Let's just hope I'm not screwing up. I just paid for almost a Grand of tranny parts from Factory Tech in order to get my Lariat tranny to act like a truck tranny instead of a slushbox. I'm going on faith and gut instinct after reading Alan's (dirtyd0g) posts on this forum for the last 4-5 months. I have not seen a 4r70w question that he couldn't answer and he seems to really enjoy his work. I have to believe that if Alan tells me it will be great, then it will be great.

The biggie was the new torque converter. Also getting a shift kit and some sort of piece for the output tail of the tranny. Gotta let Alan explain it since I am clueless. He said it should be ready to ship tomorrow. Now I just need to decide who will install the parts here locally. 4 out of 5 shops are clueless it seems, and many won't be willing to install someone else's parts.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the most expensive performance mod I've ever done on a truck. I've had trannies rebuilt, but only when they were dead. I should have it all installed and ready to go for my diving trip to Key Largo at the end of the month.

 

You might ask dirtyd0g if he is familiar with someone in your area that does trans work. Check out the yellow pages for high performance/speed shops and get a recommendation from those guys.

Best of luck (and performance!)

Curt

 

I'd suggest you find a small independantly owned shop with a good reputation. Thats just the way I would do it If I were going to have someone else do it. The shift kit has all the directions and is very easy to install. It's just a matter of changing the seperator plate on the valvebody. The converter is a pretty straight forward install as well.
Tell them you will supply all of the parts. The go get 14 quarts of motorcraft mercon V fluid and put in it. The extension shoudn't take another 15 minutes.
The labor will depend on the shop's rate
Chilton's labor manual give 5.2 hours to R&R the transmission
(seems high to me but thats straight from the book)
I would add an additional hour to install the seperator plate and accumulators, then another .3 to replace the extension with the transmision removed.
So I would expect to pay 6.5 hours of labor. Any reputable shop will agree to that.
If they get confused about the "shift kit" tell them you have a new seperator plate and the updated accumulators to install in it. The valvebody does not need to be dissasembled at all, just the plate on it.
Alan

 

Well, so far I have had absolutely zero luck trying to find someone to install these parts. Most shops won't even bother looking at them before spouting off about "We can't warranty somebody else's parts". GRRR!!! I'm at a standstill, I don't have access to a lift or tranny jack and I cannot find someone to install the parts, but I need to get the cores returned within 30 days.

I just needed to vent.

 

What town are you in I'll see what i can find I know a few people.

 

After blowing off steam earlier, I re-evaluated my situation and found the person who I should have asked to begin with. He's a former Ford tech that opened his own shop many years ago, specializes in late model Fords, has ALL the high-tech equipment and has no problem installing your parts. He really liked your solution for lubricating the rear bushing and quoted me 6 hours for the job.

The best part is his location- 3/4 mile South of my house.
The Ford Shoppe
9100 S. Hwy. 17/92
Maitland, FL

 

Good I'm glad you got it settled, I'm not much for trusting shops to do the work anyway. A good honest mechanic is always best.
Alan

 

Finally got the work done two days ago. I'm really impressed with this torque converter. Either this thing is great or else my particular factory setup absolutely sucked. I can forsee about a 2-3 mpg increase since this thing is engaged almost all the time instead of slipping every time I look at the gas pedal.

Boy, it shifts hard though. It is really encouraging me to go easy on the gas pedal because if I drive normally (aggressively) it will jerk my teeth out on the 2-3 shift. Either I'll get used to it or else I'll buy another $60 of Mercon V and pay another $100+ in labor to have the old accumulator springs put back in. I'm guessing that is what I want to do? Can I soften the shifts up with my Predator tuner?


I'll box up the cores and ship them off Monday or Tuesday. Thanks again Alan, your stuff is top notch.

 

Here's a newly discovered tip. The hard shift is a direct result of the Torque reduction on the stock PCM. Altering that feature will make the shifts absolutely beautiful.
If the 1-2 is too abusive you can install a different lower 1-2 spring. That will soften the shift a bit.
You can reinstall the 2-3 spring to soften it up. I never thought the 2-3 was that hard usually just the 1-2.
Alan

 

Cool! Sounds like you know exactly what to do. Unfortunately I don't have a clue. When you say "Altering that feature", exactly what do you mean? Are you telling me to use my Predator tuner to reduce shift pressures?

 

No if you have a predator you need to find out how to turn torque reduction off. Basically what torqe reduction does is pull timing out of the engine for the shift. Don't mess with transmission pressures if anything turn them down a bit just for the shift.
Alan

 

Thanks Alan. I pulled out my tuner and plugged it in this morning. Found the settings for Torque Modulation. I had three choices- stock, 50% or off. I changed them from stock to 50% on both shifts. I also looked at the shift pressures but most of them were already at zero. I think I found one at 7 lbs and I reduced that. I'll take it out for a test drive later.

 

Wow! It's PERFECT! You're a genius, Alan. Went for a 10 mile drive and this tranny acts better than any vehicle I've ever driven! Before Thursday, the trans was my absolute biggest gripe about this truck (Why else would I spend $1400 to fix it?). But now I am totally in love with my truck again. Heck, I might even consider selling my Ranger now and just using the F one fiddy full time! Why would I ever want to drive anything else?