K80's A4LD Rebuild Diary 2.0 part 3.

This is Part Three;

Part One is Here;

and Part Two is Here:

and Part Four is Here.


The first time I rebuilt this tranny, I was mystified by the inclusion in the rebuild kit of eight gaskets which could only be for the bellhousing bolts in addition to the o-rings specified by Ford. I was reticent of using both the o-rings and the gaskets, because I was afraid this would happen. As you can see, the gaskets pinched the o-rings and caused them to deform severely. In future, I will use only the o-rings. The second time, I used both because the first time I did not have a torque wrench so when this happened, I just assumed it was because I over-tightened them. But I used a torque wrench last time, so these should not have buckled like this.


Oil Pan Removed. I'm not sure yet what particular function the clogged passage is supposed to perform, but I bet it has to do with reverse....


The Red Hexagon is where that clog was....The green rectangle is a spot of heavy build-up of crap.

The cleaned separator plate on the VB. It looks like there MIGHT be a hole where the red hexagon was, but that it may be clogged with a big chunk of metal. Won't know till I begin on the VB in earnest.

View into the tranny with the bellhousing removed. At this point, I was actually optimistic about the prospects for the OD. The #1 washer is almost pristine.

A small heart-breaker. This means sending off to be re-done, I think. There's just no way I can let this bellhousing bushing stay.

The oil pump gear. I don't think it is salvageable.

The drive gear. Damage matches that of the TC snout.

Oil pump adapter plate showing eccentric wear. But the funny part is that the gears show little wear at all on their faces. The pump body itself seems fine as well. I have some small hope that perhaps the wear pattern was caused by fluid escape at that particular spot, which prohibited contact with the plate right there. Sure, right. lol

I really still thought at this point that the project was going reasonably well. After all, these gears, the bellhousing bushing and seal, and the TC are all the originals from before the first rebuild. That is about 25K that I know of for sure. Not bad, right? Well, just you wait till you see the next pictures....


More Photos Here

Here are the next pics:

The slightly scorched OD band. No sweat, right?

It doesn't even appear to be worn down at all, even after being fried at least twelve times since it was new. By fried, I mean my tranny was smoking like a Rasta on April 20th. Clouds of white smoke so thick I could not tell if there were cars behind me. I'm still thinking I might get very lucky...

The OD drum looks a little colorful but it's okay.....

Then I saw this and I screamed. I'm no expert, but I think this is bad for the tranny.

A closer view into the OD output ring gear with sun gear and castle washer.

Inside the coast clutch. The separator plate is well-done.

The spring mass I pulled out of the coast clutch. Know what it has in common with a Phillipino drag queen? It would be really cool-looking if it did not suck so bad. I left it sitting on my table overnight and it actually untangled itself on its' own. I found it in pieces the next morning.

The remains of the coast clutch spring retainer


Even the little tabs sheared off. I expect I will find them in the tranny somewhere they shouldn't be.

The OD planetary. I think maybe it's fried. Just possibly.



After seeing the coast clutch and planetary, I expected more of the same when it came to the output assembly, but so far it looks pretty clean. Most of this wear(except for the sprag damage)was pre-existing.

The back side of the output assembly. Virtually un-changed from the last time I saw it. I am seriously debating whether this is a keeper. What do you guys think? I'll post more pics of it when I tear it down, but right now I'm just going through the macro assemblies to get an overview of the damage. This really sucks Donkey Kong.

The tailhousing and governor removed. Everything here looked okay.


From what goes before, I have formulated a theory on what initiated this failure. Pulling this trailer down here wore out my OD because, like a dumbass, I pulled Dimitri up hills in OD! 5800 Lbs! (said the CAT scale). The tranny overheated every time the OD started slipping. So I started using first drive, which helped my ability to pull Dimitri without smoking as much, but once I stopped using OD, it somehow froze or something and my top gear went out for a couple months. Then when I got back on the highway and over-revved the engine, OD came back and, aside from a very scary slow-down in the fast lane, worked fine for nearly a year.
Then that damn New Year's storm blew though and the rocking out of stuck spots just broke that camels' back.
I believe the C-ring that is supposed to retain the spring retainer lost its' grip when the tranny overheated, resulting in what you see here. Once that happened, the reverse was weak because, as I understand it, the OD drum must be stationary for reverse to work. I'm still not sure if that has anything to do with third gear.:scratch:
I will post some photos of the oil pump body to get some opinions on whether it might be salvageable.

Any help here is greatly appreciated....I'm plunging ever-deeper unto the breech....


Part Four is Here

My low/reverse servo....

Just a little build-up sequence to mark progress....

Don't reuse any hard parts that look questionable. Check the one way sprags to see if they are working properly. There is an upgraded overdrive planetary if you decide to get a new one.

Well, I'm pretty sure this tranny is totally shot. At this point, it will be cheaper to get an entire transmission at pull-a-part. There are many more pictures coming soon, I just need some sleep.

I am changing the plan here. Instead of rebuilding this one on the cheap, I'm getting a used one from pull-a-part to keep me going while I rebuild this one BULLET-PROOF....my way.

To that end, money is no longer an object. It may take time (a year or more) to do the kick-ass rebuild, but time doesn't matter now.

Anyone know if you can put a Cummings turbo diesel with an Allison tranny in an Aerostar?

Swapping will require a lot of work (exhaust, fuel lines, computer, wiring harness, mounts, etc). If you decide to get one from a junkyard, look for one out of a 95 Aerostar since that is the last year the A4LD was used in those vehicles.

Will-do, thanks. Are there ANY other trannies I can put in here without doing frame or ECU mods?

And why would swapping one A4LD for another A4LD require any sort of modification?

I was referring to your previous question about swapping the engine & transmission from a diesel when I was talking about making modifications. You don't have to make any major modifications for the later A4LD other than swapping the linkage bracket. Your 89 has a floor shift, and the 95 has a column shift. The only other swap option would be converting to a manual transmission. You will have to install a 3rd pedal with a clutch, and a different shift.

Oh....Duh! Okay, yeah. The Diesel would require a TON of extra work....Would be nice though.
Why do you recommend a '95? Just because it would be newer?
By "linkage bracket", I assume you mean the two-bolt thingy with the kinda-square hole that's near the front of the tranny?
What is different about it between the column-shift and the floor shift?

How easy is it to take the T-case, front axle, and anything else needed out of one AWD aerostar and put it in mine?
I imagine the front end must be modded, but how extensively?
The eventual goal here is to build one BAD ASS rock crawler out of him, so I can drive back to 57th and Docking in Topeka and p0wn it! That's where I got stuck a couple years ago, and I did not take it well. I HATE getting stuck.
I was thinking lift, cut-out wheel wells, longer driveshaft, wider rear end, Detroit Lockers front and rear, and some serious Super Swamper knobbies!

Oh, yeah...would the A4LD out of a Bronco II work without ECU tweaking? How about other vehicles? There's like six models across three makes for the A4LD. Would the differences be huge?

Lets take each step at a time. There are a lot of modifications on the E-4WD model other than the basic electronic transfer case. It's not going to be an easy swap. The transfer case is not like the Explorer's 4 HI or 4 Lo design for offroading. The E-4WD design is good for driving in snow where you need 4 wheels for extra traction. The A4LD had numerous changes from year to year, so the 95 model on the Aerostar or the 94 model on the Explorer would be the most upgraded as far as OEM. There are non OEM upgrades that could be done to your 89 to make it just as strong if not stronger. Take a look at the Project Frankentranny thread in the transmission section to get some ideas.

Sorry I have been neglectful lately....been having some personal issues to deal with.

I went to Pull-A-Part and grabbed an A4LD out of a 93 Explorer. Man! Are trannies scarce out there! They have what must be twenty Aerostars, Explorers and Bronco II's but only ONE had a tranny with (almost) all of its' parts. The two others were missing a pan and had other damage.

I will get some pics up soon.....see Pt. 4 for Pics of the new (used) tranny.

I can already tell I will need to use my old bellhousing, output shaft, cable bracket (thanks for the heads-up on that one, Brooklyn) and extension housing.
The PITA part is that in changing the output shaft, it will be necessary to rebuild this used-ass tranny before I can use it! Oh, well.
Something tells me this tranny went out on the vehicle and that's why it was at PAP. The oil pump seal just popped out while I was removing the PAP tranny, and I'm not too sure, but judging by how much of a PITA it was to remove that on purpose from my old bellhousing, I think that might be a bad sign. The seal lip has five notches, which I believe would indicate that the seal has either never been replaced (I hope my front pump seal looks as good as the one that just popped out 17 years from now!), or when it was, the rebuilder simply neglected to notch the seal lip. Either way, it is cause for investigation and exploratory surgery.

How much did they charge for the transmission, and how long did it take to remove the transmission from the Explorer?

Well, the BASE price was $65! The core was $20 and the RETURN WARRANTY was $10. You read right: if it didn't work, I could actually return it for a refund or trade-in, less the ten bucks! The core alone on a rebuilt is worth $400!

Time was a factor here. Bearing in mind that initially I retained the transfer case, and at Pull-A-Part, all the cars are spot-welded up on the rims(well, they're SUPPOSED to be spot-welded...)like so:


Added to that the fact there were an extra two crossmembers I wasn't used to, plus the lack of a doghouse engine cover in the cab for the top two bellhousing-to-block bolts--I wound up sitting on the engine to get to them from the top....I'm sorry guys, but Explorers SUCK to work on compared to Aerostars....LoL.
Anywho, the time toll was about an hour and a half of actual work. In roughly 45-degree temperatures with a good wind and no gloves. It really kinda sucked....