On my way home from my 4R70W took a dump on me. I was able to make it the last 5 miles home in first and second gear. It will shift into 3 and at times forth but after a few seconds begins to slip a lot. Firt and second are still solid. Anyway my question is who has recently had there tranny rebuilt and how much did it cost you? And would you guys say it would be better to have mine rebuilt or to by one that has already been rebuilt. I want to have an idea of what I should or should not pay a shop to do the work. Also I am a pretty handy guy and I am confident in my ability but I have no expierience working on transmissions. On the difficulty scale about where would the swap land.

 

If you have the tools and equipment, a swap is not difficult. I'd shop for warranty. I'm guessing that to bring the truck to a shop for a rebuild would be about 2 grand.

 

It looks like I will be buying a new unit off e bay and installing it on my own. I found a trans for $950 plus about $260 shipping. A rebult trans from ford would have been $1600 plus another $700 for labor quoted at approx 9 hours labor. AAMCO wanted $1600 to rebuild my trans and that was for a 3 day turn around. A few other local shops wanted $1300 but they did not offer warranty and they did not inspire much confidence in me. I will be ordering the new trans today and installing it this weekend. If anyone has any tips please feel free to offer them up.

 

Come back & report any issues you run into. I am interested.
ps. How many miles did the trans run, and what maintenance did it get?
I have a 4R75W which is supposed to be a close relative to your transmission. I did a half change at 30K, it was a pan drop, drain & fill.
I just did 2nd fluid change at 57K, the fluid was dark purple, so I am a little concerned. I'm not a real mechanic (store manager) but I used to run a shop that would r&r a trans every so often. It did not look too complex, just bigger pieces. You're going to want the right equipment...you will need to use a side post lift and a trans jack to drop it down. Make sure to seriously consider changing the rear main seal while the trans is out.
My brother pulled the 4 speed trans from his 68 GTO in 1973 and just about gave himself a hernia because he did it on jack stands-effectively on the ground. Please don't try to do it on the ground unless you get a lot of encouragement from others who have done it before.

 

Well big plans and very little time mean I will be taking the ol rig to a shop for the tranny work. The up side is that I found a great shop and I am only paying for parts. I was stressing about not having time to fix it when I ran into a guy who was in a unit that my unit provided fire support to in Iraq and he saved me and within a matter of 30 min I did the same for him. Anyway he is a manager at a tranny shop and offered to help me out.