4R70W 3rd gear issues... Not loss of gear either...

[Rootsy]

To begin, 1998 F150 4x4, 4.6L. 243,500 miles, transmission rebuilt @ 190,000. Fluid changed 20K miles ago. Trans-go kit installed about 150,000 miles ago... For the past 3 days I have heard what sounds like a faint cordless drill motor running followed by a faint click when initially starting truck. Has occured 2 or 3 times. Didn't think much of it and everything was perfectly fine., until yesterday (Sunday) morning. Pulled out of driveway, Selector in D4 (OD) and up-shifted 1 - 2 just fine. She shifted from 2 - 3 and it was as if you had stepped hard on the brakes or down shifted to 1 . RPM did not shoot up. Feed it some fuel and it'll accelerate with difficulty and free up momentarily and then back under extreme load. I didn't force the issue, put it back into D2 and did my short chores and back home. I have no Check Engine Light or flashing OD light. I have yet to put the scanner on it to see if there are indeed any codes. I just parked it and got my second vehicle around so that I could go to work, etc. Any ideas. I've been mulling it over in my head for the past day or so and aside from a few ideas I have not figured it out yet. Thanks for the assistance eh Jamie

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[Rootsy]

anyone?

[BLUE20004X4]

Ya, tough one there. Sounds maybe electrical. I'd get it scanned with one of those expensive examine everything as you drive scanners to see if it's electrical or not.

[Rootsy]

I finally got around to dropping the pan... not very pretty... along with the obligatory gray mud on the magnet is a good bit of bits and pieces... bout the size of a half grain of rice...

Not sure what went awry in there but when I got the valve body on the bench there were a couple of spools that took some persuasion to move initially... after that they moved freely.

Played with it a little bit a few weeks back to trouble shoot and it felt tight in 1st and second but when on the scanner engine load wasn't abnormally high... 3rd and OD was just a plain no-go as usual... shift into third... and slow down we go... then a pop and it act like it was in gear and free than back to being bound...

So, the tranny will be out this week and I reckon we'll see what we find inside...

Now to figure out who to buy a reman from... As that is probably the route I'm going.... I already went through this one once @ 190,000... new clutches, steels, seals and bearings... were now just shy of 250,000 now...

[Mark Kovalsky]

I'd replace the trans coolers, too. Your trans had a lot of small metal bits moving around and many of them have found their way into the coolers. It's impossible to completely flush them out, so unless you want to do this again junk the coolers that are on the truck and install new ones.

[Rootsy]

Well the culprit is... drum roll please.... The torrington bearing between the planetary set and the direct drum (bearing, part #69 http://www.mn12performance.com/mn12-...r70w/4r70w.htm )... the steels and clutches in the drum are toast as well as the drum. Does not appear to be anything else hurt inside... the bearing surface on the planetary case is a bit rounded but otherwise everything is intact and unscathed...

so... new bearing set, seals, steels and friction discs as well as direct clutch drum and parts... a thorough scrubbing and flushing and a new cooler are in order... thank god it has an auxillary cooler in front of the radiator instead of using the radiatior.

So... what would cause this torrington to go? The ring in contact with the planetary case was gone... the rollers were floating around inside of the clutch pack and the drum... I replaced all of the bearings 55,000 miles ago... The ones that came out of it with 190K on them looked like brand new but when it's apart, might as well replace them...

anywho... that's the destruction in a nutshell...

[Darrin Burch]

Carefully look over all of your bushings while you are at it. Just a word to the wise.

Darrin

[Rootsy]

so who is the preferred vendor for rebuild parts these days...