litljoe

HALP!!

Working on an 88 full size Bronco.
302 / 5.0 - AOD

I lost a cooler line back in Nov of 14, had it towed and had trans "rebuilt".
"Beast" came back to me 53 days later with a massive rear-main leak and later developed a bottom end knock.

Fast Forward to March of '15.

Pull engine, find donor - Done.
Pull Trans and haul to a reputable shop for check out - Done

Findings:
Transmission was NOT rebuilt
Pan- Filthy, Frictions replaced, Steels sanded, bands - Not replaced
Spent $940 on a bench build

While re-assembling the engine to the trans everything went together like butter.

Here's the catch 22.

The torque converter seems to be seated properly in the pump, however, the TC studs are all the way through the flex plate, with no play (side to side) and I'm unable to push the converter back into the pump any further.

Transtar (TC rebuilder) tells me that I should have side to side play, re-builder tells me I should have side to side play, and I don't.

What do y'all suggest? I'd rather not pull the trans, but it looks like I have to, but what then?
I so don't want to have the same engine / trans issues again.

sam29078

The converter is not in all the way or the fly wheel is on backwards.

litljoe

I can assure you the flex plate is installed correctly. Before installing the engine, I made sure the TC was as far back as it would go and still not enough clearance.
Any tips to make sure it is properly seated?

sam29078

Keep spinning it slowly wiggle it in. Most of the time when it gets all the way in you can not get your fingers behind it on the ones I have done. You should be able to feel 3 things the converter has to line up with. The last is always the hardest. The rest have spline teeth the last had one two teeth.

Chris_1

iTrader: (1)

3 clicks back is right. last one should be the convertor fitting into the pump. Fire it up like that and you'll shear things off. Which will get a lot more complicated than just sliding the transmission back a foot.
The part about getting your fingers behind it is a good clue, you shouldn't even be able to think it might be possible if you had tiny hands. Reach into the starter hole and see how it feels.

litljoe

I'll give it a good "fingering" when I get off work and see what I come up with.
I'll attach some pictures of the "aftermath" of a poorly done "rebuild" and why I'm so paranoid about getting it right on the first try.