Swapping auto trans valve body 4.0 2001

[RustyMacintosh]

202,000 on this 2wd, Dropped a 40k motor in last winter, did the chains. The trans is sloppy. It takes a bit for the trans to go into reverse. ANd a second or two to go into drive,

The other day i saw the r's jump 2-300 when going into lockup. Jumped a bit then settled down only did that once.

I'm thinking I'd like to try a new valve body. I can score one off Ebay that is upgraded and all in the 300 range. Others about 140ish.

Is it a straight-up job to just drop the pan, I guess the valve body will unbolt, I am guessing it will go back in. Any advice? Is it straight up easy? Or more complex than what I said above.

Anyone have a good valve body company they like. Does ANyone try a new one or refurb one?

 

[imp]

202,000 on this 2wd, Dropped a 40k motor in last winter, did the chains. The trans is sloppy. It takes a bit for the trans to go into reverse. ANd a second or two to go into drive,

The other day i saw the r's jump 2-300 when going into lockup. Jumped a bit then settled down only did that once.

I'm thinking I'd like to try a new valve body. I can score one off Ebay that is upgraded and all in the 300 range. Others about 140ish.

Is it a straight-up job to just drop the pan, I guess the valve body will unbolt, I am guessing it will go back in. Any advice? Is it straight up easy? Or more complex than what I said above.

Anyone have a good valve body company they like. Does ANyone try a new one or refurb one?

@RustyMacintosh
If you've dropped a pan and reinstalled successfully, you can do a valve body R&R. Would help to have a rebuild manual available. Only trickery involved is different length bolts, use new gaskets, look for metallic particle build-up, especially on top of the VB, tighten it back to proper torque specs VERY IMPORTANT. VBs are full of close tolerance slighting thingies which will bind and jam if overtightened. I don't recommend rebuilding yourself; those babies have a bewildering bunch of tiny wire retainers as stops for spools and tiny check valve balls. imp

 

[410Fortune]

Just as IMP said just have an inch pounds torque wrench handy and follow the procedure for torque in sequence.
Otherwise a valve body swap is very straight forward.

 

[CDW6212R]

The VB is the most critical trans part, and source of 90% of all issues. So do the VB, and hope that solves it. But the solenoids are also very important, and they often are worn a lot at 200k miles. I replace all of those with high mileage, plus the accumulators, and all VB parts available from Sonnax, plus adjust the band, plus a VB kit(several choices/brands).

The other hard parts inside may last 400k or more, if the VB and related serviceable parts are kept up in fine shape.

 

[BruceExploder]

Just remember to take them out and put them back in, in order and to put each bolt back in it's own specific place. They are all different sizes. Torque to spec with inchlb torque wrench.

Buying one already built from transmission hard parts worked for me.

 

[Runnin'OnEmpty]

I used an upside down cardboard box with holes punched in the appropriate places to keep track of my VB bolts.
There's also an upgraded separator plate with bonded gaskets available that is highly recommended.

Don/CDW mentioned a shift kit. I used a Superior kit in mine and the trans has worked great for over 100K miles now.
I also use Lubegard additive in the red bottle. The job took me a Saturday afternoon.