Transmission and Tire wear questions

[Tbonejr]

Hello

I have a 1996 Explorer XLT V6 OHV. It have 166,000 miles and still running great. I had the transmission rebuilt at 145,000 miles and have had no problems from the transmission. I just started pulling a boat and trailer recently and I have heard that the transmissions in the 96 explorers will not last long pulling loads. ( The boat im pulling isnt very big -16' with a 30 Mercury. Also I pull a trailer with a golf cart back and forth) These arent very big loads but a mechanic friend told me that even this would wear the trany down and I will end up replacing again. I really want to keep the explorer but dont want to be looking at dropping another $1,600 in trany. Is the transmissions in the 96 explorers this bad or am I ok ???

One last question - My tires have always worn down on the inside really fast. I seem to always be rotating them. Everything is in line and they can never find any problems. The people at the tire place always tell me these explorers just wear tires bad. Is this true or is there something they are missing ??

Thanks for any help

Tbone

 

[bisjoe]

You did well to get 145,000 out of the original trans. I traded mine in at 118k because I was beginning to get signs that the trans would go soon, and my trans guy said they see many of them go out at 110,000. All transmissions on any car or truck will wear out faster with regular towing, it's having to work harder with more weight to pull.

As for the tires, I never had that problem on my '96. If alignment is not off then tire pressure needs to be checked more often, or they are not good tires. Most likely there's some suspension parts worn out after that many miles, like control arm bushings, or ball joints.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Add an additional stacked plate cooler, and use full synthetic. This is basically all that you could do without rebuilding it as a Frankentranny. As for the excessive tire wear, I have a thread on it: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=197821

 

[Tbonejr]

Yeah I thought 145,000 was pretty good too. The mechanic said there were some thrush washers missing from the trany and I needed to take it back to the place that worked on it in the first place. (The transmission had never been worked on ???) (Unless it was in the first 8,000 miles before I got it) I told him this and he couldn't believe I had been driving the truck all these years with it in cripple mode (The truck never ran in cripple mode and never had any shifting problems or anything - The OD light just started blinking and it started shifting hard a few days prior) Anyway the thing is, I drive real easy and try to be as kind to my XLT as I poss can Mabe this is why the transmission lasted as long as it did in the first place. Ive got a transmission cooler Ive just got to install it. I need to replace the fluid with the synthetic stuff - Question - Can you mix synthetic with the non synthetic without any problems ??

Thanks for the help

 

[BrooklynBay]

It's better to use the same fluid in the transmission instead of mixing them. Flush the old cooler before reinstalling the transmission. You don't want to push old debris into a rebuilt transmission.

 

[Tbonejr]

Thanks guys for all of your help. I think Im going to keep the Explorer Im going to change the filter and fluid every 25 - 30 thousand miles as well as install the transmission cooler. Im going to go this week to get the ball joints and front end checked out for wear and get all fixed.

Thanks again

 

[manaen]

You may also want to add a external tranny filter to catch any possible dirt that may break loose from the coolers. And if you tow, a temp gauge will ensure that you always know that your transmission is not overheating. It will save you thousands to be able to lighten up on your tranny when the temps start to rise.