mredd21
New Member
- Joined
- January 30, 2013
- Messages
- 6
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Pascagoula, MS
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1998 Ford Explorer XLT
Hello all, here's my main question: What needs to be done to make a transmission from a 97 Mountaineer 5.0 work in a 98 Explorer 5.0?
I have a 98 Explorer XLT 5.0. My transmission would not going forward or in reverse. I took it out and saw that the gears in the torque converter were wore down. ( i noticed this after I parted the tranny out)
I went to the junkyard and took a transmission out of a 97 Mountaineer with a seized motor. I assumed they were the same. After bringing it home, I realized the pins were different in one of the electrical connections. With both transmissions next to each other and upside-down, I replaced the old wiring and electrical components in the 97 tranny with the parts from the 98 tranny. I just noticed a post on here saying you could do that (after I did it), so I hope from that standpoint that the transmission would work.
So working alone for the past two days, I got the junkyard transmission in place and mounted to the the engine. When I went to spin the crankshaft (to install the 4 nuts that attach the TC to the flywheel), I found I could not spin it. Everything spun freely before I mated them together.
With a closer look, I found that the bolts protruding out of the TC are hitting the flex plate between the tranny and engine. Sure enough, I measured the bolts from the old torque converter and found that they were a little shorter than the one i pulled from the 97 Mounty!!
I'd really hate to pull that transmission out again since I've been working on hit for a week and was so close to being done. I am thinking of loosening the tranny from the engine a bit and then grinding the 4 bolts down a little to gain some clearance.
Does anyone have any thoughts on why the bolt lengths are different? Will the balance be way off if I grind some of each bolt down? If I absolutely have to buy a new torque converter, which one do I buy? There are 5 listed for the 97 Mounty and 4 listed for the 98 XLT on Oreillys.
I appreciate any help that can be provided in this matter, and this is my second post here, even though I've lurked for quite awhile.
I have a 98 Explorer XLT 5.0. My transmission would not going forward or in reverse. I took it out and saw that the gears in the torque converter were wore down. ( i noticed this after I parted the tranny out)
I went to the junkyard and took a transmission out of a 97 Mountaineer with a seized motor. I assumed they were the same. After bringing it home, I realized the pins were different in one of the electrical connections. With both transmissions next to each other and upside-down, I replaced the old wiring and electrical components in the 97 tranny with the parts from the 98 tranny. I just noticed a post on here saying you could do that (after I did it), so I hope from that standpoint that the transmission would work.
So working alone for the past two days, I got the junkyard transmission in place and mounted to the the engine. When I went to spin the crankshaft (to install the 4 nuts that attach the TC to the flywheel), I found I could not spin it. Everything spun freely before I mated them together.
With a closer look, I found that the bolts protruding out of the TC are hitting the flex plate between the tranny and engine. Sure enough, I measured the bolts from the old torque converter and found that they were a little shorter than the one i pulled from the 97 Mounty!!
I'd really hate to pull that transmission out again since I've been working on hit for a week and was so close to being done. I am thinking of loosening the tranny from the engine a bit and then grinding the 4 bolts down a little to gain some clearance.
Does anyone have any thoughts on why the bolt lengths are different? Will the balance be way off if I grind some of each bolt down? If I absolutely have to buy a new torque converter, which one do I buy? There are 5 listed for the 97 Mounty and 4 listed for the 98 XLT on Oreillys.
I appreciate any help that can be provided in this matter, and this is my second post here, even though I've lurked for quite awhile.