Earth Transmissions Are Easy

[Opera House]

After 3 weeks I finally got the A4LD transmission pulled from my 92 Explorer. Took that long because it's at a remote location, only worked on it now and then, always missing some tool I needed, was also replacing water pump and front seal, waiting for penetrant to do its work and maybe spending too much time watching B movies. Scariest part was removing the exhaust bolts from the manifold. It took six extensions in series and one of them sheared. Broke a socket removing the transmission cross member and sheared another extension. Most time consuming thing was the removal of the torque converter bolts. Took forever for me to find a thin wall socket to take the 4 bolts out of the torque converter. Thought I was going to have to grind down a socket. They are mounted as close as you can get to the outside ring. And then there was that rotate the engine, get back under the car, oops too far, back again and again. My removal method was probably a little different than standard. I removed the valve body and all other linkage so I would have a flat surface to mount the jack to. I'll make something better when I install it back in one piece. Instead of a transmission stand, I used an engine stand. It is an absolute must to be able to rotate the transmission.

Now to take it apart. The bellhousing attaches with 8 bolts. After those are removed the, the pump assembly comes out with the belhousing. If you keep it intact there is no need to do the realignment needing special tools. This transmission was "rebuilt" in 96 (weld broke on planetary gear in overdrive) and I was interested if the bands were adjusted correctly. This transmission could have had the single or double wrap overdrive band (2 or 3 ½ turns). For reference, I was going to count how many turns. Problem is there is an O-ring under the backoff nut and it welds itself to the adjusting screw over time. Just another reason why not to adjust the bands when it is in the car.

The first thing to pull out of the transmission is the overdrive clutch followed by the OD planetary gear. These are probably the two parts that fail most often in an A4LD. Nice that they are the first ones that come out. The overdrive clutch has band that goes around it and also an internal clutch. This was where my problem was. The clutch assembly mounts to the spline shaft with a piece called a star washer or OD clutch adaptor. The outside has 8 square teeth that mount to the clutch and it had been riding over these teeth for 70K. Star washer had blued and bent backward. The clutch teeth knurled over and I had to use a dremel tool to grind them back so I could remove the internal clutch piston parts. Bet you always heard that you need special tools to work on a transmission. I made a clutch spring compressor out of an almost used up mylar tape spool, piece of a an aluminum picture frame, long bolt and some washers.

Transmissions are losing their mystic quality. I bought new clutches and steel plates. Every clutch and band I have looked at so far is like new. Good thing these parts will also fit my 5R55E. I could just stop here and replace the OD clutch and go for years. It is likely that many shops that rebuild transmissions only replace the really damaged parts. I think my star washer was marginal and they didn't want to spend the $3 for a new one. That's why it lasted only14 months. If you shop for price, that's what you'll get. I'll never pay to have a transmission rebuilt again. They are just so easy to work on and you just don't know what kind of job someone else will do. I think I'd pay someone to take it out though. Now if I can just find all those pieces that sprung out of the valve body!

 

[asp84]

Earth Transmissions Are Easy ?????? How did you come up with that name? lol .....asking out of curiosity.

Anyway, Glad to hear you rebuilt your A4LD succesfully. I am going to be installign a new advanced adapter tailshaft in my 4R70W V8 Explorer transmission, and like you, I have been reading my ATSG rebuild manual whenever I get a chance. Doesn't look to hard......looks like you just sit the tranny on its tailhousing and unstack evertyhing, and then stack everything back in. ( I understand there are more complex procedures for installign seal/bushings, etc)

Now.....Concerning the A4LD: I plan on rebuilding an A4LD in the near future. I am happy to hear that you don't need the pump alignment tool. What...do you just unbolt the belhhousing with the pump still installed?

(I know on the 4R70W, you take the pump off to get to the internals, but you don't need a special tool to put it back on.)

Lookign forward to hearing anymore tips you have concerning rebuilding A4LD's.

Thanks,
Al

 

[410Fortune]

Yikes! Why did you remove the manifolds from the engine?? Couldnt you just drop the Y pipe? I can drop my tranny, myself in 3 hours tops, of course I had it down 4 times last year, the first time I did my clutch it took 2 days, now it takes 3 hours to drop it all....

One tip. For the convertor bolts, once you get the first one lined up to the starter opening you can draw a little diagram on your crankshaft pully!!! Hehehehe when you are rotating the engine you can use it as a guide to get you close, worked great for me!!!

Good job, and A4LD's are not easy no matter what planet you are on!! hehehe

 

[Opera House]

Don't you remember

The Holloween movie classic "Earth Girls Are Easy" about aliens that land on Holloween and hook up with the locals. I always loved that title! It really helps to have an engine stand to rotate it so the internals come out as assemblies. Primarily for after the center nearings. It is amazing how some internal parts like the star washer have their splines almost totally chewed un and you can't even find a mark on the spline shaft. Wonder what their Rockwell hardness is. I don't think selecting the thickness washer is a big deal. Haven't figured a method behind the pump but with the damage I had, I must have had 0.1 inch of play and the transmission ran fine except for OD. Behind the center bearing, with a bearing surface on both sides, it is probably ok to just drill the hole as long as you don't hit one of the feed tubes. I have found no other damage exept ti the intermediate drum wich looks like damafe from loose metal particles before the 96 rebuilt. At that time I found six needle rollers in the filter. Amazing that it still ran and the pump had enough flow to suck them up. I am now a firm believer in external transmission filters. Above the valve body gasket was thick with sediment. Some spools, although they function, will not come out easily.

Fortune, that was the 4 bolts to remove the Y pipe from the headers. I think I was counting 9 splines on the crank sensor but my marker died and it never worked out quite right. It took me an hour and a half to find a socket that would slip past the outside ring. With nickel never sieze it will be easier next time.