Gavin60

Hi Folks,
I have a 2000 F-150 crew cab 6ft bed with the 5.4 motor, it has the aux transmission cooler. The engine has just over 200 k but is still pretty tight, no leaks, oil burning etc.
I just recently upgraded to a 23-24ft Coleman Travel Trailer and the dry weight is 4500 LBS....Im careful not to overload GVW when going down the road, but I obviously noticed a BIG difference when towing this trailer in comparison of my earlier one of only 2700 lbs and I began to wonder if it was too much on the transmission?

Question: I will be taking the new trailer out within 200-300 miles ranges about 4-5 times a year and wondering what kind of life expectancy I can expect out of my transmission? I live in the east, so its Tennessee Mountains and SC coast, so it can be hilly one trip and eventually Foothills-Coastal Plains the next.

Over time, I have heard many folks say " Well I went through 2-3 transmissions hauling my travel Trailer before I went and got this here F-250/F-350 Diesel and have not had any problems since"

I guess Im looking for real life experiences from folks in regards to their transmissions holding up to this kind of use
Thanks,
Gavin

Dirttracker18

I am towing a 30' TT which maxes out over my payload when fully loaded.

I have put a trans in my truck but it was due to the common issue of failure on the reverse band.

Keep an eye on your trans temp when hauling in higher temps and/or heavy up hill pulls and you will be fine. If you do not have a trans temp gauge then an aux gauge is a nice upgrade but I prefer to recommend a tuner with built in gauges such as a Gryphon with dash pod or similar
http://store.gopowerhungry.com/en/ph...2004-2008.html

smokeywren

Assuming your tranny is still in good shape and the ATF has been completely changed not less often than every 30,000 miles, then here are the steps to take to make it last over 100,000 miles.

Heat is the tranny killer. Your first step is to install a good tranny temp gauge. If analog, be certain it has clear markings around 210 to 230° F that you can read at a glance. If digital, then be sure you can read it at a glance. Here's a really good one with a clear marking at 220° that would be my choice:
http://www.egauges.com/280F-Trans-Oi...6-p/r13599.htm
Install the sender in the tranny, not in a cooler line. The "hot" line going to the coolers gives unreliable and too hot a temp, and the cold line coming from the coolers gives too cold a temp, not sump temp. You want sump temp, so best might be to install a bung in the pan so the sender would always be covered with ATF. I don't know about your tranny, but the 4R100 has a port on the side of the tranny that gives sump temp.

225° is the red line. Never allow the tranny to get over 225°. If you ever see over about 210°, then change the ATF to full synthetic ATF.

Also if you ever see over about 210°, then you should replace the oil-to-air (OTA) tranny cooler with a bigger one. On the '99-2003 F-250 diesels with 7.3L engine we recommend replacing the OTA cooler with the much bigger one from the later 6.0L diesel. That might be overkill for your 5.4L, but I'd check that out first.

If you never allow the tranny to overheat, then you can expect over 100,000 miles before time to have it rebuilt.

If you need to have the tranny rebuilt, then call Brian Thompson and ask his recommendation as to where to get it done right. If Brian can rebuilt your tranny, it will last "forever". But he rebuilds only a few different Ford trannies, so check to see if he'll do yours.
http://www.brianstruckshop.com/


If it's time to change the ATF, use these basic procedures:
http://www.thedieselstop.com/forums/...ission-198641/
If your tranny is an E40D, then you can use the same basic procedures to completely change the ATF as the 7.3L diesel guys use for the 4R100 tranny. For your tranny the pan holds less ATF, so you'll need to modify the procedures slightly to fill up the pan each cycle, but not overfill it.

The torque converter will probably fail before the tranny. And if the torque converter goes south, it will take the tranny with it. So if you hear racket coming from the torque converter (like marbles in a tin can), then replace the torque converter immediately. That could get you another year's life out of the tranny.

Gavin60

Hi Wren,
thanks for the info....very valuable and helpful
I took your suggestion and bought a transmission temp gage from those folks at egauges. After a week I have no gage and they could not give me a tracking number or if its even been shipped out...so I find out they are only a drop shipper and could not tell me when it was going to ship...I was thinking to my self, like what the heck, I could get a crappy gage at auto zone faster than that and half the price and probably work just fine and would have it in by now.
So I asked the guy to just send me my money back through paypal..he was like "Nope" Now Im stuck waiting on some one to fianlly do something.
I punted the whole thing to paypal resolution
Egauges can go to hell, I would suggest stop recommending those clowns at all.

smokeywren

Sorry for your problem. I didn't intend to recommend EGuages as a source, but to recommend the ISSPRO R13599 tranny temp gauge. I've never used EGuages. I've had excellent service from DieselManor, but they specialize in diesel truck accessories, so I didn't check them. But on double-checking, they also sell the ISSPRO R13599 gauge, so maybe you'd have better luck with them.
http://www.dieselmanor.com/isspro/R13599.htm


Diesel Manor has been around for years, and has an excellent reputation on TheDieselStop.com where I've been a moderator for about 16 years. Maybe call them and ask if they have install kits for the ISSPRO R13599 that will plug into your gasser?