Chuzie's monster transformation

[broncomatt]

Glad to see you got it back together, your welcome to come up and use my psi guage and scan tool to moniter it. Where are the pics???? Did you hire it done???

[chuzie]

I have a cheap tire gauge I can throw on the fuel rail for spot reading but I really need to install a permanent gauge to see what it is doing while the conditions are duplicated.

Here are pics of the shroud, PS cooler, and accumulator I installed. Still haven't secured the PS cooler.

[chuzie]

This is the beginning of my transmission swap. The C4 has served me well but with the 35" tires, 4.56 gears and my personal requirement to make this rig drive to events, I am forced to install something with overdrive. Currently my RPM sits around 3,000 @ 60MPH which is unacceptable to me. I have no desire to travel faster than 60 because this huge rolling brick becomes a massive drag device and MPG go even further down the toilet. I would prefer to see my RPM cruise around 2300 RPM and with the 0.7 gear ratio of the 4R70W, I will be able to achieve that.

Below is my list of parts, most of which have been acquired.

starter-junkyard-'98+ V8 EXPLORER-$25.00
converter-junkyard-'98+ V8 EXPLORER-$ Included w/ transmission
4R70W-junkyard-'98+ AWD V8 Explorer-$125
ZF crossmember-BC Broncos-ZF-$109
ZF adapter-BC Broncos-50-4303-$441
flexplate-junkyard-'98+ V8 EXPLORER-$10
controller-Baumann-OS1-$535
harness-Baumann-HPF2 or HPF2A-$ Included w/ controller
shift cable-Lokar-ACA-1808-$52

Stay tuned...

[chuzie]

Finally picked up a 4R70W from a 1999 Mountaineer AWD 5.0 with 100K miles from a local salvage yard. They only provide a 90 day warranty so I have to really get in gear (no pun intended) to complete this conversion and road test it.

While at the salvage yard I had them throw in a starter and flexplate. All together it was $350 out the door.








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To prevent having to gut the transmission to replace the output shaft as required for other 4R70Ws utilizing the Advanced Adapters 4R70W to D20 adapter, I specifically utilized the AWD 4R70W variant as its shaft length is sufficient to use the ZF to D20 adapter while only needing to cut 1/2" from the end. Eliminating the transmission dissasembly is very appealing as is the flexibility of using a ZF adapter for potential future upgrades if need be. The other advantage of using the ZF variant is the cost being less than the other adapter.

I measured 1/2" from the end of the shaft and used some blue painter's tape as a guide. My cutoff wheel worked well but I was careful to constantly rotate the shaft as I was cutting so as to prevent an angled cut.



After the cut, the shaft came to 5.938"




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I chose to do the cut first before pulling my C4 from the Bronco in case I botched something up and had a useless transmission. With the cut successful, the dissassembly could commence.

I measured the distances of the front and rear driveshafts for reference before and after the installation of the 4R70W. My lengths are different than stock as I have a 4-link in the rear.

Front: 24-3/4"
Rear: 35-7/8"

Since I don't own a transmission jack, I just used cargo straps on the front and rear to lower the transmission assembly to the floor.

Next, I pulled the flexplate only to find that, after doing so, it was actually an AOD plate as depicted by the AOD stamp on the back. This makes sense as my motor was from an 89 Mark VII. Just wish I had noticed this before I removed the flexplate. Now I have a spare if anyone is interested.



Here is my C4 next to the 4R70W



Since my 4R came already pulled, I do not have mounting bolts for transmission to engine nor do I have a dipstick. The length of the 4R mounting bolts is different than the C4 by about 0.465" which is due to a difference in the bellhousing thickness. This means I need to pickup six 7/16 x 2.25" bolts and start figuring out what I am going to do about a dipstick.

The heat here in Tampa today was brutal so I am glad it only took me 3 hours to get all this done.

Next time I plan to separate the D20 from the C4 and begin installing the adapter.

As of now, I am on the fence if I want to do any upgrades to the 4R while it is on the ground and I need to determine if I am going to mount my temp sensor in the port on the transmission or inline at the cooler output.

[broncosbybart]

good work so far! that trans is clean- on the outside anyway. hope all is ok.

[snipes243]

Looks good so far

[Crawdad]

I will be heading down to Tampa for a day when I get back. My dad and I will be dropping my mom off and we will be heading back to Cola the following day. My mom wants to be with her father for a couple of weeks. So if you need any parts from up here let me know, or even to take back to SC.

[chuzie]

I will be heading down to Tampa for a day when I get back. My dad and I will be dropping my mom off and we will be heading back to Cola the following day. My mom wants to be with her father for a couple of weeks. So if you need any parts from up here let me know, or even to take back to SC.

I don't need anything other than my bumper but I may wait till November to get it. Thanks for the offer. :beer:

[chuzie]

4R70W install continued...

First order of business was to remove the D20 from the C4. In doing so, the spud shaft (D20 input shaft) decided to stay with the C4 intermediate housing instead of come out with the D20 and the roller bearings all ended up in the bottom of the C4 case. I had a garage covered in gear oil.

I had to completely drain the D20 and remove the inspection cover to retrieve the 13 roller bearings. Used wheel bearing grease to make them nice and sticky and put them back where they belong.



After cleaning up my garage and finishing the bearing issue, it was time to swap the new spud shaft and bearing on the old drive gear.

Here is the old assembly...



The snap ring holding the drive gear on the spud shaft was a real pain the butt since it had no eyelits for snapring pliers. Advance Adapters does not include a new snap ring so destroying it was not an option. I ended up opening it up enough with my snapring pliers to get one end just out and over the spud shaft spline. Then I slowly worked it with a couple of flathead screwdrivers. I tweaked it a little but felt comfortable it was still usable. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but there is not much axial load on that snapring anyway.



Drive gear removed from old spud shaft and bearing.



Next I had to mate the adapter ring, bearing, and new spud shaft which are all a pressed fit. I followed 76MaBronco's suggestion and mated the bearing and shaft first. Since I do not have a press, I opted to place the spud shaft in the freezer for 30 minutes and the bearing in the oven @ 350 degrees for 30 minutes. The two mated like a couple of horny high school kids! Slid right on with no force whatsoever.



After letting the assembly cool for 5 minutes or so in front of the fan, I threw it in the freezer and placed the adapter in the oven @ 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Once again the parts came together perfectly with zero force.



Now the bearing had to be secured in the adapter with the large inner snapring provided by Advanced Adapter.



Next the drive gear was installed on the new spud shaft assembly and the darn snapring was reinstalled. It is not any easier installing it now than it was during removal.



I used blue RTV in the channel of the adapter where the new O-ring seats.



Then installed the new O-ring. I also added a coating of silicone to the OD of the O-ring once it was installed to reduce friction during installation to the D20 housing.



*** EDIT: Some folks (including me) have been trimming the gasket that goes between this assembly and the D20 case thinking it goes over the assembly and not under it. Before installing this assembly, install the gasket and no trimming will be necessary. The gasket is dummy proof so it will only go on one way.

After the gasket was on (in theory ), I installed the assembly and gave it a slight tap with the mallet to seat.

Now my D20 is complete with new spud shaft, adapter, and bearing!



Next, I installed the ZF adapter ring. All 6 holes line up in all configurations but the adapter does have a dimple that goes at the 12 o'clock position. The 6 allen head bolts secure it to the D20 case.



The gasket that goes between the ZF adapter and the transmission is dummy proof too, but not as obvious. Just be careful to make sure that all 6 holes are lined up. The ZF adapter has 6 sets of 3 holes each for multiple clocking options. I just did as others have in the past and went with the middle of the three holes.

I marked the gasket to the ZF adapter to make sure it didn't rotate during mating to the 4R70W. To my surprise, it slid on rather easily and I had it bolted in no time.



Now most folks using a T-Shift D20 with this setup make a vertical cut in the webbing on the driver's side to accomodate the transfer case shift adapter and cut off the rear boss so the inner flag can move forward.

Today I chose not to do that as I am waiting to decide if what JB @ JB Fab is sending me will work with my J-shift or if I am going to have to modify my old twin sticks. I just don't want to jump the gun and make irreversible modifications if I am not sure how I am going to proceed with the twin stick issue.

Since the twin sticks are coming from the West coast, the project may be on hold for a few days. Waiting to resolve this before installation would be wise.

I noticed there is not a breather in the 4R70W intermediate case like there was in the C4. Has it been rendered unnecessary?

Oh, I also reinstalled my flexplate and, as always, realized how much I HATE torquing that darn thing!!!

Add $90 to the total cost for 14 quarts of Mecron V trans fluid and a new trans filter.

Add $105 for the Lokar trans dipstick I have on the way

Add $140 for the new twin sticks from JB Fab (if they work).

Score one for the good guys too. Found that the mini starter I was using on the C4 will also work with the 4R70W; came off a 92 F-150 5.0.

[blazinchuck]

damn good job chuzie! looks nice