4r100 life question

TyCorr

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My VB mods, Torque converter and huge cooler all ran less than 500. I thought I finally smoked my trans, but all I did was shell another flexplate.

Thats cool. But a 6l cooler is 400 bucks for the small one and closer to 500 for the large one now. A cheap triple disc converter is like one from roadrunner. Thats 500 bucks or 435+ shipping to be exact. Valve bodies are $250 bucks from jw, bts, etc. 1500 is conservative. If you search for torque converters most are a grand. Dacco, pi, dpc, banks, suncoast,etc...900-1500....

Im sure a guy could find deals but i couldnt find those three items for 500 bucks right now.

And to reiterate, i wouldn't go have a trans built and reuse the converter (full of wear and clutch material), vb, and especially the cooler. If you have the converter rebuilt you could but that is a hindred to two hundred less than a new unit. Lets be honest here, a built trans will use differently those components as opposed to a stocker with bandaids on it.

I went that route before. If it was so great I wouldn't have hocked up the 5 grand for a twisted trans and 6l cooler.
 

SmokeyHaze

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I will say just running the PHP tunes made a huge difference versus the Banks transcommand and old 1 setting chip that was plugged in. Way worth the money for the tunes not only power but shifting as well. When I first upgraded with the John Wood VB I ran the regular tunes from PHP instead of running their VB tunes and it was nice, but just a little too snappy. I daily drive in there 80 performance VB tune and it's super smooth and shift perfect. I can stomp it from a roll and it easily spins first and chirps second pretty loud with 33's.

At the same time I also added the mag hytec deep pan, and the biggest row 6.0 trans cooler(dormant brand) because it was cheap and with the weather now being back in the mid 70s I don't get any hotter than 130 running in traffic unloaded. Huge difference with the cooler, so I'm hoping the heat not being there aids in more life expectancy.
 

TyCorr

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I saw those coolers. I ran one three or four years ago when i had a severe overheat issue. I chucked the stocker and ran a big dorman with a vb, converter. Im pretty sure my buddy is still running it in his work truck.
 

Dirtclod

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Whatever it takes to keep it from slipping! From the factory they are built to slip to be smooth. Harder you get on it more it slips. My HD upgrade rebuilt with 100k/3yr warranty was worth the $. Mine gave up at 180k.
 

PSD POWER007

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Bought my truck in '11 with 24k miles and made one trip to south GA towing and tranny temps got to 225. Flushed the fluid, installed a Johnny Lightning VB and 26 row cooler. Ran stock injector/stock turbo DP tunes from 26k to 140k. At 140k went to 180/80's and a 38r till it crapped out around 200k and installed my BASB. Sitting on 265k and she still shift like she did after the VB install. I don't beat the piss out of it, but do drive aggressively and tow 8-10k 2-3 times a week on 4-6 hour round trips usually. I think keeping temps down, having the VB, and decent tranny tuning is the key to making one last.
 

Outlaw7317

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I bought my 7.3 with 11k on it. At a couple hundred over 200k I had to have a new trans put in.
Truck was all stock other than a little 60hp "mileage" chip from bully dog
 

SmokeyHaze

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Bought my truck in '11 with 24k miles and made one trip to south GA towing and tranny temps got to 225. Flushed the fluid, installed a Johnny Lightning VB and 26 row cooler. Ran stock injector/stock turbo DP tunes from 26k to 140k. At 140k went to 180/80's and a 38r till it crapped out around 200k and installed my BASB. Sitting on 265k and she still shift like she did after the VB install. I don't beat the piss out of it, but do drive aggressively and tow 8-10k 2-3 times a week on 4-6 hour round trips usually. I think keeping temps down, having the VB, and decent tranny tuning is the key to making one last.

Damn, sounds like a good life from this one!
 

Dirtclod

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I really like the way my truck performs all around. I had to put a new tranny temp sensor & gauge in back in December. The heat insulation didn't stay on so I need to fix that. I got a kit at advance the other day so I'm going to put it on in the am. Without it the temp gets up to 160 quiet often. Sometimes if I'm on incline at takeoff it seems like the tc don't want to lock up. Really have to give it throttle to move. My warranty will be up after first of the year so I might be looking into a different tc.
 

Mark Kovalsky

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Sometimes if I'm on incline at takeoff it seems like the tc don't want to lock up. Really have to give it throttle to move.
If the torque converter would lock up in this condition it will stall the engine. You don't want the converter to lock until you're at about 35 MPH.

You might have a damaged converter, but it's more likely the engine is down on power for some reason.
 

jamesc7.3

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e2cbcc1fb19c437a80ebcf484338d165.jpg
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Mine died at 180k, my buddy told me of a parts truck identical to mine that I could pick up for $1000 didn't run but the trans was supposed to be good, went to look at it and it had 380k on it and the guy was the second owner told us that as far as he knew it had never been out, when I pulled it it looked original, I was pretty sketched out about it but for the price I couldn't pass it up at the time, threw it in my truck with a new filter and fresh fluid and I've put 30k on it so far with out a problem, and I am not easy on this truck at all, it pulls heavy quite often (about 25k gross in the pic) does burouts and just get beat on lol I am waiting for it to die any day but I've been impressed with it so far

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2002

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I have 242K on mine, truck is stock 2002. I just put 35's on it. The coolant has been flushed about every 50k. No towing that I know of, the previous owners kept good records and seemed to service it regularly.
 

rsater1

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I had a lot of clutch material on magnet w bully dog tune and snow mpg max at 193/000 and was getting worse . so I got JW vb ,,and performance TC and now have 175/80 and hydra custom tuning and allot of other crap,, and did a flush with new TC ,, at 330/000 now with hardly an clutch material ,, oh and it would have burnt trans fluid smell that would not go away ,,,,, but now WITH ALL THE ABOVE SAID MOD'S all is good !!! I can't get over the 5in exhaust at 3,000 RPM'S ,,ONE HELL OF A SOUND,, LOL,,
 

D66stroke

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The only problem I've ever had in my e4od was the forward drum stripping out, and I think the 4r's aren't fully splined like the e4od drums. But I think that's a big power kind of problem lol. Other than that a big cooler and valve body/ shift kit should take it a long way
 

SmokeyHaze

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Has anyone had any issues with a very slight pulsing feeling when driving in overdrive around 50? Sometimes, and not always I feel like I get a slight pulsing feeling. Trans fluid is perfect level and new, hopefully this girl has some life left
 
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