New Valve Body available!!!

[Lazzman]

Went to my Transmission Guy who fixes Transmissions for the local Ford Dealers and asked him to do all the valve body upgrades I found on the rebuild thread i.e. Ford tsb upgrade kit, Sonnex boost valve, Superior shift kit, EPC solenoid.

Being an expert and shop owner for 20 years he wasn't to interested in what I had to say about the valve body uprgrades. He did tell me that the 5R55E transmission was not very well engineered and it is the most frequent transmission he repairs for Ford. He even went as far to say he had 6 Explorers on site waiting repair.

He took my X for a test ride and scanned it for codes, both showed up negative, just my luck. Unfortunately the problem only occurs 50% of the time.

To make this long boring story short, he told me that a company offers rebuilt upgraded valve bodies for the 5R55E which include all new solenoids, larger passages, bigger screens, shift kit w/ heavier springs and new boost valve. He said he could not duplicate the valve body because they use a special machine that is not available to him.

Anyway the cost is $300 for the upgraded valve body plus installation which obviously includes new filter and fluid. He said it would be around $500 and I have it scheduled for this coming Monday 1/23. I will keep all informed as to how it goes, the name of the company offering this complete upgraded performance valve body and what it actually looks like.

This is kind of a bargain for me as the EPC valve alone goes for $110. I am sure with the other parts on my list, plus the man hours it would cost more than $300.

 

[Green98XLT]

Interesting! Make sure you keep us up to date and tell us who's making this VB. I'd rather drop a whole new VB in my EX than do all the TSB's and upgrades anyway.

 

[Rick]

It would be very nice indeed if there was a bolt in modification that would add significant life to the tranny

Definately keep us informed.

 

[Lazzman]

From what I hear from this no nonsense guy it is, can't remember the name of the rebuilder but it is some transmission company like Trans Pro or something. They have only been getting them for about 2mo.

He said the first one he installed, a couple weeks back ran beautifally.

I hope to go an look at this part before they install it and I will let you know. From what I am told it inludes all new upgraded parts including solenoids and heavier springs. The maze that the fluid flows through is also larger.

Will update this....

 

[Glacier991]

Is this a new manufacture or just a company rebuilding them? There are a couple rebuilders out there....(Central Valve Bodies comes to mind) and Sonnax has just come out with a set of reamers to restore bores and oversize spools for the reamed bores, which will assist in improving rebuild quality.... but I hadn't heard of anyone building new ones. I'll be interested to hear.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Could you ask him if that company has a website with information on other valve bodies as well? I'll be interested in one for a A4LD.

 

[Lazzman]

No, I think it is a Transmission company just rebuilding them, he specifically called it a rebuilt Valve body, and it does have all new upgraded components, springs, valves, solenoids etc, that don't fail. The take the old valve body, strip it and clean it, make larger with reamers and then add all the new components- kinda like rebuilding an engine.

I will check it out Brooklyn, from what he said I guess this company has been doing it for about six months. He just installed his first one a few weeks back and was impressed.

 

[spindlecone]

I think it might be:www.lentechautomatics.com

 

[BrooklynBay]

Why would a rebuilder send out valve bodies when they can rebuild them in their own shop? Maybe the time involved is cheaper than man hours of their workers, so their workers could spend more time with rebuilding the rest of the unit.

 

[Lazzman]

No he does not have the tools to re-machine the journals in the stock valve body, I guess the tools are not available yet. I don't remember exactly what he said but it was along those lines and sounded valid.

 

[spindlecone]

Lentech is improving and developing upgraded parts as we speke for our trannys, 5R55E in particular

 

[Lazzman]

Yeah, wonder if the new 5R55W will solve any problems?

I drove a 2006 Mercury Milan with the 24 valve DOHC and six speed auto, it was like Butah and super responsive.

 

[Glacier991]

The new tooling and parts from Sonnax are not yet all available but are supposed to be soon. As for why a shop might prefer to send it out, the probable answer is that their techs are working on various trannies day to day. Setting up to do a single 5R55E VB would require them to re-educate themselves, and probably take more time than they could realistically recover. The rebuilder on the other hand does them in batches, and so once they get "up to speed" can work efficiently and probably do the job per VB in half the time it might take the independent shop.

 

[spindlecone]

Rich
Do you have any experiance with Lentech? been told they have developed some new stuff for what ails our trannys, such as larger input shafts etc
(not a clue as to what an input shaft is) In a tranny

 

[Glacier991]

The input shaft in the 5R (and A4) is size constrained. It goes between the inside turbine of the TC and connects it to the front planetary assembly (length constrained) it also has to enter through the pump "snout" which has a given diameter, so it is also constrained in diameter. Now they DO on RARE occasion twist off the splines, so a stronger material is certainly a possibility. I know in the 4R70W there is a stub shaft within the transmission which has an aftermarket super strong version which is also super pricey. Same size though.

 

[spindlecone]

Thx for the reply, stronger is what I meant to say, most likely not an item needed for N/A people to build a bullit proof tranny, I would assume

 

[retiredsparky]

phoenixhardparts.com sells reman v/b's for the a4ld. stock $169, and towing $289. after the warranty is up on my rebuild i was thinking about the towing one if research shows its worth the bucks. may be nothing more than a $20 shift kit.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Phoenixhardparts.Com sells remanufactured v/b's for the A4LD. Stock $169, and towing $289. After the warranty is up on my rebuild I was thinking about the towing one if research shows it's worth the bucks. Maybe nothing more than a $20 shift kit.

They also show a racing valve body as a 3rd choice, but I didn't see one for an A4LD on there. They had the AOD, AODE, 4R100, 4R70W, C6, and E4OD.

 

[retiredsparky]

i assume they know a racing body would leave us on the side of the road picking it up.

 

[Lazzman]

I had a chance to inspect the new valve body and it comes with all new components, I could only see it through the plastic bag it was in due to tranny fluid. All passages to the Solenoids where enlarged using a special machine that only the valve body rebuilder has.

He was very koy with the rebuilders name but said he sources the VB through Transtar his parts supplier who sources it from the builder. He really puts a lot of stock in the upgraded VB's and says they work great.

Ford wants $700 for a new valve body and that does not include any upgrades. If you get the $300 performance rebuild they want the old valve body in exchange.

My Trans shop guy was frustrated because the rebuilder fully machines and enlarges the passages and channels of the original valve body during the rebuild. The rebuilder is the only one who has such a honeing device, if my trans clinic could get his hands on it he would be golden.

When all is said and done it supposedly works beautifaly, I will find out on Wednesday when my ride is done. I have a bit of upgraded HP with my exhaust and intake, so the new VB should get a good workout.

Stay Tuned...