How many miles out of your factory a4ld?

[turboranger91]

Just curious. I know most of us get quite a bit out of the motor before a rebuild is in order, and I know a lot of people say that the a4ld is a weak point, so I was just curious how many miles some of you have put on a factory a4ld.

I'll start... 265k so far and still shifts like butter.

 

[mekelly]

180,000. I honestly don't think they are as weak as they're reputed to be. I understand that there's much stronger transmissions out there but I it seems like of a lot of the failures are in trucks that do a lot of heavy towing or off roading.

 

[Josh P]

89 scorpio went out right at 100k exactly. first 91 aerostar 140k, second 91 aerostar 260k, it was replaced before it went out so who knows how much life is left? third 91 aerostar 170K. I have 1 C3 with 88k on it in my 86 xr4ti.

 

[natenkiki2004]

The 4.0L in our vehicles was the biggest motor Ford put in front of the A4LD. Combined with the heavy weight of the vehicle and the inclination for people to tow and offroad with it, it broke. It was a victim of a bad combination. I've also heard from multiple transmission people that it's a complex design as far as the valve body, moreso than previous mechanical transmissions. It was made at the wrong time, right when electronic transmissions were being designed. The A4LD was refined a lot as well and went through quite a few changes to fix issues but it was too little too late.

With proper maintenance and knowledge, it has no problem lasting a long time. Keep the fluid clean & cool, don't tow in OD and if you're offroading in tough terrain, pop the transfer case in low range. Like anything else, it can be abused or it can last in the right hands.

 

[2stroke]

220k here, with plenty of towing.

As for the combo, I've heard multiple people tell me they didn't do so well in bronco ii's either.

 

[Rhett]

B2 A4's were weak though. By 94 Ford had upgraded it considerably.

Mine has 181,000 on it, nothing done except fluid/filter changes.
Mine has an aux cooler and 3.27 gears.

I think I need to change the vac modulator soon though. I have the notorious trans fluid in the vac lines and manifold now.

 

[KEN's Exploder]

228K and kicking. I've kept up with regular transmission fluid changes over the years. starting to use the vehicle for towing. Vehicle is equipped with tow package and I use "D" gear for towing.

 

[FR-425]

154,000 non-street use is the cause in my case.

Lunched the output shaft thrust bushing.

Abused!

Edit: 3:73 gears with locker on 32" tires. 20,000 miles till I munched it.

Contributing factors: bad trans mount and the throughput shaft in the transfer case is sloppy.

Some very hard going and lots of tire spinning on this particular trip: Steep mud snow and rock...... after that failure was with in two weeks.

 

[trashtruck]

171k towing a 20 ft Bayliner for 6 years.

 

[RangerX]

in addition to the good points Nate makes about why it's weak in explorers, I believe poor axle gearing is a factor. I bet more early trans deaths are in Exs with 3.27 or 3.07 than in Exs with 3.55 or 3.73.
I'd be interested in seeing what factory gearing you all had that already posted.

 

[RangerX]

And just to share what makes me think gearing is a cause, I'll tell my experience. We had a 92 Sport 4wd with 3.07, got it for my wife to drive. It has maybe 150,000 on it when we bought it. I put on a budget 2" lift and 31s on it, and the trans died somewhere around 170,000 or 180,000. This was about ten years ago.

 

[malohnes]

And just to share what makes me think gearing is a cause, I'll tell my experience. We had a 92 Sport 4wd with 3.07, got it for my wife to drive. It has maybe 150,000 on it when we bought it. I put on a budget 2" lift and 31s on it, and the trans died somewhere around 170,000 or 180,000. This was about ten years ago.

Whoa! Well met RangerX!! I didn't think of that with the recent demise of my tranny. Less than 5k miles after switching over to 31x10.5's on stock 3.55 gearing.

 

[natenkiki2004]

Gearing likely plays a role. Mine has 3.73's on it but grenaded on the previous owner, unknown mileage but likely up past 150k. I don't know the timeline, whether it grenaded before or after, but I do know that it was used to haul wood in a heavy trailer.

I was told that it was the hard parts that broke, the gears. The clutches, according to the previous owner, still had readable part numbers on them.

One thing I'll touch on, if you or someone you pay rebuilds your trans, be sure that information from the ATSG update manual is used. There's critical information in there for performance. Mine got rebuilt by a knowledgeable transmission guy but there's 2 issues that weren't properly accounted for; clutch engagement in park (could be scary) and a harsh 2-3 backout upshift (letting off the throttle as it shifts from 2nd to 3rd). Both issues are simple to fix and check for as long as you have the valve body out. There's other issues outlined in the ATSG so it's good to get a hold of it.

 

[larrydd999]

245k miles and still running fine in a '92 XLT with 3.73 LS. No towing, too few fluid changes, but a moderate climate without too many hills and no off-roading (at least not intentionally).

 

[turboranger91]

in addition to the good points Nate makes about why it's weak in explorers, I believe poor axle gearing is a factor. I bet more early trans deaths are in Exs with 3.27 or 3.07 than in Exs with 3.55 or 3.73.
I'd be interested in seeing what factory gearing you all had that already posted.

mine is a 94, so it received many of the updates. It's also got the towing package along with 3.73 gears. I do minimal towing with it. Usually a small ten foot utility trailer. I have yet to any real off roading with this one, but it has seen 4wheel drive quite a few times. It's always had regular maintenance.

 

[FR-425]

Do you consider 150,000 miles an early failure?

Unreasonable expectations?

For most people that's 15 years of service.

What's all the complaining about anyway?

 

[FR-425]

Seems to me that getting a good rebuild is the issue not the factory equipment.

 

[Wolfie_85]

Mine got 173,000 miles, then decided 2nd gear wasn't something it was going to do on its own. That didn't bother me. Was going to fix it, then engine went in a big way.

No idea how it was taken care of before it was in my family. It seems they kept it clean, but didn't maintain the engine and transmission as well as my father and I did. Or maybe they just beat the crap out of it. Last one lasted over 500,000 miles.

 

[Rhett]

in addition to the good points Nate makes about why it's weak in explorers, I believe poor axle gearing is a factor. I bet more early trans deaths are in Exs with 3.27 or 3.07 than in Exs with 3.55 or 3.73.
I'd be interested in seeing what factory gearing you all had that already posted.

Yes...that's why I posted my gear ratio.

I think you're right about the poor factory gear ratios. There are times where the truck will lug in 5th gear at speed, which is why 4th (D) is a better option there. It was worse when I ran 31's, and until I regear and get my new springs on, that's one reason why I'm presently only running 30's. Even with 30's it does that with the 3.27's. Bad gear ratio, imo, for our trucks.

If I had 3.73's the rpm would be a little higher, avoiding the lug I bet. 4.10's for sure.

 

[Rhett]

ATSG update manual is used. .

Is that available on bulkpart.com? Or somewhere else?