Automatic tranny removal tips needed.

quick35th

Registered User
So as many of you guys know I lost OD in my 174K original AOD on saturday. Tomarrow I plan to brave the cold winter weather and attempt to yank a used AOD from a cougar in a junkyard. I just wanted to know what tools I should have, whether there are any special tools required to take it out, and any general tips that I can use. I want to do this as fast as I can because it is very cold and there is snow on the ground.

Oh, are there any internal tranny differences between an AOD in a N/A 3.8 and my 91 SC AOD?

Shane
 
I forget what all is differnt but the na trany is not going to hold up and if its used you might not get a week out of it as the clutch packs are larger to take up all the tq. I think you are going to need to rebuild the one you have as some trans shops give you a week AOD from a NA. You know what I did?
I bought a book from a local trans parts suppy, read it 3 x, took it apart, cleaned everthing up. bought a complete rebuild kit with tq converter + the new OD band and to my surprise it worked like a champ. The real trickey part is the valve body which I put a trans go shift kit in but I was very happy with the rebuild as it was only $350 in parts and trans fluid. Only bad part is the time to remove the trans and the weather is not going to be on your side.
The only other problem is a place to work on the trans. Burned up trans fluid stinks to high heaven so dont bring it into the house.
 
scbird1 said:
I forget what all is differnt but the na trany is not going to hold up and if its used you might not get a week out of it as the clutch packs are larger to take up all the tq. I think you are going to need to rebuild the one you have as some trans shops give you a week AOD from a NA. You know what I did?
I bought a book from a local trans parts suppy, read it 3 x, took it apart, cleaned everthing up. bought a complete rebuild kit with tq converter + the new OD band and to my surprise it worked like a champ. The real trickey part is the valve body which I put a trans go shift kit in but I was very happy with the rebuild as it was only $350 in parts and trans fluid. Only bad part is the time to remove the trans and the weather is not going to be on your side.
The only other problem is a place to work on the trans. Burned up trans fluid stinks to high heaven so dont bring it into the house.

The sc transmission has more clutches in it and has the overdrive A servo. The servo alone is a major difference.
 
Pulling it out sucks, i did the one in my 93LX (not sure how much is the same) but i know it sucks, did it at my dads. Took me 6 hours, 2 packs of smokes and a 18 pack.
 
Damn looks like I am in for some fun. Hey at least I have a good attitude towards the entire thing. I may know where to find a SC tranny after all. I will have to make a few calls tomarrow. Thanks guys for the help.

Oh, what about a C4 tranny? If I can use on of them what year and what type of vehical should I get one from?

Shane
 
Get the one you have rebuilt!

From my experience (like 2 months ago), I would say just get the one you have rebuilt, or if you get a used one, make sure it hasn't been sitting there for a while. I put in a used one, and it was very low millage, but it had been sitting there for over 2 years(maybe unrelated, but it was working fine when he put the car away). I ended up waisting alot of money, i bought that tranny, got it put in. It blew up. I got my original rebuilt, and then no more trouble. Also, you don't know how long the used one will last. I thought I was going to save money by getting a used one, but in the end I just spent more!

just my 2 cent!
 
91_SC_BIRD said:
From my experience (like 2 months ago), I would say just get the one you have rebuilt, or if you get a used one, make sure it hasn't been sitting there for a while. I put in a used one, and it was very low millage, but it had been sitting there for over 2 years(maybe unrelated, but it was working fine when he put the car away). I ended up waisting alot of money, i bought that tranny, got it put in. It blew up. I got my original rebuilt, and then no more trouble. Also, you don't know how long the used one will last. I thought I was going to save money by getting a used one, but in the end I just spent more!

just my 2 cent!

Yeah I agree here but I just want to make it last long enough to possible trade it in on a truck. I dont know what I am going to do yet.

Shane
 
TbirdSCFan said:
Thought about just driving with 3 gears? ;)

Yeah thats what I doing currently. It suck a$$ on the freeway and I have to travel on the freeway to get to work and college everyday.

Shane
 
I'm going to pull my tranny off to sell soon, with air tools how long should it take?


(thead starter, the tranny's in good working order with shift kit if you are interested, pm me)
 
just finally got my tranny out...what a beatch. 2 bolts that mount the tranny to the block are a ROYAL pita to get to. I would say removing one in a junk yard would be easier if you can get a jack under it and can get the car up in the air, cuz you can cut stuff out of the way and not worry about messing up the donor car. Although I did bang up my hands rather nicely in a nice warm garage....would have been worse outside in the cold. I cannot seem to get myself to work with gloves on. I really hope to never have to do it again, but it would be easier the second time around. Its really a learning curve the first time.
 
Jayls5 said:
I'm going to pull my tranny off to sell soon, with air tools how long should it take?


(thead starter, the tranny's in good working order with shift kit if you are interested, pm me)

pm sent.

Shane
 
Shane,

Pull the tranny yourself, take it to a good shop for rebuild, install, and save some money. With a little experience it will take about 3 1/2 hours to remove and about the same to install. A good tranny tech can go thru the tranny in a few hours.
I'm ready to put wing-nut on mine to make it easier :D

Bryan
 
quick35th said:
Yeah thats what I doing currently. It suck a$$ on the freeway and I have to travel on the freeway to get to work and college everyday.

Shane
Mine has the habit of dropping O/D after a hour or so on the freeway; seems to be heat related because I drove 100+ miles last wknd in the cold with only 1 drop out. Other than the fact that the RPMs jump up to 3K and there's a bit more engine noise, its not bad at all.. In fact, its so subtle my passengers (kids) never notice anything until I move the shift lever to stop the cycle of O/D <-> 3. I can drive about 70 on the freeway w/o over revving the engine. I don't consider sustained 3K RPM a problem. :)
 
TbirdSCFan said:
Mine has the habit of dropping O/D after a hour or so on the freeway; seems to be heat related because I drove 100+ miles last wknd in the cold with only 1 drop out. Other than the fact that the RPMs jump up to 3K and there's a bit more engine noise, its not bad at all.. In fact, its so subtle my passengers (kids) never notice anything until I move the shift lever to stop the cycle of O/D <-> 3. I can drive about 70 on the freeway w/o over revving the engine. I don't consider sustained 3K RPM a problem. :)

So cruising down the freeway at 3K RPM is not a bad thing? I figured it would be. Hmm. What if I just leave it this way for awhile? Will the engine/tranny hold up? I dont abuse it when I am just driving from point A to B.

How hard is it to rebuild the AOD? How many special tools are needed? About how much should I expect to spend? What should I do to the tranny while it is apart? I am will and able to learn how to if someone cares to point me in the write dirrection.

Shane
 
quick35th said:
So cruising down the freeway at 3K RPM is not a bad thing? I figured it would be. Hmm. What if I just leave it this way for awhile? Will the engine/tranny hold up? I dont abuse it when I am just driving from point A to B.

Shane, I drove my T-Bird Sport without the O/D for almost a year that way. I just drove it in Drive all the time, no big deal. It's not a problem, just might loose on your MPG. Since it is Winter, I would drive it as is, and save some cash, wait for some warmer weather. :)
 
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Super Coupe Guy said:
Shane, I drove my T-Bird Sport without the O/D for almost a year that way. I just drove it in Drive all the time, no big deal. It's not a problem, just might loose on your MPG. Since it is Winter, I would drive it as is, and save some cash, wait for some warmer weather. :)

Cool! Thanks for the info!

Shane
 
mlbuxbaum said:
just finally got my tranny out...what a beatch. 2 bolts that mount the tranny to the block are a ROYAL pita to get to.
I have to share this with you.. I swapped out my tranny last wknd.. one of those 2 bolts was not going well. It was impossibly tight and had started to get rounded off from trying to shove a socket with swivels and extensions onto it. The ONLY way it was going to loosen w/o mangling any more of it was with a flat straight pull with a box wrench. Only problem was the wrench I had was too short to get any sort of leverage with. My cheater bar was too long and not wide enough to fit over the wrench and no immediate transportation to the hardware store was available.

Here's what I came up with after a few moments of quiet desperation... :D
It worked.. cranked that bolt loose right away.. I was so happy, I think I did a victory dance :rolleyes: :cool:
 
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I just replaced mine about a month ago. I had the same problem...no overdrive. The real pain was taking the gas tank out and removing the exhaust. But once that is done it goes fast. :)
 
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