, then give it gas again to accelerate (I assume within the OD gear?) it shudders, not what I would consider a chug. Almost like what death wobble feels like, but it's not coming from the drive shaft.

If I give it gas, above 2k rpms it typically accelerates smoothly up to speed again. It's when I coast at highway speeds and then need to give it gas to maintain speed.

I'm realizing with all the vb work, I never checked or replaced the vacuum regulator. I also skipped the band adjustments because I was tired of crawling underneath it. I'm sure it could also be that the OD solenoid is wore out.

Honestly, other than the OD part, it feels pretty nice. I will investigate the vacuum regulator and get around to doing the band adjustments and maybe those will help.

I'm pretty excited that it works at all really, I was stressed that I messed something up with the shift kit!