2001 Sport Trac 5R55E transmission 2nd rebuild

[Scott Brian]

I am a relative newby so bear with my questions.

My 2001 sport trac transmission just failed for the 2nd time; have about 135,000 miles on the truck.

The truck was towed to the nearest transmission shop (Aamco) after the transmission completely failed while my son was driving and at stop sign it would no longer engage.

Aamco disassembled and some of the gears had fractured and metal shavings were evident in the case.

The first rebuild include addition of a cooler although I tow relatively infrequently.

I understand there are transmission upgrades.

What do I need to make sure is upgraded during this rebuild?

Are there after market upgrades that an Aaa
mco shop would typically not install that I should insist on.

Being quoted $2700 for a complete rebuild. Is that reasonable?



What upgrades do I need to make sure are included with the rebuild

 

[PopRichie77]

If I remember right 2001 was the last year for the 5R55E trans in explorers except the Sport Trac. It should have most of the ford updates. Aamco should know or be able to find out if there was additional updates.

 

[Fredness]

One thing I've sound in my 5R55E 2-3 Flare "quest for knowledge" is that there is a high reoccurace rate to trans problems in general being attributed to residual debris. Even with a reverse flush from a can, there are problems later.
Ford has a heated reverse flush machine that pulses to remove crap, so I'd make sure that they are doing something similar.

My plan is to upgrade to a 2 row radiator (thereby getting a new trans heat exchanger) and an aftermarket upgraded trans cooler (since the stock is "wobbly" and old). Then I can flush the lines - individually, without bening connected to ANYTHING and put an inline filter between the trans and radiator.
This will END the downstream contamination issues and provide more fluid capacity.

Check the 5R55E 2-3 flare thread for the "must haves" (Sonnex, EPC, bonded separator, etc) and make sure that they are doing that, at least.