BPD-212
New Member
- Joined
- December 13, 2009
- Messages
- 5
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Bay St. Louis, Mississippi
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- '94 XLT
Hello good people of the Explorer forums - I've been reading your stuff since I acquired my XLT last year - this is an awesome source of information and discussion.
My problem is that my tranny seemed to me to be shifting late into 2nd gear (had to baby the gas pedal to get it to shift up). I have approx 170K miles on the odometer - fluid looked a bit dark but not burnt - no telling if it had ever been changed.
I replaced the modulator first off - that didn't fix the problem. I dropped the pan and found a busted intermediate band anchor in lying in the bottom.
as seen here:
There were no metal shavings on the magnet - only just a couple of tiny ones in the bottom of the pan (I'm hoping they are from the busted anchor).
According to a helpful worker at my local transmission shop the Explorer might be skipping 2nd altogether and jumping right into 3rd. He said that a broken anchor is a very, very rare case. He couldn't say what might have caused it other than the anchor getting ****eyed and snapping under strain. One of the little tab ears broke off completely.
I managed to talk the transmission shop out of a replacement anchor - so with the pan off I tried to push the new anchor into the unseen hook on the band (many times - over several hours) but with no luck. The anchor had to go so far in before engaging the band that the adjuster bolt could not tighten up the whole assembly. At one point the anchor even fell into a low spot above the valve body and it took me over an hour to fish it out with a piece of bent wire. The band itself seemed loose and sloppy - with a screwdriver I could push it forward and aft (in the directions of the front and rear bumpers) at least an inch. I'm guessing that this is not good.
My thinking from all of this is that the 'apply' side anchor is probably disengaged and that the whole band is just hanging loosely in place. Could that explain why my attempts to engage the adjustment anchor failed completely? (as well as my late shifting out of 1st - and why I sometimes hear a little scraping sound while driving?)
I have read one of the posts here that says that by dropping the valve body assembly I might be able to see and re-attach the intermediate 'apply' side anchor/lever assembly thereby allowing me to re-set the adjustment-side anchor/bolt assembly and get my little XLT back on her two hind feet.
I've never done that before... I don't mind dropping the VB if there are no complicated surprises AND if I will be able to see and re-attach the 'apply' hardware - thereby allowing me to re-set the adjustment anchor. I just don't want to take this route if it would be a complete waste of time - or if there are concerns that would keep a newbie like me from even attempting this fix. I would very much like to get the opinions of the people here before I took everything apart again.
I'm a complete drive-train 'virgin' so I'm not sure even exactly which transmission is hanging under my XLT. Here is a picture of the pan for starters:
I guess my real question is - Will dropping the VB give me access to the 'apply' side hardware of my intermediate band? If so will it be relatively easy to put back into place? Also - I've read the VB rebuild diary as well as the 'stairway to a VB re-build diary' on this forum group. I don't seem to have the magical 'gold' bolts that should not be removed (mine all look grey). I also do not have any original manual for my vehicle or transmission... Would it be at all possible to get some step by step instructions for safely dropping my VB and re-setting the apply side hardware as well as the adjustment anchor? Will there be a steele plate in the way once I drop the VB?
I'm afraid I'm just a poor, working class stiff with no money for shop repairs and also someone who will be completely lost without my XLT.
If I get answers that are favorable to me doing this job I promise I will take plenty of photographs - - and I will post a complete description of this potential fix - step by step so that anyone with similar problems in future will have at least some guidelines to follow.
thanks so much,
thinblueline - BPD-212
My problem is that my tranny seemed to me to be shifting late into 2nd gear (had to baby the gas pedal to get it to shift up). I have approx 170K miles on the odometer - fluid looked a bit dark but not burnt - no telling if it had ever been changed.
I replaced the modulator first off - that didn't fix the problem. I dropped the pan and found a busted intermediate band anchor in lying in the bottom.
as seen here:
![anchor-broken.jpg](http://www.yourocket.com/ford-explorer/anchor-broken.jpg)
There were no metal shavings on the magnet - only just a couple of tiny ones in the bottom of the pan (I'm hoping they are from the busted anchor).
According to a helpful worker at my local transmission shop the Explorer might be skipping 2nd altogether and jumping right into 3rd. He said that a broken anchor is a very, very rare case. He couldn't say what might have caused it other than the anchor getting ****eyed and snapping under strain. One of the little tab ears broke off completely.
I managed to talk the transmission shop out of a replacement anchor - so with the pan off I tried to push the new anchor into the unseen hook on the band (many times - over several hours) but with no luck. The anchor had to go so far in before engaging the band that the adjuster bolt could not tighten up the whole assembly. At one point the anchor even fell into a low spot above the valve body and it took me over an hour to fish it out with a piece of bent wire. The band itself seemed loose and sloppy - with a screwdriver I could push it forward and aft (in the directions of the front and rear bumpers) at least an inch. I'm guessing that this is not good.
My thinking from all of this is that the 'apply' side anchor is probably disengaged and that the whole band is just hanging loosely in place. Could that explain why my attempts to engage the adjustment anchor failed completely? (as well as my late shifting out of 1st - and why I sometimes hear a little scraping sound while driving?)
I have read one of the posts here that says that by dropping the valve body assembly I might be able to see and re-attach the intermediate 'apply' side anchor/lever assembly thereby allowing me to re-set the adjustment-side anchor/bolt assembly and get my little XLT back on her two hind feet.
I've never done that before... I don't mind dropping the VB if there are no complicated surprises AND if I will be able to see and re-attach the 'apply' hardware - thereby allowing me to re-set the adjustment anchor. I just don't want to take this route if it would be a complete waste of time - or if there are concerns that would keep a newbie like me from even attempting this fix. I would very much like to get the opinions of the people here before I took everything apart again.
I'm a complete drive-train 'virgin' so I'm not sure even exactly which transmission is hanging under my XLT. Here is a picture of the pan for starters:
![tranny-pan.jpg](http://www.yourocket.com/ford-explorer/tranny-pan.jpg)
I guess my real question is - Will dropping the VB give me access to the 'apply' side hardware of my intermediate band? If so will it be relatively easy to put back into place? Also - I've read the VB rebuild diary as well as the 'stairway to a VB re-build diary' on this forum group. I don't seem to have the magical 'gold' bolts that should not be removed (mine all look grey). I also do not have any original manual for my vehicle or transmission... Would it be at all possible to get some step by step instructions for safely dropping my VB and re-setting the apply side hardware as well as the adjustment anchor? Will there be a steele plate in the way once I drop the VB?
I'm afraid I'm just a poor, working class stiff with no money for shop repairs and also someone who will be completely lost without my XLT.
If I get answers that are favorable to me doing this job I promise I will take plenty of photographs - - and I will post a complete description of this potential fix - step by step so that anyone with similar problems in future will have at least some guidelines to follow.
thanks so much,
thinblueline - BPD-212