Rebuild or replace tranny in '85 XLT? (4WD)
 

The chassis has about 180,000 miles on it, and to my knowledge, the transmission has never been rebuilt.

The truck has been used primarily as a tow truck in the past, and you can tell. It's geared very low - 1st gear only gets me to about 5 mph.

Anyhow, I'm in the process of rebuilding pretty much everything. My most important aspect right now is performance. I want to push as much horsepower/torque as I can.

Should I rebuild the tranny and see from there? Should I drop in a whole new, high performance tranny?

Like I said, I'm looking to rebuilt most everything, but as of right now, the transmission is the definite power bottleneck.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Peace,
-Ian

1985 F150 XLT Lariat, 4WD, SuperCab, Short Bed
Check out the gallery at http://members.cardomain.com/iterry

Rebuild
 

IMO I would rebuild it if you know how to. The reason I saw this is you know exactly what you are putting in there and the quality of part. If you buy a prefab performance transmission you really are not for sure what is in there.

Roger that. Thank you for your reply.

I spoke to my mechanic about this y/day, and he suggested taking a look at the timing chain. Does this sound green to anyone?

In short, the truck sounds like it's red-lining at 3,000 rpms.

Again, it had been used extensively as a tow truck in the past.

I really don't know a hell of a lot about trucks - specifially the timing chain. Any wisdom anyone cares to impart?

Thanks much,
-Ian