5r55E VB from Wholesale Transmission Parts?

[kumaxlt]

Just received a 5r55E VB from Wholesale Transmission Parts and I am surprised as it is full of oil. I spoke with a guy their before I ordered it and he said that the VB's were rebuilt with the upgrades and tested. I just called them a few minutes ago and spoke with another guy who said they are not rebuilt nor have any upgrades. He said they are direct from Ford and thought to have problems but in fact do not? Since these were removed from a vehicle they can not sell them as new and hence full of oil. I feel like I made a big mistake with this thing... Should I even install it? I have a 99 Explorer with 128k miles and sometimes I get the 2-3 flair up and it is slow when engaging in 1st and reverse... I am afraid to install their VB as it may be worse than the one I have...? Should I install theirs or leave mine in?

This is the one I ordered:

http://www.800700tran.com/prod.itml/icOid/80

 

[inh]

I ordered one as well, and it wasn't FULL of oil, but there was a small amount of trans fluid in and on it. I was told they are rebuilt and tested, which to me explains the oil.

I looked through mine and couldnt find anything wrong. Mine even came with the ford TSB updated blow off valve and seperator plate. I ordered the valve and correct plate for my year explorer, and will compare the new plate with the one that came with the VB to see if its the same, but I doubt it.

I've yet to hear anything bad about 800700trans, so who knows.

Pics of mine:

 

[kumaxlt]

Yours looks cleaner than mine. Where do I look to see if mine also has the "ford TSB updated blow off valve"?

I dont understand, why are you ordering a seperator plate and Valve (which valve?) if your VB came with them?

Shouldnt these just bolt in with a new VB gasket?

 

[inh]

In the second picture you can see the blow off valve, its an end plug with a hole in the middle and six holes around that. I purchased the valve kit (which is the valve, retainer, and instructions) and the seperator plate before I found the killer deal on this valve body.

I also ordered a superior shift kit, and a bunch of sonnax goodies, most of which all overlap but thats ok.

If you check the 5r55e valve body rebuild diary stickied at the top of this forum, it covers the ford TSB update.

 

[kumaxlt]

Yes, I read the diary and some other threads. I bought this VB with the intent of NOT having to rebuild it. Again, the guy I spoke with said it was rebuilt with upgrades...

So are you saying not to install the VB it unless it is rebuilt? I would have just rebuilt my old one instead of spending money on this one...

fwiw - The VB does have the blow off valve.

Thanks - I really appreciate your help and suggestions.

 

[inh]

Nothing should really require the VB being 'rebuilt' per sey, but upgrades are always good. A sonnax increased ratio boost valve, maybe a sonnax increased pressure spring. I feel that an O-ring end plug kit is helpful though probably not required.

I bought the -EZ kit for out trans, it was about $80 and includes everything listed above and more. I also got a superior kit from www.bulkpart.com

If I had to do it over again with the 800700tran valve body, having already had the Ford valve installed (mine also had the updated solenoid bracket, yours probably does as well), I would just order the boost valve, elevated pressure spring, Superior kit, and the ATSG manual for the valve body (also from Bulk Part) so I can make sure I know what I'm doing, and the correct separator plate from Ford (reference the Ford TSB information in the vb rebuild diary thread).

 

[ranger7ltr]

Regarding the valve body...

Didn't it come with the updated seperator plate as well? I thought mine already has it but I need to examine it more closely...I know the blow off valve is installed though...

 

[kumaxlt]

Didn't it come with the updated seperator plate as well? I thought mine already has it but I need to examine it more closely...I know the blow off valve is installed though...

How can we tell if it has the updated seperator plate? Also, are you rebuilding yours or installing it as it came?

 

[kumaxlt]

Nothing should really require the VB being 'rebuilt' per sey, but upgrades are always good. A sonnax increased ratio boost valve, maybe a sonnax increased pressure spring. I feel that an O-ring end plug kit is helpful though probably not required.

I bought the -EZ kit for out trans, it was about $80 and includes everything listed above and more. I also got a superior kit from www.bulklpart.com

If I had to do it over again with the 800700tran valve body, having already had the ford valve installed (mine also had the updated solenoid bracket, yours probably does as well) i would just order the boost valve, elevated pressure spring, superior kit, and ATSG manual for the valve body (also from bulk part) so I can make sure I know what I'm doing, and the correct seperator plate from ford (reference the ford tsb info in the vb rebuild diary thread)

I read that the Reverse Servo piston D-ring kit should also be installed?

 

[inh]

Didn't it come with the updated seperator plate as well? I thought mine already has it but I need to examine it more closely...I know the blow off valve is installed though...

How can we tell if it has the updated seperator plate? Also, are you rebuilding yours or installing it as it came?

It will have an updated seperator plate, because the blowoff is removed, as well as the EPC limit spring and valve thing, but the question is WHICH sperator plate does it have? Here are the correct plates to order for each specific vehicle:

Personally, I'm adding the sonnax and superior parts to mine before installing, and replacing the seperator plate with the correct part number one from the chart above, ordered via www.fastpartsnetwork.com (a site sponosr )

I read that the Reverse Servo piston D-ring kit should also be installed?

Yea the D ring kit is good to get as well (and cheap.) I do believe the Superior kit comes wtih a double lip seal for the reverse servo as well though, but the D ring kit comes with two seals, so I think it's a better way to go, since you replace both reverse servo seals with it.

 

[kumaxlt]

Wow! So... I cant just pop in this VB without knowing which plate it has. I am glad you are helping me...

So using my original plate is a bad idea because the VB has upgrades? So is their also a certain VB gasket I have to use? Seems like the VB gasket has to match up with the seperator plate? This is more confusing than I thought...

 

[inh]

Yea once you add that blow off valve, there is a spring and plug you need to remove from the top of the VB( the part the sep plate covers) you have two originally, should only be one once the ford valve is installed. Ordere the correct plate from that chart i posted, and use that when you re-install your VB after a good cleaning.

The updated sep plate has one (maybe more, but one for sure) port plugged, that was originally a spring and plunger section on the top of the VB, acting like a valve or something. That spring setup gets removed, the ford valve gets installed, and the new seperator plate has that hole plugged.

 

[kumaxlt]

It sounds like the VB gasket itself is the same no matter which seperater plate is installed?

 

[inh]

Yea, the gaskets are universal, its the plate between them that changes. Good news though, because you have a '99, your gaskets are bonded to the separator plate So just order the plate, and it will come with gaskets attached.


For what its worth, I compared the plate that came with the VB to the one I ordered that I know is the correct one for my truck, and they were the same. But since I could see that the sep plate had been used because the gaskets had the imprint of all the passageways and such of the transmission when it was bolted up, I decided to use my brand new one anyways.

 

[djh97xlt]

I ordered one of these and a new wiring harness about a week ago and it hasn't arrived. Do not have any advice. I'm new to the explorer and still learning. Keep us posted on how this goes.

I have a 97 with 143K and a TCC code 0741. I plan to get a remote filter and clean out the trans lines/cooler before I work on the valve body replacement.

Dave

 

[kumaxlt]

Should I order the OEM Boost Valve Kit with OEM pressure, or the Boost Valve with increased pressure? I am not looking for hard shifts like some shift kits do, just good positive shifts.

 

[inh]

Get the increased ratio, it's supposed to be only slightly firmer. I don't think anyone has ever gotten hard shifting out of doing mods to get firmer shifts, just pleasantly firmer ones.

 

[CDW6212R]

Ditto, the shifting of these V6 transmissions cannot get harsh or really hard. Basically shoot for as firm as you can get, if you do like a firm shift. The V8 trans has the capability to achieve very hard shifts, those you have to be careful what you ask for.

For the V6, get what you can, the "shift" kits aren't really shift kits, they are VB correction kits.

 

[jurick]

Well I just happened to see this post and I did business with Wholesale Transmission Parts about a month and a half ago. I purchased a remanufactered transmission. It looked fine until I got it in my explorer and it did nothing. I had problems contacting the guy that sold me the transmission(they wouldn't pick up the phone, said he was at a docters appointment, out to eat and even one time hung the phone up on me after I had been on hold for 13 minutes) and after a week I got a hold of him and he told me that he would arrange a pickup and that I would get a full refund. Never happened so after that I let the credit card company deal with it and wholesale transmission parts have not disputed it yet. I called back about a week later and was told that the guy that I purchased it from was not part of there company anymore and they would try to contact him and I was told to go ahead and sell the one I have to cover the cost of getting my old one rebuilt, I asked for documentation telling me that I could do this and to this day I have not gotten anything(that was over a week and a half ago).

So to make a long story short I would be cautious doing business with them I am lucky that my credit card company is disputing it or I would of been out $950 but I still had to cover the cost of fluid and the time to put this thing in, take it back out, get my old one rebuilt at a local shop and reinstall with fresh fluid.

 

[kumaxlt]

The EPC solenoid seems to be something everyone also replaces. Our VB's are suppose to come tested including all 6 solenoids. Are you replacing your EPC? These vb's came out of vehicles that obviously had problems or Ford, or who ever, would not have removed them...