I agree with the Hayes AOD rebuld manual! I usually hate the Hayes, but this one is good!
Read this thread here, I give some detail about what I did. If you have the will it is no problem.
http://www.sccoa.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45765&highlight=aod
I actually removed my tranny this weekend, and I am goin to rebuild it with some 4R70W internals i got off ebay! Wider OD band, and the 1,2 gears are shorter! The 2-3 shift will unfortunately be a little tall...
I got a rebuild kit form my local Autozone back when I did the AOD in my Lincoln Towncar, and it happened to be the brand that I was sent this time when i ordered the kit from Baumann Engineering. (it was a transtec brand)
Baumann engineering has been a great company to deal with this far. Greg down there spoke to me for a good 30-45 minutes before I even ordered anything, just explaning the details of the AOD-4R70W internals swap. These guys know their ***** about an AOD!!!
I got their shift kit, and their boost valve (a durability part) and ordered my rebuild kit from em. I got it in real quick, and then a few days later, they even sent me a thank you letter!
Any ways, if you want to tackle it, I might can answer any questions you have about it, in fact I can call you if you setup a time (got the unlimited long distance plan on thehouse phone)
The worst part is how messy it all is...
I used the Kevlar OD band from TCI, and according to Greg at Baumann, it will last a bit longer, but may cause temps to be a little higher becasue it takes a little longer to engage (more slippage). But he said durability would benefit...
If I had it to do over, I would just use the regular one, as the tradeoff probably makes it negligble... but it was only $30.
As far as tranny removal, I removed the gastank to remove the driveshaft, also a great time to replace the fuel filter with a high flow one... Never done it the other way... I did take one out myself way back in the day to take it to the shop to be rebuilt, it was a little cheaper that way, but I won't be paying anyone else to do one again...
BTW, I got a few thousand (3-4) on that tranny in my towncar before I sold it, and never heard of the guy having any trouble out of it... I see it as a very doable DIY project...
Good luck!