Well today I decided to service my 4r70W transmission in my 2000 F150 4X4. Everything went very smoothly until I picked up the old transmission filter and a small piece of metal fell out. Once I got a good look at the piece it appeared to be a piece of a roller bearing. So then I decided to open up the filter to see just what was inside. I found two more of the same pieces that appear to be pieces of a roller bearing along with lots of metal shavings and chunks, some of them seem to be bigger than normal wear and tear. There were even some pieces that seemed to be rubber. If someone could please take a look at the couple of pictures that I have posted below and tell me if this is normal or do I need to be concerned. The roller bearing pieces are the pieces on the far right of the last picture, the rubber pieces are the far left in the last picture, and the two in the middle of the last picture are just the two biggest of the metal pieces that I could find. The next picture up from the bottom is a overall view of the transmission filter opened up, and the very top picture is the view of my transmission with the pan off. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

Hey Loose, I am not a tranny expert, but that is not a pretty picture.... Was this the original filter from Ford....or had it been changed before....also do you notice anything about the way it shifts...has it changed recently?.... I suppose the thing to hope for is that it was stray metal from the original build and it has always been in there...... I don't know about you, but I am not that lucky.....

 

I am pretty sure that this is not the original filter I couldn't find Motorcraft or Ford on it anywhere, and the dust plug that is usually found in the pan wasn't there. Nothing has really changed about the transmission. I bought the truck about 9 months ago and it had about 47,000 miles on it, it now has about 63,000 on it. The only thing that has ever concerned me is the way it shifts at WOT, it seems to shift a little ruff from 1st to 2nd, it was really bad until I recalibrated the speedo for my bigger tires. It just seems like 1st to 2nd is rather hard on the transmission and drivetrain, but I have kinda let it go because I have heard that the 4r70w is kinda sloppy when it comes to shifting. But besides a little sloppy shifting it has never given me a reason to think something is wrong.

 

So, I guess we have to assume the metal fell out of your tranny... I am not that familiar with the guts of a 4r70w so that I could identify the parts, but I bet someone like JMC could.... Your pictures are great, but maybe a dime, or a ruler would give it a little scale...... i assume those roller bearings are about a 1/4 inch long....is that right?

 

Yeah I thought about that after I posted. I just measured those roller bearings and they are 3/16 of an inch. I hope that helps give some scale to the pictures..

 

Oh yeah, and they are just about 1/16 of an inch wide...

 

This forum is the place to find out what those part are.....but until you do find out, based upon the fact that nothing seems to be changing... i'd seal it up and drive it..... if you can't notice it....it ain't a problem...... (I know someone will point out that you can fix it for 12 dollars now, but if you drive it it will cost 1200 to fix....) anyway goodluck....

 

Is there anyone out there that can help me identify these pieces?

 

I cant ID the parts and doubt that many here can. Ecxept for the bearing rollers the other things are too mutilated to even tell what may have been at one time.

We all know they dont belong in the filter, we all know they look like they been chewed up & spat out, we all have a very strong suspicion that they were originally in your tranny somewhere.

You say the truck still runs normal, so you can either keep running it till the tranny takes a dump. Or take the proactive approach have it rebuilt or replaced. If it were my daily driver I might consider the rebuilt replaced option, otherwise I'd ease up on the WOT 1-2 shifts and milk it for the remaining life of the transmission.

My $.02, good luck.

 

Thanks LE PEW,

Every little bit of feedback I can get helps.. I know as well as everyone else on this site that those pieces cant be good, but this is my first ford truck so im just trying to get all the info I can before I make a decision.

 

My tranny (4R70W) shifted like I had a shift kit in it. Then, I took apart the 1-2 accumulator port (at the upper left of your photo) and the bottom 1-2 accumulator spring was broken in FOUR PIECES!

Now it shifts like a new truck. Check it out. It is very easy to remove the rubber accumulator with a large snap ring tool. Once the snap ring is removed, the rubber accumulator will fall out with the bottom spring. If it is broken, it is probably the cause of the rough shifts from 1st to 2nd.

Good luck,

Jeff

 

Thanks OE812,

I will have to look into that.. I already put it back together so ill drive it for a little while then drop the pan again and see what it looks like.

 

Well today I dropped my pan once again to take a look at the 1-2 accumulator port and spring. Everything looked normal, springs looked good. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

 

It may be a problem with the Reverse Input Drum. In late 97, an updated reverse input drum was introduced which changed the 7-element roller to 14- element, then to mechanical diode.

I am at a loss.

Sorry

 

No matter how you look at it, the needle bearing was very important. There are at least 8-9 needle bearings within the tranny-some inside drums with seals, some outside. The ones like the forward clutch would take out a seal = big trouble. The ones not enclosed but missing or damaged would increase the end play of the input &/or output shafts. I would guess that it was in the rear of the case, where most likely, your driveshaft rammed into the tranny so hard that it crushed the bearing. Either way, your tranny needs a rebuild. I'm not a tranny expert, but I have built a few older ones for racing that lasted (350TH, and the PG). PS. I already changed my 1-2 accumulator and springs. The o-ring tore apart leaving the aluminum piston to drag and score the bore. Take a good look for any shinny rings in the bore, and feel with your fingertips.

good luck.