# Ford 7.5 Trans trouble E4OD



## PACattleman (Jun 11, 2012)

Hi Gents and ladies. Does anybody have experience with Towing TC'S I have a '95 F350 DW Ford with the 7.5 ( 460 ) , 4.10 gears, and the E4OD trans. I started selling hay, I carry 4 bales on the flat bed and carry 8 bales on a pull behind trailer. Total weight is about 3.5 tons of hay. Empty weight truck and trailer is 9000. On the level the truck pulls good. but we have some small mountains here in central PA. About 1500 ft of climb in about 2 miles. Truck starts to lose speed climbing, As the engine lugs down and the rpm's drop below 2000 RPM, it gets worst. dropping to 2 nd gear it doesn't seem to recover. I have tried shifting to 2 nd gear earlier, Rpm in the 3000 range, and it still drops off out of the torque range. This truck has the Lockout convertor in it. Last year I wired a switch to keep the convertor unlocked. It helped a lot. Only problem is since the convertor is slipping, which allows me to get the engine up in the engine torque range ( max torque 2200rpm ) My transmission oil temps climb really fast usually hitting 240 degrees by the time I reach the top. I added a trans cooler, but that only helped a small amount.

I am thinking the torque convertor is worn/ slipping . The truck only has 75,000 miles, but the last time I pulled the mountain, the transmission chattered, When I flipped the TC switch the chatter quit. I think I need a new TC. Does anyone here understand Stall speeds? In other words, they say it has a 1200 RPM stall now. Since my engine seems to fall below the torque range, do I need a higher stall speed, or is it possible the TC in it now is slipping causing the issue. Monday morning I will be calling some of the TC sales. Thanks for any info.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

http://www.brianstruckshop.com/

Hes as good as it gets. He understands stall speeds and torque converters. We had some mud bog and sled pulling trucks with his transmissions and he knows Ford transmissions better than anyone. He knows how to set up a transmission for what engine output you have and what your trucks task is.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

Little late now but how big of a cooler did you add? A good used one out of a 6.0 diesel is a popular addition. 
Adding the manual switch for the TC is said to be a great idea if you use it properly and a quick way to kill a TC if you don't. I don't know anything about how you've driven it, just putting it out there.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

I had a 96 F250 with 460/E4OD/4.10. Besides the terrible mileage, I was never able to really pull much more than about 7,500 lbs without troubles. I had factory transmission cooler and overheating wasn't a problem.

Never was happy with that truck. I learned from a friend that the 460 had been severely de-tuned to make mileage requirements. His recommendation was to re-chip it. I didn't--traded for a diesel.

My guess is you have more of an engine problem than a transmission problem.

Ralph


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## PACattleman (Jun 11, 2012)

Thanks for the thoughts. I have had this truck 8 years now. In that time I have put 4,000 miles on it. use it mostly for bring hay in out of the field, ( in low range with frt hubs not turned in usually ) I have a snow plow on it for around the farm, it has a alum flat bed dump, nice for hauling fert, feed, can legally haul 2 tons. Runs great except for that mountain pull.

This one pulls good if you can keep the rpm above 2000-2200. The problem seems to be when it shifts to high gear, 1 to 1 it still pulls good, until the TC locks up and then it drops about 4-500 rpm which gets it out of the torque range. I will be calling a few TC companies today and we have two good trans shops near here, I will go talk to them.

I have a Duramax with an Allison 6 speed. Great pulling trk, but I don't want to put to many miles on it. Plus the Ford F350 has farm tags, it's short coupled Chevy is a CC/8 ft bed. I had it now since 2011 , its got 24,000 miles more than when I bought it, Mostly winter runs to FL.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

PACattleman said:


> Thanks for the thoughts. I have had this truck 8 years now. In that time I have put 4,000 miles on it. use it mostly for bring hay in out of the field, ( in low range with frt hubs not turned in usually ) I have a snow plow on it for around the farm, it has a alum flat bed dump, nice for hauling fert, feed, can legally haul 2 tons. Runs great except for that mountain pull.
> 
> This one pulls good if you can keep the rpm above 2000-2200. The problem seems to be when it shifts to high gear, 1 to 1 it still pulls good, until the TC locks up and then it drops about 4-500 rpm which gets it out of the torque range. I will be calling a few TC companies today and we have two good trans shops near here, I will go talk to them.
> 
> I have a Duramax with an Allison 6 speed. Great pulling trk, but I don't want to put to many miles on it. Plus the Ford F350 has farm tags, it's short coupled Chevy is a CC/8 ft bed. I had it now since 2011 , its got 24,000 miles more than when I bought it, Mostly winter runs to FL.


That Allison transmission is a FAR cry from the mid 90's vintage ford transmission. I will add that the Ford Torqshift transmission is equal to the Allison transmission. I ran both brands side by side for years and they are virtually equal. The allison has the big truck reputation and the service shop availability though. I had 3 torqshift transmissions running for years and not one minute of trouble.


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

The way you are using your torque convertor lockout is the opposite of the way older Dodge/Cummins autos were operated. They were manually locking the torque convertor under heavy load to prevent overheating the trans fluid. You've got a gasser under the hood, so if you want to pull hard you are gonna have to rev that thing. 2000-2200 rpm is below what I want my 5.9 Cummins at if pulling hard. If I'm interpreting this right, you are saying you don't have enough power to pull in second unless the t/c is unlocked. What happens if you lock the trans in first and lock the t/c?


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## PACattleman (Jun 11, 2012)

Gearclash said:


> The way you are using your torque convertor lockout is the opposite of the way older Dodge/Cummins autos were operated. They were manually locking the torque convertor under heavy load to prevent overheating the trans fluid. You've got a gasser under the hood, so if you want to pull hard you are gonna have to rev that thing. 2000-2200 rpm is below what I want my 5.9 Cummins at if pulling hard. If I'm interpreting this right, you are saying you don't have enough power to pull in second unless the t/c is unlocked. What happens if you lock the trans in first and lock the t/c?


I am seeing my 460 drop below 2000 RPM. It doesn't seem to pull the speed back up. I haven't left it in 2nd gear with the TC locked because my speed kept dropping. So I normally would unlock the TC RPM would come up and speed comes up, with the trans temp. I would be afraid to drop it into low since I am in the 25-35 MPH range. I had a 96 ram w Cummins 5.9 with the spring kit in the pump. I couldn't keep that trans cool on the same mountains.

As for RPM, I agree, I don't want it dropping below 2200. I like to see 2500 to 3000 RPM pulls great on the level. I am convinced the TC is slipping when locked , and some in locked. I called TCI today, after talking to a tech there, he agreed and said he thought I only needed a good stock TC. But they didn't built Stock TC only heavy race TCs, I was looking that Hughes TC TOWING ~ $700.00 and RECOM FM64LX ~ $400 Seems the Recon is the way I will go. 3 yr, 36000 mi warranty Stall 15-1700 RPM, built better than the Ford stock, billet and a real bearing, and in stock to ship Hughes is for heavy towing, and 3 week wait.


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