My truck & I Need Help

[crackpottinker]

Hi.
I'm simply a serious DIYer bought a ranger utility truck this spring for cheap it's got a 2.9 with an a4ld that needed rebuilding. Thought I had it all good but I guess not, This is my first trans rebuild. Been trying to get info on the Valve Body Components without much success Hope to find some help here!
I May Have Lost a piece if I did I don't know if Its a Hopeless case to Get another short of a whole valve body?
This truck has a real history originally a Phone Co. truck Most recently worked in a Quarry one dirty little truck had a hard life but I'd like to ressurect it if I can afford it.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! The transmission section has a sticky thread called the A4LD valve body rebuild diary. The one in the diary has 2 solenoids. Your valve body has one solenoid. The parts are similar.

 

[crackpottinker]

Thanks for the welcome

I found the Valve body rebuild thread by Glacier 999 very informative. Makes me almost sure I lost Something. See my post in the tranny section disappearing Parts. I'm such a novice I wouldn't have tried this if I were employed steady and could've paid someone to do it it's definately been a learning experience. also found frankentranny interesting. Nothing I'm gonna try on this first rebuild ever though. I just want to get this truck on the road again not off the road.

 

[1Aauto]

welcome to the forum.

 

[crackpottinker]

Learning My Way Around

It may seem a bit odd to some of you but I normally don't spend much time online. A few years ago I had joined a couple of Yahoo Groups and was on everyday for a while ( I was laid off for a few months) then I got back to work and I just didn't find much time for it. As far as I know my memberships have been deleted or at least I can't remember my passwords any more.
So I'm not terribly adept at navigating my way around on a message board.
I have figured out how to look at the different forums and post to them.
I found the Members list and looked up a member to send an E-mail. With this Group being (from my point of view) quite large the process of going through page after page of members for each letter of the alphabet seemed a bit cklunky.
Granted neither my computer nor I are very fast but is ther a faster way?
I would like to make some ammendments to my member profile and I havent found where to go to do this just yet, any help would be appreciated.
I do very much appreciate the vast knowledge, and the generosity of those who are the true elete who make something like this work!!! I don't have much to give back other than more questions, thanks and praise for now anyway.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Click onto "User CP" in the upper left hand corner of the task bar. You will have a list of options to choose from. Look at the "update your profile" option. Another way to do this is to click onto your name, go to your profile, then select edit profile.

 

[crackpottinker]

The Story of My truck thus far

I must admit that I had held no particular passion for Ranger trucks prior to finding my little gem for sale. It looked pretty good for its age 1986.
It's been wearing running boards so I couldn't see clear through the doors or fenders there is a piece of stainless steel rather sloppily riveted under the very rotted out floorboard on the drivers side. The passenger side of the floorboard seems to have been protected by the heat shield over the exhaust which itself is nearly gone. Wisconsin is a horrible place for a truck to live.
My little gem is bearing a pierce aluminum utility box which was probably custom installed by the original owner, a telephone utility.
I'm sure had she been a four wheel drive she would have commanded a much higher price even though she hadn't been registered since 2005.
As things were the keys having been misplaced so I couldn't even try to start her, the seller "Not even Remembering why she fell into disuse" and scrap prices being way down in spring of 09 I picked her up for $150.
The tires have really good tread.
After towing her to my friends shop which was nearby I found that the fuel tank had a leak. Fixed that real good with J.B. Weld inside and out made a new hanger strap fueled her up a little and in fairly short order had her running. Hopeful I took her out for a little spin. seemed good until she shifted into 3rd. third was gone. Being fairly good with my hands and unemployed I decided to attempt my first ever tranny rebuild I found an a4ld manual online from atsg and began everything inside the tranny seemed straightforward.
I have a little arbor press and a lathe so I was able to depress the clutch springs and dissassemble everything without too much hassle the worst part so far was all the filth and gunk built up on the case.
Things got confusing when I got to the valve body. It was late at night and I was tired and I wasnt properly guarding the end of one of the bores when I removed the Keeper I felt something hit my pants leg and I searched diligently and could only find a spring. so I continued more carefully to dissassemble the bores and place the parts in a tacklebox with one compartment for each bore.
I was counting on my atsg manual to guide me through the reassembly.
I ran into my only problem getting the valve body apart at bore 216 the last bore the 3-4 backout valve was stuck it simply wouldn't slide out there was too much debris from the fried clutches my solution was to use a long drillbit and drill the end slightly then I used a tap and was able to catch enough thread to pull out the offending valve after cleaning it up and just lightly polishing it with emery in the lathe I repared the hole with J. B. Weld.
Then I cleaned up the valve body and began reassembly. I found that I was missing a part from bore 207 the reverse engagement valve and the parts in bore 211 didn't look anything like my diagram in the manual. I was seriously puzzled I checked the diagrams at a local shop which had the Ford service manual They were exactly like what I had they didn't show a single solenoid valve body. I called local tranny shops nobody could or would give me an answer. Then the real kicker I was cleaning up in my work area and found the bolt and cagenut that belong in the center support. This new development fairly took the wind out of my sails. I just found other things to do while I considered my plight. Finally I decided to tear it apart and put in the center support bolt and have my mechanic ask a local tranny shop to look the valve body over to see what was wrong. They charged me $75 to say all was ok. So the trusting, naive ignoramus that I am I put it in and installed the tranny. Now I have no reverse.
Finally I got online and joined this message board and Brooklynbay sent me an awesome link to an accurate diagram of MY valvebody.
Now I am searching for a source of the missing piece if I can't find one I will have to purchase a used valve body. I'll still be money ahead of paying a tranny shop and I have a much greater understanding of the guts of my transmission but it still hurts my pride and my wallet. What Have I learned:
1)Be more careful check parts against the diagrams as I proceed to identify any problems earlier
2)This message board is an awesome resource because of some very generous individuals who if we pay attention can teach us alot. Again I wish I had joined and spent some time here before I began!!
To anyone who has read all of this Thanks for your time.

 

[BrooklynBay]

I've merges three of your threads together to help keep everything organized, and in one place.

 

[crackpottinker]

Sorry

I didn't mean to make things confusing just thought I'd seperate my topics a little.
I've been doing some more reading and browsing on this message board trying to come to grips with its vastness. Just now realized that there is a fee for elete membership I don't know where these fees go, doesn't really matter to me personally but I hope that some of the true elite contrbutors are being somewhat compensated, you are what makes this "place" worthwhile!!
I hope That my Punctuation and Grammar are reasonably acceptable I've not learned too much Instant Message Speak don't really care to either..

Have you guys ever had or considered a rally or gathering of some kind? I'd sure be honored to shake a couple hands at least.

 

[BrooklynBay]

The $20 yearly fee keeps the website running. The monthly cost is about $300 (server, electricity, ISP, etc). There are get togethers in certain places. Check the main forum page.

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

welcome