A4LD VB warpage tolerances? (aka: wet sanding the VB on glass)

[saxon]

Called my machine shop and asked about checking the VB for flatness. Manager (someone I know pretty well) said that VB was probably not flat but as he did not know what the VB's tolerances of warpage are that I should call a local transmission shop and ask. My knowledge of local trans. shop tells me that no-one knows anything about transmissions and that they are all 'transmission replacement technicians." I can't think of anyone to call who would have a clue on this. Cynic, yeah, I know. Don't need flaming on this; I won't let anyone with a wrench within 15' of my GP bikes or my bmw (car).

At any rate, he also said that he would not surface the VB because it would then be too short. He suggested checking it against a thick piece of glass and if it seemed warped, sanding it against some wet (I use WD-40 for this) 2000 grit sandpaper on the glass. I recently did this process to flatten the bottom surface of a Weber 32/36 DGEV carburetor with good success (to fix an air leak).

If warpage is present and correction is warranted, I would only do the sanding after bagging all of the valves and springs from the bores, then afterwards, clean the VB to near surgical standards.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Why would you assume that your VB is warped? Did you have any problems torquing the bolts? Why not just put it on any flat surface, like a ceramic, or marble floor tile, and check for any gaps with a light on one side while looking at it from the other side?

 

[saxon]

VB warpage assumptions

I don't have much in the way of flat surfaces; glass is the only thing I can think of that I have.

As you know, my X goes forward in every gear including neutral and reverse; park only holds it still because of the pawl.

When I took the VB apart, I was expecting to find something clearly stuck, broken, or jammed where its not supposed to be (since the Z link was correctly installed and not too sloppy).

I did find two valves that stuck when pushed to the limits of their bores (corrected with 2000 grit wet sandpaper on the valve) but nothing really 'wrong' was found. Darn!

I looked at the intermediate band for 20 minutes last night trying to see if it was a double or single band and I still cannot tell. grrrr.... I do have about 20 photos.

I initially adjusted both of the bands to 2.0 turns out; I have not yet changed the intermediate band to 3.5 turns out (as the VB is on a workbench and I can't move the X yet anyway). I want to see what improvement (if any) the VB rebuild makes b4 I change to bands to 3.5 turns. However, other than the wrong band adjustment, the only other suggestion offered to explain the "always forward" situation was a HUGE VB gasket leak. VB leak? To me that would indicate checking for flatness. I will check for flatness prior to sanding; sanding is not a forgone conclusion.

VB gaskets don't normally leak unless something happens out of the ordinary to cause the leak, correct? i.e., overheating?

btw, I finally noticed that my X has the optional factory transmission cooler mounted in front of the radiator. It does not, however, have the towing package (no. 45 'open' rear end and no wiring hookup).

 

[BrooklynBay]

There are 2 types of gaskets that are used, the regular one, and the thicker one. They do get deteriorated after a while. This does not imply that the VB is warped. 23135A Ford A4LD valve body gasket set 1986-1994. ($3.31).
56287 E8RY-7C155-A 1985-1995 Upper valve body gasket. 56287X 56320AA is .015" thick ($2.28).
56280 E8RY-7D100-A 1985-1995 lower valve body gasket. 56280X 56321AB is .015" thick ($2.28).

 

[saxon]

thicker vs. reg. VB gasket

VB gaskets die from age alone? Didn't know that. Good, actually; that's one more explanation for my transmission not working.

I've heard about the two VB gaskets. Do you know the part numbers for the two gaskets? Curious as to which one www.transmissionpartsusa.com sent me. (Dang that's a long web site!)

 

[BrooklynBay]

They only sell the first one that I listed above, which is the regular one.

 

[saxon]

source for thicker VB gaskets?

I assume that by "they" you mean Ford.

Who makes the thicker ones? I guess I should have asked transmissionpartsusa. They should just about know me by voice by now.

If the stock Ford gaskets are .015" think, how thick is the thicker one? I seem to remember reading that info. on this site somewhere but it might be good to re-post it here.

 

[BrooklynBay]

.015" is the thicker one. I was referring to TransmissionPartsUSA, not the Ford dealer.

 

[saxon]

Great! This makes me happy. I wanted the thicker one. I thought that someone had posted that transmissionpartsusa.com would sell whichever one they had in stock. I love it when I am wrong like that.

 

[BrooklynBay]

TransmissionPartsUSA doesn't have the .015" one, only the regular one that is a little thinner. Maybe they added it to their product line, but as far as I know they don't sell it yet.

 

[Glacier991]

I buy the thicker one from my local supplier. It is a plain gasket, no markings, suggesting it may not be a Transtar item... seeing as how transtar is a major maker of VB gaskets and prominently feature their logo on the ones I generally see.