Took a Chance on Used Parts

Well, where do I begin?..

Used parts are well, just that, used parts. Everything was going fine at first. I easily pulled the donor transmission, put it on our roller cart and pressure washed all of the dirt and grime off (our baby cannot have a dirty transmission installed lol). Next, I prepped the Chateau for removal of the bad transmission by elevating all four corners up on jack stands (doing the earthquake wiggle test, of course) and spraying all bolts, nuts, and any other random fastener I deemed a candidate for removal. Then came the unbolting of the drive shaft... A little secret about Fords of this era. From the factory they were very concerned about drive shaft bolts backing out on their own and used Loctite and a liberal amount of torque when tightening them. All well except the bolt having a 12mm 12point head and limited space for an impact or ratchet. So pull out the wrenches and get to turning right?! Wrong! Remember the aforementioned Loctite? This was the result of my first attempt at bolt removal.

When facing stubborn bolts with loctite, a micro-torch is your best friend. Apply heat and hope it breaks free. Success! All four bolts removed, drive shaft dropped and we are on our way to getting this transmission swapped out!

Flywheel cover removed, starter removed, bell-housing bolts removed, shift cable removed, wiring harness unplugged and removed; slide the transmission jack up into place and lastly remove the transmission crossmember and mount. A little wiggle, tug, tilt and some colorfully creative wordplay later, and the old transmission is out.

Now just reverse this process with the new transmission, and we are golden! No problems installing the replacement transmission at all. Honestly, one of the smoothest transmission swaps I have had in a very long time (should have seen this as foreshadowing). Everything installed, bolted back and torqued; now time to replace the filter on this savior of a transmission... Pulled the pan and the bottom was filled with friction material from the clutch pack discs. Keeping an optimistic outlook, I pressed on and continued with the transmission service because, well you just never know. New filter in place, pan gasket installed, bolted tight and filled with fluid. The moment of truth... Turn the key, no codes for the transmission; always a good sign! Start the van, no weird noises; another good sign! Put the transmission in reverse, a positive "thunk" it goes into reverse like it means it; a great sign! Neutral, no noises; good, good! Now, for Drive.............................................................................................................. Nothing! Absolutely nothing, I mean ZERO forward gears! Worse than the problem transmission I had removed! I thought I had cut out all the hassle, gotten around all the endless hours of searching, and lucked out by finding a used transmission that perfectly fit our needs. I was wrong... All I succeeded in doing was wasting time and $125.60 in full synthetic transmission fluid. Keeping positive and the dream of what this van is to become alive I remind myself that at least the donor transmission did not cost us anything but fluid, filter and labor, and we are lucky to have not wasted more than that. This van is still going to be epic!

And the search is back on......