I have a '96 F250 2WD with the 351w and E4OD tranny. It has a 10.25 Sterling rear end and 3.50 gears. Every few weeks, I will tow a car hauler trailer with a '76 Ford Bronco, total weight around 5500 lbs.

I changed out the tranny fluid (including in the torque converter) with a pan drop and filter change at 134,000. It cleared up the minor shudder completely, until today. Now, at 137,500 miles, the shudder is back, and it's worse. I'm thinking it's the TC. I had trouble maintaining speed, and had to downshift and keep my foot on the accelerator to keep the RPM's up to keep it from shuddering. Also noticed it would slip, or refuse to lock up right away, when starting from a stop.

I've read nearly all the threads on the topic, but get so many different fixes I'm not sure what to do. I'm tempted to pull the tranny, and get a new TC to install. If I do that, what kind of TC should I buy, and where should I get it? There are torque converter that start at $249, and others upwards of $800.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!