LamLamb
New Member
- Joined
- October 3, 2015
- Messages
- 5
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Georgia
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1998 Ford Explorer
Howdy!
I'm new on this forum so I'm not totally sure this is going in the right spot, but here it goes:
Vehicle: 1998 Ford Explorer, the 4.0L OHV V6 engine, 4WD, and the 5-speed automatic.
Okay. Its my understanding that the 5R55e transmission on this thing isn't that great to begin with, but It was handed down to me and I happen to know that it was used to tow stuff, and usually more than the 2500 lbs or so its rated at. Well, the trans has a hard time shifting from park to reverse, even with a solid foot on the brake. It'll go into reverse, its just that the shift lever requires a lot of force to move down from park, and when it does go into reverse, it moans and groans and clunks into gear. Sometimes when it comes out of park, the shift lever will cross over into neutral because it requires so much force. The worst is when it gets stuck in between reverse and neutral. It drives fine in regular drive, it shifts like I would expect a truck to shift.
Anyways ... I'll predict it eventually gets so bad that it'll need some work done to it. But here's the thing: I want to know if anybody more knowledgeable on the subject than I, can help me out. The automatic isn't very efficient. When the torque converter is slipping at low speeds, it feels sluggish and doesn't like to accelerate. But when that torque converter locks up at 35 mph, it feels like a turbocharger kicking in and suddenly I have power. With that being said, I feel like I'd rather have the 5-speed manual because there's (not supposed to be) any slippage.
So, how much trouble would it be swap the automatic trans out for a 5-speed manual trans? About how much would it cost? What all is involved? Please provide all the resources you can! Any help would be appreciated. Even if its to tell me that I'm out of my mind and I should just get a 5-speed car if I want to drive a 5-speed.
Thanks in advance! - LamLamb
I'm new on this forum so I'm not totally sure this is going in the right spot, but here it goes:
Vehicle: 1998 Ford Explorer, the 4.0L OHV V6 engine, 4WD, and the 5-speed automatic.
Okay. Its my understanding that the 5R55e transmission on this thing isn't that great to begin with, but It was handed down to me and I happen to know that it was used to tow stuff, and usually more than the 2500 lbs or so its rated at. Well, the trans has a hard time shifting from park to reverse, even with a solid foot on the brake. It'll go into reverse, its just that the shift lever requires a lot of force to move down from park, and when it does go into reverse, it moans and groans and clunks into gear. Sometimes when it comes out of park, the shift lever will cross over into neutral because it requires so much force. The worst is when it gets stuck in between reverse and neutral. It drives fine in regular drive, it shifts like I would expect a truck to shift.
Anyways ... I'll predict it eventually gets so bad that it'll need some work done to it. But here's the thing: I want to know if anybody more knowledgeable on the subject than I, can help me out. The automatic isn't very efficient. When the torque converter is slipping at low speeds, it feels sluggish and doesn't like to accelerate. But when that torque converter locks up at 35 mph, it feels like a turbocharger kicking in and suddenly I have power. With that being said, I feel like I'd rather have the 5-speed manual because there's (not supposed to be) any slippage.
So, how much trouble would it be swap the automatic trans out for a 5-speed manual trans? About how much would it cost? What all is involved? Please provide all the resources you can! Any help would be appreciated. Even if its to tell me that I'm out of my mind and I should just get a 5-speed car if I want to drive a 5-speed.
Thanks in advance! - LamLamb
