The rebuit tranny is IN!

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GRWeldon

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Well, I finished installing the first 4R70W that I have rebuilt. All I can say is... SUCCESS! The car moves in forward and reverse and has all 4 gears. I'm happy about this! I have no clue as to how long it will live but it's working for the moment. I DO have one issue. It seems that I can't adjust my cable correctly. It's acting like it's in park. It's adjusted as far forward as the slot will allow on the cable mounting bracket and the gear position sensor is adjusted as far as its slots let it move. I put the gear selector in park and it won't go entirely in and click. It WILL start in this position but the gears are off by one. It takes 2 clicks to get to reverse and actual tranny neutral reads D on the lever. To make put the transmission in Drive I actually have to move the shift lever to 2. I don't quite understand what could have happened. I was very careful to remove the position sensor in P although when I went to reinstall, I had to put the shifter and tranny in N instead of P to get enough slack in the cable. I could live with it for a while but the key won't come out of the ignition because the wheel won't lock. I'm assuming this is because it's not actually in park. I'm sure I'm not the only one to experience this... what's the solution?
 
You didn't get the manual lever in the right position, most likely.Remember the rooster comb; it's likely off by one.
 
Or you have the lever that is bolted on the outside of the trans in the wrong position. Post some pics of the cable and the lever.
 
It can be tricky to get it adjusted right. Do you have reverse lights?
 
Grog6 said:
You didn't get the manual lever in the right position, most likely.Remember the rooster comb; it's likely off by one.
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As far as the lever is concerned, I thought it can only go on one way because it's keyed to the shaft. I also don't see how it would be possible to get the rooster comb off one position.

I may have not been clear. With the shifter as far as it will go towards park, the tranny is actually in park. The car will start and the park pawl is engaged. The only problem is that the shifter won't go all the way to the locked park position. It's as if the cable is about a quarter-inch too short. Kinda like the tranny isn't in exactly the same position as it was, but the mount lines up perfectly with the crossmember.

I'm drawing down the AC system at the moment to see if it will hold a vacuum but when I'm done I'll put it back on the lift and investigate again. I was way too worn out yesterday to mess with it further.

I'm not happy with the 1-2 shift. It's a bit mushy under low acceleration, almost perfect at medium acceleration but it let's the engine Rev to almost 6K under WOT. It has only a purple spring under the accumulator piston, that is you have to remove the piston to access it. I'm not sure if I have the spring on the correct side of the accumulator. All other shifts are fine.
 
No, that's the right spot for the spring. Did you do the jmod?
 
Have you tried adjusting the cable postion at the transmission?
 
if unhook the cable from the trans. can you then place the car fully in park and remove the key? if you can that means some adjustment is needed if not that means your park indicator cable that runs to the IGN housing is stuck or gone bad. I know it seems unlikely that its bad but i've seen/had stranger things happen. once pulled the dash out and the fuel pump went bad. Only had the dash out for about 8-10 hours
 
Can you post a picture of the cable and lever as it is now?
 
Maybe you have the shifter cable routed incorrectly.
 
The high rpms sound like the spring is on the wrong side of the piston. The purple spring, the piston, and the blue spring then the retainer.
 
Grog6 said:
The high rpms sound like the spring is on the wrong side of the piston. The purple spring, the piston, and the blue spring then the retainer.
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Thanks for your reply. I do not have a spring between the piston and the cover. I could be remembering incorrectly but when I did the mild J-mod to my Cougar years ago, I thought I only put a purple spring in the bore, then the piston and no other spring. It was a firm shift under power and mild otherwise.

So you are saying a blue spring between the piston and the cover will firm up the shift some?
 
It slows and softens the shift. When that piston moves, it gets pressure on top, and when it moves down so far, it opens a passage that fills the shift circuit, and does other stuff. The topspring is the one that goes in the case first. A brown spring, with no bottom spring, is as hard as it gets. That always barks the 1-2, whether you are trying or not. The purple top, and no bottom is firmer than stock, and recommended. Purple top /blue bottom is stock, I think. I've never put a bottom spring in. Does your speedo work?
 
Grog6 said:
It slows and softens the shift. When that piston moves, it gets pressure on top, and when it moves down so far, it opens a passage that fills the shift circuit, and does other stuff. The topspring is the one that goes in the case first. A brown spring, with no bottom spring, is as hard as it gets. That always barks the 1-2, whether you are trying or not. The purple top, and no bottom is firmer than stock, and recommended. Purple top /blue bottom is stock, I think. I've never put a bottom spring in. Does your speedo work?
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Thanks for your reply. OK, I was misinterpreting top and bottom. I have a purple spring in the top, no bottom. My speedo works because I used the speed sensor that came out of the 97 transmission that I rebuilt. It has a white speedo gear. The old tranny was obviously wrong. The speedo gear was green.

The 1-2 shift is still too soft for my liking. I have an aftermarket purple spring as the topspring. I would imagine this is probably my issue? I had a purple topspring in my 95 Cougar and it was perfect. It was a Ford spring.

So I now have about 220 miles on the transmission. Those were basically short 25-50 mile trips. Should I now consider it reliable? I know your opinion about early transmissions so I guess reliable means as reliable as a 97 rebuild can get. I'm planning on making a 200+ mile trip next weekend. Think I should trust it yet?

Also, what is the current popular trans cooler? Maybe I should say "most economical" but will still do the job?
 
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Here is a useful quality cooler that isn't a chore to install.

You can also usually get them at autozone under part number 911-679. For 15 years my local autozone always has one in stock.

If you have put 200 miles on your rebuild and it feels confidant with no slipping or flaring. I'd say you are good to go. On a stock rebuild in stock cars there is nothing to fear over a 97 trans core. Go drive, enjoy your car!

There is also a large Long TruCool 40,000 GVWR cooler most of us like but it's not super cheap and you have to do more work to get it in there. I've installed dozens of the 911-679 with great success.
 
supergordo said:
Here is a useful quality cooler that isn't a chore to install.

You can also usually get them at autozone under part number 911-679. For 15 years my local autozone always has one in stock.

If you have put 200 miles on your rebuild and it feels confidant with no slipping or flaring. I'd say you are good to go. On a stock rebuild in stock cars there is nothing to fear over a 97 trans core. Go drive, enjoy your car!

There is also a large Long TruCool 40,000 GVWR cooler most of us like but it's not super cheap and you have to do more work to get it in there. I've installed dozens of the 911-679 with great success.
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Thanks man. Yeah, no issues with the trans. The 1-2 shift isn't firm enough. I'm going to have to go one step above the purple on top (no bottom). Other than that it has been good.
 
Yes, but TG ford only made one blue. Brown is more ambiguous; it could be called orange, yellow or brown, but they only list brown, lol. There are ford part numbers on the table,and ptsc stocks them, as would most ford dealers. A bag of three was like 7 bux at ford in the 00's.
 
Jerry told me to install the blue Top 1-2 spring and leave out the bottom .. and no spring on the 2-3. I've never used any other springs.
 
Strange, the blue one is the same size, but lower rate than the purple. The mod article says purple top, no bottom, and no 2-3 like you said, but you have to make sure you're using the proper height for your trans. There are two, lol.By 2002, they had put back all the shit Jerry designed, but were eliminated for beancounters, and 'nvh'
 
Hmmm. I think I put the original 2-3 spring in. Shift feels quite positive but nowhere near soft OR harsh.
 
Grog6 said:
Yes, but TG ford only made one blue. Brown is more ambiguous; it could be called orange, yellow or brown, but they only list brown, lol. There are ford part numbers on the table,and ptsc stocks them, as would most ford dealers. A bag of three was like 7 bux at ford in the 00's.
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I only mentioned it because the TSB said "lt. blue". What is PTSC?
 
Grog6 said:
The mod article says purple top, no bottom, and no 2-3 like you said, but you have to make sure you're using the proper height for your trans.
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I usually installed for the < 300 HP or Mild w/ gear change by the article. It's plenty to bark the tires between 1-2 shifts.

The F75Z-7F284-AA is Light Blue
F75Z-7F284-BA is Purple ( shorter height, normally installed as the Bottom spring; for > 300 HP specs, it is used as a Top spring ).
 
Thanks for verification. Grog also gave me this info. Sometimes it's nice to be spoon fed!

Since I used an aftermarket purple spring for the top I can't verify that the rate is correct. I'll order genuine Ford parts and install them when that priority rises to the top. With outdoor temps being 90+ already, getting the AC reliable is the first priority (ref. current AC thread we have had discussions in). Motor mounts would be next, shocks, brake calipers, pads, on and on. Reconditioning one of these cars gets expensive!
 
Most of the ford accumulator springs for the 4r70w are discontinued now. There was a period about 10 years ago where that purple spring was suddenly like $45.
 
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