04 Explorer Transmission Issue / Won't go in Reverse, Neutral acts like Drive

[Cebic]

Hi! I am hoping you guys can help me with a couple of problems.

1) My 2004 Ford Explorer with a 4WD, V6 Engine and a Rebuilt Transmission from a 2005 Mountaineer will not allow me to backup. When I put it in R, the transmission does not engage. When I put it in N and let off the brake, the Ford moves forward. If I put in the car in Neutral with the engine off, the car won't budge, apparently the transmission is still engaged. I am trying to figure out how to get it out of my garage. There is not room to move forward. Does anyone know if there is a way to force the Ford into Neutral, so I can at least push it out?

2) The cool thing is a found a post on YouTube that describes the problem I am having perfectly. The fix, while not cheap is to much lower than installing a rebuilt transmission or rebuilding again the one in the SUV today. I have put the link below and the post on YouTube is called "Loss of reverse in your Ford transmission 4R44E/4R55E" If you don't want to look at that, I will paraphrase here that the issue is the band around the Low Reverse Drum has failed and need to be replaced. He quote a cost around $1,200. Does anyone know a good transmission shop in the Greater Denver area that I can use hat would be willing to try this instead of just defaulting to a rebuild?

http://youtu.be/2wiN8MV278A

Thanks for you time and consideration!

 

[Number4]

I don't know enough about this aspect of the Explorers. But this sounds like the selector for the tranny gears isn't set up right.
If reverse does nothing, it's acting like neutral, then your neutral goes forward. Sounds like it's all off by one.

 

[Duranged84]

I was thinking everything off by one as well, but it starts obviously, so it should have tried to reverse while starting or pretty quick after. Maybe cable got stretched? Block your wheels/ set parking brake and for extra safety, have someone sit in it on the brakes, crawl under and pop the shift cable off. Try to manually put it in reverse or neutral. If it still wont budge or freewheel, then next step would be pulling your driveshafts if you need it out of your way. Could also be stuck parking brake shoe if it came apart or something. They hold better going in reverse usually.


Also, Are you using the transfer case from the mountaineer? or the original from the explorer? I know the Mountys use an AWD all the time transfer case, Don't know enough about them to be able to tell you that it would case a problem, but something you might look into. maybe pull your front driveshaft if its the AWD transfer case and see what you get. Or try putting the selector in 4WD hi. My front axle and driveshaft were removed before I bought my Mounty so I really don't know much about it yet. Never messed with the explorers transfer cases/wiring.

 

[Cebic]

Thanks for the input. I had the truck towed today to what appears to be a reputable transmission shop that does all their work in house. I am hoping it is the Low Reverse Drum issue I refer to above. I should know more by tomorrow they are dropping the transmission and opening it up - don't take that statement as literal as I am definitely a novice in describing transmissions and associated repair techniques. I will update the post when I know more.