BlackSkyRacing
Living Under a Rock
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2007
- Messages
- 1,394
Alright, I'll admit I know Dodge 4 speed transmissions like the back of my hand, and I have been through a handful of these 4R100s with decent lucl thus far. But, I have one that is kicking my ass. After chasing my tail it still has weak reverse, all forward gears shift firm, third is solid, cannot slip fourth, manual second holds back, and manual low squawks the tires when it hits. By weak reverse I mean it will not engage at idle, you feel it thump at about 1500rpm and it begins to back up, then at 2,000rpm it's fully locked in.
History - Customer picked the truck (03 2wd 7.3, trans has PTO option) up cheap with weak/intermittent reverse with all forward gears working. I never verified whether 3rd was strong, or if 2nd manual held back, but upon teardown it was evident that someone had recently rebuilt the trans. The only clutch with issues was the Low/Reverse clutch. As per the customer's request I just installed L/R clutches and seals, along with a Transgo HD-2 Tugger kit. I had some issue with getting the L/R boost valve bore to clean up and wasn't 100% satisfied with it, the valve would not fall out under it's own weight, but the sligthest spring pressure would return it when moved with the pick. Did a pressure check and everything checked out decent, my air blower doesn't seal the best in the L/R port and there was a minor leak, but the fact that the clutch applied and the cushion plate flattened made me happy enough with it. Came time to road test and the truck had solid engagement into reverse (yey) and backed up just fine with zero throttle input, but as soon as it hit a dirt mound just outside the shop door it stopped. Gave it some throttle and nothing (wtf??). Pulled it in and put it up on the lift, decided I wasn't as happy as I wanted to be with the VB, should have checked pressures, but just decided to swap in another VB I had from another trans to see what it did. Changed the shift kit goodies over and installed the different VB, now I had weak engagement in reverse (seriously wtf?). Ok, time to air pressure check everything again, coast clutch, good, direct good, L/R I get showered with fluid... Ok that sucked, put some goggles on and shined a light up in the case, eased the air in and air/fluid came rushing out of the lube circuit hole! Scratched my head for a second, DING, holy ****, the case is cracked! Now I've got this sucker and it's underlying problem... Searched high and low for a PTO case that was less then $1,000, customer decided PTO wasn't needed, put the PTO guts and sensors in a normal cas (which btw that whole coast clutch drum having to engage four things all at once while being set really sucks ass). Alright, we've got it, WRONG, now we have the no engagement at idle deal with all the forward gears strong as described at the top of the post. Had some local ford techs clue me in on faulty solenoid packs causing weak reverse, replaced that with a nice new one from ford, no dice.
So now after nearly going bald I'm running out of options, really need this damn thing gone. This customer hauls campers for a living and sold his two good working order dodges while I've been working on this and is down to one truck. So you can imagine just how anxious he is to get this truck on the road :bang
PS sorry for the novel, I guess this is just as much a vent as a cry for help...
History - Customer picked the truck (03 2wd 7.3, trans has PTO option) up cheap with weak/intermittent reverse with all forward gears working. I never verified whether 3rd was strong, or if 2nd manual held back, but upon teardown it was evident that someone had recently rebuilt the trans. The only clutch with issues was the Low/Reverse clutch. As per the customer's request I just installed L/R clutches and seals, along with a Transgo HD-2 Tugger kit. I had some issue with getting the L/R boost valve bore to clean up and wasn't 100% satisfied with it, the valve would not fall out under it's own weight, but the sligthest spring pressure would return it when moved with the pick. Did a pressure check and everything checked out decent, my air blower doesn't seal the best in the L/R port and there was a minor leak, but the fact that the clutch applied and the cushion plate flattened made me happy enough with it. Came time to road test and the truck had solid engagement into reverse (yey) and backed up just fine with zero throttle input, but as soon as it hit a dirt mound just outside the shop door it stopped. Gave it some throttle and nothing (wtf??). Pulled it in and put it up on the lift, decided I wasn't as happy as I wanted to be with the VB, should have checked pressures, but just decided to swap in another VB I had from another trans to see what it did. Changed the shift kit goodies over and installed the different VB, now I had weak engagement in reverse (seriously wtf?). Ok, time to air pressure check everything again, coast clutch, good, direct good, L/R I get showered with fluid... Ok that sucked, put some goggles on and shined a light up in the case, eased the air in and air/fluid came rushing out of the lube circuit hole! Scratched my head for a second, DING, holy ****, the case is cracked! Now I've got this sucker and it's underlying problem... Searched high and low for a PTO case that was less then $1,000, customer decided PTO wasn't needed, put the PTO guts and sensors in a normal cas (which btw that whole coast clutch drum having to engage four things all at once while being set really sucks ass). Alright, we've got it, WRONG, now we have the no engagement at idle deal with all the forward gears strong as described at the top of the post. Had some local ford techs clue me in on faulty solenoid packs causing weak reverse, replaced that with a nice new one from ford, no dice.
So now after nearly going bald I'm running out of options, really need this damn thing gone. This customer hauls campers for a living and sold his two good working order dodges while I've been working on this and is down to one truck. So you can imagine just how anxious he is to get this truck on the road :bang
PS sorry for the novel, I guess this is just as much a vent as a cry for help...
