Rebuilding an automatic transmission

Yes, thay can be simple if you are lucky.
The first AT I ever fixed was a on a 64 Falcon.
It stayed in low gear, and refused to upshift.
The little rubber hose from the vac modulator to the intake manifiold vac line had come loose.
In the next 10 years, I probably saved my Ford owning friends a ton of money by doing that fix.

Maybe you will be equally lucky.

I thought shock tuning was the highest form of automotive voodoo.

Vacuum leaks and dead shorts are my Kryptonite.

I wouldn't really compare rebuilding an automatic transmission to replacing a vacuum line on a C6.

There is a guy that I work with that rebuilds A/Ts for fun. He's kind of like the A-Team, he'll do the job only if you can find him, and its a job that he wants to do.

To here him talk about it, it sure sounds like he knows what he's talking about. Anyway, he says, as a rule of thumb, that all of the domestic 3 speed autos are fairly easy to rebuild (to stock specs), and can be done by any competent mechanic if they are careful, patient and have a good clean work area. He says the most important thing is to clean every crack and crevice throughly, and keep it clean. He says damaged torque converters really make a mess of things and require extra careful clean up.

He says that O/D transmissions are a lot more complicated, but there are a few that could be done at home. He didn't elaborate about which ones were which.

I'm a bit confused about how the converters dirty things up when they fail. My best guess is that its damaged clutches in lock-up converters sending bits of ground up clutch through everything, but thats just a guess.

I've talked transmissions with him a few times, because I've been stalking a Jag XJS with a burnt out TH400. He says if I get it, he will walk me through a rebuild. According to him its an easy one.

I know most of this post is irrelevant to the OPs Ford, which probably has one of the "complicated" transmissions, but the point is that atleast some of them can be done by ordinary people at home.

I'll be waiting for the build thread! .

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