So THIS is why my trans would not shift up!

[B94Sport]

Background: My trans would not shift out of first (or second, so I thought) unless I let off the gas and then throttled it lightly when the RPMs dropped. Reverse was fine. So I took it to the shop and they suspected that the servos were shot (See attached pic). They replaced them, still no go. Then they dropped the pan and found the two metal chisel-esque pieces that you see in the pic... Yes those had broken off and I guess they are what compressed the band that gives you 2nd and 3rd gear (itermediate band?)... Now my trans only has 1st and 4th gear and I guess overdrive? I never understood overdrive. All I know is that I could neither justify, nor afford, putting $1600-$1900 into my truck for a tranny rebuild because I am buying a new vehicle soon, so I asked the tech if it was okay to drive. He said that mechanically, the rest of the tranny looks brand new, no metal shavings or anything else to indicate problems, and it shifts as smooth as silk (when it does shift). So yes, now it is a pain in the ass driving with only 1st and 4th gear, but all I really do is highway driving, so now that I've figured out how to throttle it to get it to shift from 1st to 4th and not try to downshift, I have no problems with it.

Now I have what I refer to as a two speed (or would it be three since overdrive works?) Ford-O-Matic transmission

Check out the pic below... They gave me the broken parts. The red circles are the wear and tear/broken portions.

Dead Link Removed

 

[Opera House]

That metal is the band strut

It will only come out if the weld on the end of the band or the band brakes. Even when you take out the servo piston out, there is a pivot arm that retains the band. So it was those high rpm shifts and years of fatigue that did it in. When you hold one of these bands in your hand, it just doesn't seem that strong. New ones are only about $20. I'm not so sure about the piston story. Think that was damaged when they took it out or they just didn't want to say it was ok after all that work. Extended travel of the piston after the band broke might have caused that, the base it goes against is not flat. A bad transmission creates a minimum value for this Explorer and you don't have to go far in to get to this band. You might want to try rebuilding this yourself just to bring it up to market value. It would be the fastest $2,000 you ever made. Partial rebuil would be less than $50 and take 2 hours after it was removed.

 

[B94Sport]

Wow, really? I was under the impression that this would be a very time-consuming fix! What is involved in replacing that band?

Anything short of removing the whole trans and I will attempt it during my christmas break when I have a garage to work in and have nowhere to drive.

 

[B94Sport]

Re: That metal is the band strut

Originally posted by Opera House
Extended travel of the piston after the band broke might have caused that, the base it goes against is not flat.

That is the story they gave me.

 

[Opera House]

To get to the band

1. Pull out the torque converter & shaft
2. Remove the 8 bolts that hold the pump/bellhousing
3. Loosen band adjustment & remove overdrive band
4. Remove overdrive drum then OD planetary drive. These come out mostly as assemblies.
5. Pull out center support. This is where I forgot that there is a bolt you have to take out that requires removing the valve body. So maybe add an hour to take off the pan andchange only the top gasket. Much more is probably a waste of time. There is a single bolt that holds in the center support.
6. Loosen the intermediate band adjustment.
7. You can pull out the band and replace it and the struts.
8. Cut the old O-rings out from under the band adjusters and replace with new O-rings.
Install new seals on center support etc and put it back in reverse order.

Suggest you have a manual to do this. There are more details on "Anyone rebuild an A4LD". When you pull out assemblies beyond the center support, procedures get trickier for the assemblies. And you certainly could do more like rebuild overdrive clutch but that wouldn't be necessary. I'd buy a new star washer for the overdrive $7.50 because these are cheap and a wear item. It will probably take longer if you are like me and like to look at things and figure them out. How many times do you get to look at the insides of a transmission.

 

[B94Sport]

Hmmm.... So this does involve dropping the transmission then? At least that is what it sounds like to me.

 

[Texan01]

Yep that involves dropping the tranny. not a time consuming task, get a couple buddies to help out/BS with and you'll have it out not time.

 

[rollin900]

same problem

i am having the same problem, but i just had my trans fluid flushed and there was nothing in the pan. is there anything thing else that might be wrong with it...ie. throttle body (is there a shift module in these) and/or anything else?

thanks in advance

 

[DarkFox1]

wow, that looks bad.... I know nothing at all about trannies.. but I'd say its a good thing you beat them to death to make them drop the pan... at least thats what it takes here.

I need to have them drop the pan on mine.. but they want $200 to do it since they say theres no warrant for concern.. all i have is some hard shifting, so its probablly nothing.

 

[X-1]

At one time I was having shift problems, I found that part of the trans filter had broken off, and was clogging the pump. I changed the filter, and cleaned it up, and have had no more problems. Make them drop the pan, the filter can rot into peices if left on too long. Mine now has 178,000 miles on it.