V8 swap questions.

[scotts90ranger]

I honestly don't remember what my buddy put in mine but he's been working on transmissions for 20 years so he knows some tricks, whatever he did there was an option to let me manually shift back to first or not (I don't think you can in factory trim)... I believe it is the transgo and he probably did what LBF did...

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I honestly don't remember what my buddy put in mine but he's been working on transmissions for 20 years so he knows some tricks, whatever he did there was an option to let me manually shift back to first or not (I don't think you can in factory trim)... I believe it is the transgo and he probably did what LBF did...

The Stage 2 TransGo kit I used has a command 1st option, which will let you select 1st gear and hold it to any RPM. The danger there is that it lets you go to 1st gear whenever you want, so if you accidentally select 1st at 50 mph… bad things will happen… I decided that wasn’t necessary. I can select 1st or 2nd on the shifter as I need it.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Yep, that's the one... and it definitely holds 1st at any rpm, the tractor pull I did (first time with me doing it, the wife has done it like 3 times in the Explorer...), 1st low pinned and it held like 4500rpm...

 

[JoshT]

The Stage 2 TransGo kit I used has a command 1st option, which will let you select 1st gear and hold it to any RPM. The danger there is that it lets you go to 1st gear whenever you want, so if you accidentally select 1st at 50 mph… bad things will happen… I decided that wasn’t necessary. I can select 1st or 2nd on the shifter as I need it.

I have to wonder how that differs from the standard function of the 4R70W (or stock 4/5R transmission for that matter). I can manually shift the stock transmission into 1st or 2nd gear and run it there. Granted I haven't had any reason to do that and run it to the moon, so I don't actually know what it does if you try. Being an AWD (currently), it isn't like I can put it into 1 or 2 and power brake it. The only times that I've hit a limiter were tied to the ECU hitting a speed limiter and an idle/no-load RPM limiter, they were not related to the transmission. Well not related except for except for it being in park or neutral. There may have been a redline RPM limiter, but the 4.0L OHV never ran up high enough to hit it and with the 5.0L I don't have the place to try.

Aside from obviously needing a refresh and a shift kit, my only transmission annoyance with the 4R70W is the overdrive selector. Something in the Explorer's programming will override the OD off button. When when doing part of the remote tuning I had reason to do pulls at WOT in high gear. Because stock tuning shifted into OD too quickly, I had reason to lock it out with the OD switch. Well, as soon as the truck hits 90 it overrides the OD off switch and shifts into it anyway. There is some coding in the ECU that commands is, the tuner said that there is no way to turn it off. Normal driving this would never be an issue, if I wanted to take it drag racing (remember the goal then was lowered AWD street truck) that could be enough to make me lose every time. Being as the OD shift is computer controlled in these trucks and transmissions, it doesn't seem like there is a way for the shift kit to change that. Maybe if they were like the older Fords that had different selector positions for Drive and Overdrive?

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I have to wonder how that differs from the standard function of the 4R70W (or stock 4/5R transmission for that matter). I can manually shift the stock transmission into 1st or 2nd gear and run it there. Granted I haven't had any reason to do that and run it to the moon, so I don't actually know what it does if you try. Being an AWD (currently), it isn't like I can put it into 1 or 2 and power brake it. The only times that I've hit a limiter were tied to the ECU hitting a speed limiter and an idle/no-load RPM limiter, they were not related to the transmission. Well not related except for except for it being in park or neutral. There may have been a redline RPM limiter, but the 4.0L OHV never ran up high enough to hit it and with the 5.0L I don't have the place to try.

Aside from obviously needing a refresh and a shift kit, my only transmission annoyance with the 4R70W is the overdrive selector. Something in the Explorer's programming will override the OD off button. When when doing part of the remote tuning I had reason to do pulls at WOT in high gear. Because stock tuning shifted into OD too quickly, I had reason to lock it out with the OD switch. Well, as soon as the truck hits 90 it overrides the OD off switch and shifts into it anyway. There is some coding in the ECU that commands is, the tuner said that there is no way to turn it off. Normal driving this would never be an issue, if I wanted to take it drag racing (remember the goal then was lowered AWD street truck) that could be enough to make me lose every time. Being as the OD shift is computer controlled in these trucks and transmissions, it doesn't seem like there is a way for the shift kit to change that. Maybe if they were like the older Fords that had different selector positions for Drive and Overdrive?

The only way to get rid of that would be to ditch the factory computer and go aftermarket… more than likely.

Also, my understanding of the command 1st is that as you may or may not know, if you downshift to first but are going too fast, first doesn’t engage until you’re slow enough. It dumps you into second until your speed bleeds off stock. Well, the command 1st will drop you into 1st at any speed and will hold it there if you’re bouncing the rev limiter or not.