getting 4r70w rebuilt some ??s

supercharged95

Registered User
hey guys- unfortunately i can't afford a lentech just yet
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so i'm going to have a local shop rebuild her for now. since i'm kind of a newbie when it comes to transmissions, what should i look out for so i dont get bent over? i know to ask about warranty, which parts they use, etc. but i just want to make sure they will diagnose whats wrong with the trans w/out running up a huge tab in the process. meaning if my trans just needs a standard rebuild, or if i will need new sensors as well, etc.
on a sidenote, what happened to my trans------->

i changed the filter/fluid due to the fact that my trans was slipping badly. when i dropped the pan there we some rather large(1" long) chunks of metal in there as well as the fact there was a total of about 3 qts of trans fluid in there:eek: we put a new filter in and also 5qts of fluid,then drove the car around town driving it easily. then filled it up with another qt and took it out on the highway. i drove it easy for a couple of miles, then started some midly-hard accelerating. the first time the car shifted fine, the second time it wouldn't shift into second. we let the car sit and tried at it again, but to no avail it would not shift into second.

thanks for any help.
 
Get some estimates. Find out what the metal chunks are. Depending on what broke, it might be cheaper to start with a new transmission.

This will give you an idea on costs. You can get a new 4r70w from a company in Oklahoma City, OK for about $699 + shipping. They were made for Explorer 5.0's, but will bolt up and needs a few modifications to work. You would have to swap out a couple of sensors and some repinning of the connector. This is a good replacement for your 4r70w, it has the better internal parts and valvebody.
 
Here is an update regarding my transmission woes:

Called close to 20 shops here in the Des Moines area. Most of them wanted too much($1500-1800 if I removed and installed trans) and some wouldn't even deal with unless I brought the whole car in. I have had some luck with two shops though.

The first shop, Aamco(515-280-6465) quoted me $825 for trans rebuild (if I brough the transmission in). That includes new tq converter,and all other miscellaneous items. If there is any geartrain damage the gentleman said that it would be an extra $340 tops. 90 day warranty out of the store with 12 month/12,000 mile warranty when I bring the bird in and show them I installed it.

The second shop, Cottman Transmission(515-331-2100) also has what appears to be a good deal. I bring the car in and they run a 21 point inspection(including scanning the computer and checking the mlps and trs). The inspection is FREE. From there they determine the problem and let me know what needs to be done and then they quote me a price. If I decide to have them work on my car they will let me check out the trans so they can show what parts broke and the parts they will be installing to rebuild the trans as well as the specific part to replace the broken part. They will then rebuild the trans and before putting trans back up in place they will warm up the system and flush the radiator to remove any metal particles that could damage anything in the near future. To remove, install and flush the system they charge $275 which seems like a pretty reasonable price. I didn't ask him about warranty but if I decide to let this shop work on my trans I will have a warranty before I leave.

Here's my gameplan:
Trailer my car down here to Des Moines and have the second shop look at my car. If he can rebuild it for under $1000 total I will have him do the work, but if not I am just going to go ahead with my original plan and order a trans from Reinhart Automotive.
 
update:
talked to my friend that i am going to have trailer my car down here and he told me that he has scanners that he can use to check out my trans(not a suprise this kid's got some healthy cash flow) so he said we'd trailer it over to his shop and check her out. and he also has a TON of contacts in the automotive field and said he can get it rebuilt for me for $$cheap$$ which is fine with me.
 
update:
Had the car trailored down here last wednesday and got to work on it. The tranny was out by friday night and it was off to be rebuilt. I'm having it rebuilt at a shop for an estimate of $750-800 and should have the tranny back to me by friday or saturday. I've also ordered a few parts as well:

Tranny mount and crossmember bushings
downtubes(no cats at this time) and magnaflow resonator
b&m trans cooler
autometer trans temp gauge
egauges (din style)triple gauge pod, i will put this in place of my vmm unit.
(irrelevant item) removed silencer and am putting on a focus intake

look for another update by the end of the week
 
You might want to consider the deep sump transmission fluid pan that came stock on 96-97 4.6 liter Thunderbirds while your at it. It's a direct fit but also requires a 96-97 transmission fluid filter. It's basically designed to prevent fluid starvation on fast take off's and hard cornering. There are two different part #'s for the pan, one with a drain plug (which I have) and the other without drain plug.
 
Thanks for the info Jimmy

And here's what went wrong with my tranny:
Contrary to what I thought, I didn't blow my clutchpacks out. Apparently the bearing inside the drum was spinning, eating up the drum and causing metal chunks to flow into my valve body, in turn killing that as well. So I will be replacing the valve body and metal drum(?) in my transmission, and depending on how much this guy's going to charge me for a valve body I might just go ahead and get a manual valve body.
 
Here's an update with some pics:
Still waiting on my downtubes, they'll be here on tuesday(hopefully). Plan on putting in the trans tomorrow

enjoy the pics....
shot of our gayrage
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me after a day of spectating at the mustang club's road racing event
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built trans and new tq converter
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about as high as my bird will ever get(figuratively speaking)
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almost forgot

got a little camera happy and snapped a shot of all of my tbird goodies. my car came with all of the factory manuals, etc. I purchased the brochure and won the trophy when I beat a 95 mustang w/bolt-ons and nitrous. needless to say I ran a little quicker than my dial-in on that run;)
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