Will a 96-97 transmission work in my 90 Aerostar?

[Aerostar65]

Hi all. First post. My 1990 Aeroster just lost its transmission, and I need a replacement. The question is a good friend has a 96-97 3.0 Ranger 2WD transmission with only 60k on it. It would be great if it would work as I have been having major issues trying to find a direct fit transmission. I understand this newer transmission is the electronic version, but could it be made to work in my van? Is there any electronics I'd need to swap over? Could it be bypassed with simple wiring? Any help would be great! Thanks, Mike.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! It's not an easy swap. You will have to transfer the wiring harness, PCM, and other stuff. Your vehicle uses EEC-IV. The 96 & 97 use OBD-II. A stand alone controller is one option. Check the transmission section for a sticky thread called the 5R55S swap.

 

[Aerostar65]

Hi, thanks for the quick reply, I do appreciate it! So it looks like I am stuck with the 88 to 91 choices. Whats this stuff I'm seeing about swapping a C4/C5 trans in place of an A4LD? The 3.0 has a funky bell pattern.. I'm kinda confused. This is my first foray into an Aerostar van. The rest of the van seems to be decent. Having a more common transmission to swap in would be great, and I'm not afraid to do a bit of cutting or bashing to get something to fit Thanks again! Mike.

 

[BrooklynBay]

The Aerostar had the A4LD until 1995, so you could get one up until 1995. The transmission section has a sticky thread called Project Frankentranny. It explains how to beef up the A4LD with 5R55E hard parts. There are adapters for using other transmissions instead of the A4LD. Some people use a GM 700R4. You could swap a V8 into it with a more durable transmission such as the 4R70W.

 

[Jon91Aero]

Will a MUSTANG A4LD 87 88 89 2.3L AUTOMATIC work with a 3.0L 91 V6??

 

[BrooklynBay]

Several things are different, but the good part about the A4LD is that you could swap parts to make it compatible. The 87 has a single solenoid in the valve body. The valve body has a different check ball configuration. The bell housing & torque converter might be different. The shift cable, and mounting bracket are different between the floor shift, and the column shift.