A4LD Dropped Modulator Pin Inside

[Demersus]

Merry Christmas everyone.

I have a problem resulting from my own carelessness. I was replacing the vacuum modulator on the A4LD in my '90 Ranger Custom. I failed to use some grease to secure the pin in the modulator before attempting to insert it. And of course, the pin slipped out and fell inside the bore dropped down into the transmission through a port that comes up from below. I have not been able to retrieve it and am not sure how far down it fell.

I pulled off the pan to see if I could access it, but no luck. It looks like I might need to pull off the valve body. But in looking at some diagrams and youtube videos, I'm not even sure I'll be able to retrieve the pin with the valve body removed. I'm hoping I won't need to fully disassemble the transmission to get it out.

If you have any experience with this I would really appreciate some advise.

Thanks,

demersus

 

[mplummer08]

Removing the valve body would work to get to it. Before you try that, have you tried a magnetic retrieval tool to lift it out if possible?

Sent from my SPH-L720T using Tapatalk

 

[Demersus]

I have tried with a small magnetic probe, but it's just too tight of a turn downward for me to get it in there far enough. I will make another attempt before actually pulling the VB, perhaps by magnetizing a thin, bendable steel rod like a clothes hanger or something.

I read another post yesterday about a guy who found what appeared to be the pin for the modulator in his pan during a filter change. That makes me wonder if the pin could even make it all the way down to the pan. If so, perhaps I can blow compressed air through the modulator bore to see if I can get it to move along the passage and drop down somewhere.

Also, having taken a closer look yesterday I wonder if pulling just the rear servo will be enough. It's not totally clear though because none of the diagrams I have seen show enough detail of the porting in the main housing. But, the rear server needs to come out if I need to pull the VB anyway, so I guess I'll see what I see then.

 

[Transman304]

The pin can be retrieved by removing valve body. You will find it on top of the separator plate. You should be able to just loosen all VB bolts with out removing them completely and let th VB drop down enough to get the pin out.good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Demersus]

Thanks for the help guys. I'll work on it later today and let you know what I find. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!