Blown transmission, jacked torque converter, & a shattered flex plate

[Drake1144]

Hey everybody,
newish member here with my first post looking for some help/guidance.

My 4R55E in my 4.0 96 EB 4x4 went the way of the Dodo not too long ago, and after much massaging, gently hammering & some cursing the engineers at Ford who decided the starter should occupy the same space as the front diff, it's out.

The flex plate is shattered (gonna make a great piece of wall art), the torque converter has some serious marring/chafing damage on the bellhousing side, & the bellhousing is pretty decently chewed up as well.

I have a freshly rebuilt 4r55e, & a new torque converter, but I want to be sure this won't happen again, what should I look for engine side (measurements etc) to make sure I'm safe to slam this new tranny in & not have this happen again in 500/15,000 miles?

Thanks everybody! This forum has been super helpful just reading other's posts but I didn't really see much linked to this issue. If you've got specs for me to follow I'd greatly appreciate it.

 

[410Fortune]

holy crap

Is that the original trans?
Some of the 6 bolt OHV flexplates had some cracking issues I am thinking that maybe what caused your failure here

Does the back of the crank look okay? Any excessive leakage from the rear main seal?

 

[974X4BLACKSPORT]

Check your crankshaft end play, do this by grabbing the harmonic balancer and see if you can push or pull the crankshaft in and out of the engine block, if the accessory belt is removed, it should not take much force. Generally, there should be no detectable movement, if there is, if will clunk back and forth without much effort. Excessive crankshaft end play could put additional stress on the flex-plate.

 

[Mbrooks420]

This is an issue specific to the 95 and 96s I believe. The redesigned flexplate is a beefier design. This happened on my first Explorer.

 

[Drake1144]

I've still gotta remove the flex plate from the engine to examine the crankshaft (I called it quits for the night after finally getting the trans out.

There's no leaking from the rear main seal, which is hopefully a good sign, & the wife & I's schedules conflict pretty bad so I'm probably not getting under the truck again until this weekend (dads on duty with the kids in the A.M. & works nights)

Does anybody have the part # for the torque converter nuts laying around?

 

[Turdle]

FX-10-7, 26761 according to Amazon it is an "industry standard" number


https://www.amazon.com/Torque-Conve...EB3F52Z4WC8&psc=1&refRID=1B64S656GEB3F52Z4WC8

3/8 x 24 x .34 locking flange nuts

 

[Mbrooks420]

I’d make sure to flush your cooler lines. Also, I’d a second, or huge single cooler. I’m assuming being an EB it has the tow package.

 

[Drake1144]

Got the shattered flex plate out, checked crankshaft endplay, there was 0, flushing the trans coller lines tonight & the new flex plate & hardware are saying they'll be in Friday. Praise Jebus I dont have to replace main bearings. Hope everybody has a good thanksgiving!

 

[Drake1144]

Sorry to resurrect this post, but the new transmission refuses to go on, it will not line up under any circumstance, I've got 4 out of 6 bolts in (the upper 4) & still have a finger gap at the bottom between the block & bellhousing, this isn't my first transmission, (but it is my first ford transmission) it's putting up a hell of a fight, way more than it should. It's an auto, you should just be able to line it up & wangjangle the block & trans together & bolt everything together. Any advice or recommendations would be appreciated, really need to get this thing back on the road.

 

[boominXplorer]

Check and make sure you don't have too many dowels in play? They like to get stuck in the transmission sometimes and if you already have 2 on the block it will never seat.

 

[Drake1144]

I do not have any extra dowels hanging out, unfortunately not something so easy.