I am seriously considering the following from JDM:
2lb lower pulley
Single blade throttle boyd
Line Mod valve
Breather Cap
chip reburn

To date I have the airaid & single chip. How much HP/torque can these transmissions handle? With the TSB stating the 2nd gear problem, this may be the beginning of the end for my tranny?
Any advice would be appreciated



HORSE 9
2001 Silver L

 

i just ordered a new engine and supercharger that should be putting out over 450rwhp. all i have is a valve body. sal said my tranny should be fine. i think yours will be fine as well with the mods u listed. but i would spend the extra 100 and go for the valve body instead of just the line mod.

 

I believe the Lightnings have the 4R100's? Same as my Super Duty's. Ive gone through two transmissions by adding around 100 HP and 250 + extra pounds of TQ. Factory has replaced them each time because they didnt think the mods caused the failures however its something to be mindful of. As soon as my warranty is out Im going to start looking for another tranny to augment. If the L doesnt have the afore mentioned tranny ignore me and come to my house to stone me

 

Well,Ive got some good expetience with this.

my first tranny started acting up at 13k miles and at 17,000 it finally went
I had real sloppy shifts.1-2 became like one big gear.My first rebuild lasted approx 30 minutes before making a big bang,howling and would not shift from 2-3.(I must mention that the truck went from the dealer to my shop and had Factory techs valve body in it for a what I thought to be preventive maintaince .I thought with the valve body in,I would get the shifts i wanted the right way instead of the chip to do all the work.To this day I dunno of ot was the valve body or the tranny itself which was bad but I will tell you that while rrmoving the tranny pan,My mechanic found one of the bolts from the stock valve body in the pan.this should have been a clue about what I was gonna see 30 minutes later. At this time,I had a JL chip,2lb pully.intake.throttle body,90 mm set up.I was running 12,80s consistant with slicks.My third tranny had sloppy shifts from the start,and a vibration that would rattle your teeth out.After the second replacement (third tranny ***** the bed)I no longer used my mods and the truck was brought to stock.Even stock,This last tranny was junk,I forget now the symptoms but it needed replacement.4 trannys later,(3 replacements) I didnt wait to see of it was any good,I sold the truck.2 motors,4 trannies is not good for resale either!!

My clouded point ,I dont think the power in general is what makes these trannies go south.I belive it is the 90% in the chip tuning and 10% luck in stock trannies.YOU DO NOT WANT FACTORY REBUILD IN THESE TRUCKS!!!

I think the power between the 1-2 shift is too much for just line pressue and you need some sort of mechanical upgrades for the tranny to stay together.

One other thing to consider is when you launch your truck with all the power adders on slicks,You are asking for trouble too!

**I did try JDMs chip right before I sold my truck and I will tell you it was the absolute best shifting chip I tried.It was like shifting fast instead of really hard like all others i tried.

The best ETs I got were with JLs chip though.............

My 458.00 worth...................
Ray................

 

I can second that on the factory rebuilds! They SUCK!!!!!

I lost my first tranny at about 30,000 miles. I'm suprised it lasted that long, but then my second tranny went south at about 37,000 miles. Well I tried to get another under the 12 month, 1 year ford replacment warrenty and they laughed when they saw all the mods on the truck.

So what do I do??? I bought the factory tech shift kit and for awhile that help the tranny and I thought it was ok, but I still heard that converter whine that and that scared me. But that wasn't going to stop me cause if I can't drive me truck the way I want to, I don't want it.

So the tranny is completely BROKE now. The last I had it out driving, It got to the point to where I couln't shift out of 1st gear no matter what I tried. Now I'm not sure if its the converter, or the tranny but the symptons lead me to beleive its the converter. I should know in a week when I pull this tranny and get a rebuilt monster box put in there (that should be the last one!!).

I really do think its all luck with these trannies too. I know guys that have had there's bone stock and not have any problems. I put 7 grand on my tranny and its crap.

If it goes bad, oh well! its only 2700 bucks for a built to chit unit with a new converter to handle it all. HEHEHEHEHE

 

I'm getting a Factory Tech tranny to hopefully handle the power that my new engine and extras will make. Since the tranny I'm removing is perfect I hope I'm doing the correct thing. I would rather my truck be down now rather than later on in the season.

 

Thats a million dollar question

 

Our first transmission went out with about 28,000 miles on the truck. The 1-2 shift became extremely sloppy and ended up blowing out a clutch pack. The transmission was replaced and lasted less then 1500 miles. We are currently on our third one and hopeing it will hold out untill our motor is ready to go in the truck.

 

Ive got a 01 L and not sure what to expect...my tranny feels like it slips from 1-2 rather than feeling firm and distinct..I can hear a different noise during this shift from the tranny on hard acceleration...should a stock L chirp the tires on the 1-2 shift when nailed...can this be adjusted as a warranty item if its shifting sloppy, or do you wait for it to fail? No mods yet, but waiting w/ 6500 miles

 

No that's normal for being stock...

 

So it should chirp on 1-2 when nailed?

 

The first thing you need to look at after a tranny replacement is did the dealer install the inline external filter. When ever a transmission fails, it causes debris, and the ONLY way to get that completely out of the system is to replace the lines, radiator, cooler, but for teh most part this debris isn't hurting anything but the transmission. The factory, not wanting to replace everything, came up with a fix that works, the inline filter. With this filter installed, the more or less minor contamination of the fluid cooling circuit is kept out of the tranny, which is the only thing it hurts. The reference manual clearly states that installing this filter is required, but from what I've seen, the dealers just don't bother. Without it, the new transmission WILL fail, I can almost gaurantee it. This is what I think has caused most of the "I'm on my third transmission and..." problems.
If you get a replacement, make sure they install the inline filter.

That said, the weak link is the intermediate plates, removing the torque reduction tears them up pretty consistantly, I've seen moderate to severe burning on almost all of the rebuilds I've done from chipped trucks. Better plates help a lot, getting clutch packs with added plates and better plates in teh forward and direct cluthces helps a lot, too. A shift kit helps some, but if you're doing more than a chip and filter, I would look into cluthc pack upgrades. Just what I think, but what do I know about transmissions?



G

 

Calling Factory Tech,

Will a torque conveter add to the life of the tranny?

Thanks again,

HORSE9

 

Oh you guys are giving me that warm fuzzy feeling about my new HD F150 with the L drivetrain. Maybe this is the reason for de-tuning the motor. All I wanted to do was bring the hp back up to that of the L--seriously debating now.

 

It may sound funny, but..yes. These (or any) transmissiopns fail because of the slippage occurring..not the hard shifts. Slippage causes a few problems, the main one is the premature wear on the clutch packs, which compaounds the problem by scalding the seperater plates and the filings end up being fed through the entire system.Sure, some will end up on the donut magnet on the pan's bottom but not before thay make their journey of destruction.A soft or "long" 1-2nd shift is a bad thing.It may give you that warm, "Im not hurting anything with this sheepish shifting", but beware. This sheep has teeth.The more hard parts you put in your trans, the longer it will last. Though with your mods and 75% of the L owners mods , a line valve or valve body change would be highley recommended along with a deep sump trans pan.