Rebuilding your own transmission?

[Vanquish502]

K. My reverse gear finally cacked. Have to rev it to 5000 RPM before it barely even budges, so moneys on the band is screwed. i'm going to try out the extension pin, but that only buys a small amount of time.


Being how a rebuild is $1500-$2500, and I also don't like other people working on the truck, I'd like to do this myself/someone helping me.

First: It's not going to be possible is it? I have no experience with automatic transmissions, and very little with standards. Although Glacier's diary is quite amazing for being on the internet, I still don't feel confident of it being enough to help me.

All I want to do is change the revese band and maybe little parts here and there that NEED replacing. If it 100% doesn't need replacing, I wouldnt.

I understand the transmission has to come completely apart to change the band. Theres absolutely no way around that? Like dropping the valve body and squeezing it in somehow around the drum?

Also, I know you need specialty tools for something like this, but Glacier put way too much time into his diary and I just don't like reading. Reading through all of that to find the tools needed is crazy.

Anyway the main point is, its not really possible for me to rebuild this myself is it? If it's not a hard job (the actualy rebuild, not removal and installation) I'd be willing to try it. But I've seen pics and theres like 2 million parts. I also dont want to get the entire thing apart then have no idea how to put it back together.

Any info is great, just need to the truck to work.

Thanks.

 

[bmxking5]

No offense, but how do you expect to attempt to replace parts inside a transmission when you're too lazy to even find out any of the info about it? You want the info handed to you, when you KNOW that it's all in the rebuild diary!??! All I did was "search this[A4LD rebuild diary] thread" for tools and it came up with his list of tools needed:

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1330374&highlight=tools#post1330374

 

[Vanquish502]

Yes, hes got a list of tools.

I Wouldn't be doing the rebuild that he is. My main goal is only to change that damn band. This truck won't be used for a lot longer. Therefore some of those tools arent required.

I just want to change the band, so I only need to know the tools needed to change the band.

 

[Glacier991]

There are no special tools needed to change the band, so long as when you pull the bellhousing you leave the pump attached. You will need an inch lb torque wrench to adjust the band and reinstall the VB, so if that is special, then you need one special tool. If that is all you want done ask a shop for a price quote. I think you should do better than $1500. I'm thinkin you ought to let someone do this for you.

 

[BrooklynBay]

The reverse band doesn't have any adjustments that need a torque wrench, only the first 2 bands in front of it. I rebuilt a few of these in the past before the rebuild diary was online. If you get an ATSG manual, or the big one from Ford, I'm sure that you wouldn't have any problems doing it. You basically just have to make sure that you don't roll, or rip any of the seals on the center support, and any other parts inside of it. The rear circlip, and the small pieces holding the front 2 bands in place are a little tricky. If you just replace the reverse band without opening the clutch packs, and front pump you should be OK. Keep all of the parts in the same order that you removed them. The torque wrench should be set at 10 Ft. LBs, and the first 2 bands are set at the same torque, then are backed out 2 turns if they are the solid band. The older bands that were used on the 4.0 were a split design, and looked very similar to the reverse band. They were turned back 3 & 1/2 turns. I would assume that you have the solid bands, since you just had it rebuilt recently.

 

[Pdwight]

Tag

for reference

 

[Vanquish502]

There is one shop that would change the band for a grand, but he said at that price, he does it at his pace...

 

[BrooklynBay]

There is one shop that would change the band for a grand, but he said at that price, he does it at his pace...

What happened to just putting in that $3 extension on the reverse servo before tearing the whole thing apart? This part is easy enough that anybody with a socket set could install in about an hour without any specialty tools. They do make a special reverse servo cover compressor tool, but you could still do it without it. You had mentioned that a shop was going to replace the O rings in another post. I had previously mentioned that most of the time they replace the soft parts in a rebuild, but not the hard parts, like reverse bands. I would say to just try it first, and see if this will work for you before blowing a grand on another rebuild. Just for reference sake, you could get a whole transmission from a junk yard for half of what he wants to replace the band, and there are guys on EBay selling whole rebuilt transmissions for about $800. This is without installation of course.

 

[BrooklynBay]

One last thing that I forgot to mention is that you should find out if your shop is an ATRA member. If you would have any problems later on, you would have ATRA on your side. You should also get the price in writing, and a written contract showing how long your guarantee is from them. Before I learned to do this stuff on my own, I wish I would have known these few rules of advice. I would have a few thousand more in my account, and wouldn't have had the aggravation from these fly by night shops that keep changing their motor vehicle repair shop registration #s. Some places wait until they have enough law suits, then close down for a week, or two, then reopen under a different name, and registration #. I'm not saying that all shops are bad. I'm just giving you some helpful advice. You mentioned that your rebuild was only 8 months old.