Depression brought on by trans problem.

[Nocturnall]

I haven't ordered the front seal yet, when you order off that site they ask that you put your year, make, model in the comments so they know what to send. I thought it was a pretty cut and dry if it's a 5r55e it's this and a 4r70w it's this but now realize that first off I know crap about transmissions and secondly it could be either.

 

[BrooklynBay]

One last thought. It might be a good idea to replace the rear main seal on the engine while you have the flywheel, and spacer off. If you don't have any leaks from there, then it's not something to stress over. It's just preventive maintenance.

 

[Nocturnall]

How difficult is the rear main seal to replace? And are there any particular seals for the front pump on the tranny or the rear main that I should be looking for? Not sure which brands are better then what.

 

[BrooklynBay]

The rear main seal isn't that hard to replace once everything is removed in front of it. The front pump is inside the transmission behind the bellhousing. I wouldn't recommend going into that without having a front pump alignment kit. This pump does use an O ring to help prevent leakage (the A4LD didn't use this kind of gear). The bellhousing also has a gasket. The torque converter's hub could get damaged without using the alignment tool.

 

[Nocturnall]

Is that a tool that I could rent from a parts store do you think? Also what brand seals so I try and get? I know that some transmission pan gaskets are better then others, inlayed with steel, don't know if rear main seals and say front pump seals are the same way?

 

[BrooklynBay]

I don't think that there are places to rent these alignment tools, but you could send Glacier991 a PM,or email. He loans these out with a deposit. Check WWW.TransmissionPartsUSA.Com. They sell all of these tools, seals, gaskets, rebuild kits, clutch plates, spacers, etc.

 

[Nocturnall]

I beleive the spacer that I'm getting is 8 hole which is also what lists on transmissionpartsusa.com as the spacer for the 5r55e. I haven't been able to find a bell housing gasket on any sites, would it be called something else maybe? Extension Housing seal maybe?

 

[BrooklynBay]

The extension housing gasket is different. The bellhousing has a big rubber ring, and a flat paper gasket. Check the Ford dealer about the spacer. I was doing some searching last night on this, and one picture showed a 6 hole flywheel. Do you have the OHV, or the SOHC engine?

 

[Nocturnall]

Ohv. I cannot seem to find a bell housing gasket/seal anywhere on the net. I've searched fastpartsnetwork.com, transmissionpartsusa.com, partsamerica.com, napaautoparts.com, summitracing.com, jegs.com, autozone.com, tried searching random parts suppliers that came up using different searches on excite.com. Gonna have to walk to the parts store or something I guess and ask. All I can find are extension housing seals. I barely caught one site that came up from searching on excite that said the a4ld I beleive and 5r55e had the same bell housing gaskets... Dunno if there's any truth to that.

Also don't know if there's any truth to this, http://www.transmissioncenter.org/a4ld.htm says that the a4ld came with the 6 hole spacer while 5r55e and some a4ld's had 8 hole spacers. Well more like they just list the 6 hole as only for the a4ld and the 8 hole for the a4ld and 5r55e.

 

[BrooklynBay]

I would suggest that you call WWW.TransmissionPartsUSA.Com with a list of parts you need. Some things are not listed on their website, or are listed for other applications (like the A4LD in some cases).

 

[Nocturnall]

Yea I was going to email them in the morning and see what I can find out. I'd rather just order the stuff I need from them and since your suggesting them I know they have to be knowledgable and trustworthy.

 

[BigTrannyProblem]

here are the pics from my 1998 SOHC (8 holes):

 

[Glacier991]

PICS ! I see PICS !!! Thank you.

 

[Nocturnall]

So update:

My brother in law to be who is a senior master tech for Ford came home from vacation today. I talked to him about the transmission leak and also the shift flare I've noticed starting. His solution is he has a 5r55e sitting around that'll fit in my car. He's going to bring it to work, give it a complete over haul, and then give it to me to install for free! I think that works out pretty well. I already have the spacer on the way, as well as bell housing gasket, front pump gasket, and the orings for the bolts on the front pump to bellhousing. I'm hoping I can come up with some spare cash so I can buy the sonnax boost valve, and a shift kit for the valve body before I put it in. Which shift kit is the best? Trans go or superior? I read glaciers tech article on installing them but I don't recall him really choosing one over the other. Anyone have experiance with both?

 

[Nocturnall]

I've been looking at trans coolers to install once I get my transmission back in and was wondering if there is such a thing as over cooling it? I would assume yes in which case I wouldn't want to go with a 18,500lb cooler. I don't currently do any towing but once I can afford a hitch I would like to put one on and would like to have sufficiant cooling for the max load I can tow with the explorer. What size cooler should I go with? Can I go with the 18,500lb cooler? I also plan on installing a remote filter if that'll effect cooling at all, which I wouldn't think it would much.

 

[BrooklynBay]

AlDive installed a part called the cooler collar which he tested on a remote filter. It reduced the temperature by 4 degrees. I wouldn't be concerned about over cooling just under cooling. Refer to the links in my signature for more charts. There are 5 altogether.
Dead Link Removed

 

[Nocturnall]

so if I got a cooler that is rated at 18,500lb it won't over cool the tranny at all? I'm gonna put full synth in the transmission once I get it in. I know I saw one of those charts were 150 degrees was less then optimal which is what made me question. Just don't want to screw up another tranny....

 

[BrooklynBay]

http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/...in_dim_search-1/N-111+10201+600003758/c-10101

 

[Nocturnall]

http://www.transmissionpartsusa.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=600-000013103

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=FLX-3820

 

[Nocturnall]

So here's an update on my trans problem. Brother in law rebuilt a 98+ SOHC tranny for me. All that was different on the outside of the case was there was an extra sensor hole so I took the rear sensor off the 97 tranny and plugged the hole with that. He was saying that everything else should be the same internally. Changed rear main seal, changed crank to flywheel spacer with a sonnax billet steel one (8 Hole). Put everything back together, torque converter installation was really annoying. Got it all back in, brother in law helped with the end of the install, putting in fluid and rear drive shaft installtion (Changed u joints and accidentally put them on the rear shaft wrong) got it up and running and firstly I did the front drive shaft wrong so the boot on that got screwed up, secondly there is a trouble code, o/d light flashes as soon as you start the car. All sensors are plugged in all the way...... Any ideas? Is there anything different in the wiring in the transmission from 97 - 98?