I never want a tranny problem again

[CW]

OK, I destroyed my BA-10 a couple weeks ago and I refuse to put another one in. I have an '89 with a 4.6L stroker. Full widths, 4.56's and 36's going on soon, so I want to put the strongest transmission I can drop in without a huge amount of fab work, mainly I don't wan't to deal with making an adapter plate. I wan't to go to an auto, so what are my options besides an AW4 (I don't want to deal with the electronics) Shouldn't any tranny that bolts to an AMC 6 work? I heard talk of ford trannys working also. Any suggestions or ideas would really help.

-TIA

 

[Bryan C.]

Well, I have had a bad run on transmissions lately myself. I have blown 3 AW4s in the last year. The last 2 were Mopar remanufactured units, I got only 250 miles on the one I installed last week. Just put one in on Thursday, I hope it works out OK. Luckily the reman units come with a 3/36 warranty.

I have been looking into a NV4500 swap. I know it is a bit costly for the trans and conversion kit, but I really think it is worth the money and effort. Advance Adapters has a conversion kit fot the light duty version. I plan on gathering parts over the next year so I can hopefully do the swap next year, if my AW4 issues don't make speed up the process.

The AX-15 is supposed to be an easy swap in, but I don't know much about what is required for it.

Bryan

 

[CRASH]

I love my NV, but you better have plenty of power on tap to drive it. It has a BUNCH of rotating mass, so it sucks up a bunch of HP. Also, the gear ratio spacing is pretty wide, so it kind of kills acceleration.

There is no reason an AW-4 should not stand up to a medium-hot 4.6, Aisin makes some of the best transmissions out there. Are you sure you don't have a bum crank or flywheel?

CRASH

 

[REDXJ4FUN]

well if you need the overdrive nv 4500 is king but if not it opens up to 435,465, t-18, 727, or old faithful AW4 that is easy to work with and wire in and out of the 4 of them i've had and the many others i know personaly they are hard to kill.

 

[5-90]

If memory serves, the NV3550 (certainly) and either the AX15 or AX5 are direct swaps for the pew-goat - I'm looking for a buildable NV3550 for when my 88/230K finally bites the green weenie.

The mount is different, but the same crossmember is used and the rubber mount is cheaper for either of the others. Also, both were bolted in behind the 4.0, so no adapters are needed. I seem to recall that both are the same OAL as the BA10, so it's a "drop-in and go!" job.

Common consensus is that the NV3550 enjoys a slight advantage over the AX - better materials and control. Both will serve admirably for a stocker, and well with a stroker.

The guy to talk to for an NV4500 conversion is MistWolf - he did one in a Renix XJ - a good deal of tunnel and firewall fab was needed, however - but I think it did otherwise bolt in.

Hell, if you want a nasty job, I've got an 87 project XJ that I'm thinking about putting an NV5600 into...

5-90

 

[Bryan C.]

I love my NV, but you better have plenty of power on tap to drive it. It has a BUNCH of rotating mass, so it sucks up a bunch of HP. Also, the gear ratio spacing is pretty wide, so it kind of kills acceleration.

There is no reason an AW-4 should not stand up to a medium-hot 4.6, Aisin makes some of the best transmissions out there. Are you sure you don't have a bum crank or flywheel?

CRASH

Good info on the NV4500. I'll keep that in mind. Maybe a NV3500 or NV3550 would be a better fit for my stock 4.0l. Thanks.

As far as the AW4 issues, I wish I could tell you for sure what is going on. The first trans blew out the front pump seal after I was running the mud drag pits at prarie city. 5K rpm runs through the pit wasn't a very good idea. It only had around 93000 miles on it. Since I had a Chrysler warranty and I work at the dealer, I decided to just throw in a reman trans instead of just fixing the seal. The reman trans lasted 4K miles. The front pump seal blew out and started leaking out the bell housing. So then I installed another reman and this on lasted 20K miles. It was burning up internally. Not sure what was going on, but it would want to roll forward when it was in neutral. It would also blow smoke out of the breather tube and out the kickdown cable too. Fluid was really burnt. So in goes another reman. This one lasted only 250 miles before it blew out the front pump seal. Once the seal started leaking, I drove it about 70 miles back home stopping regularly to check the fluid level. I got about 3 miles from my house and it stopped going into gear, the pump was making a loud grinding sound, and the fluid level was still above the add mark too. I pulled it out and this time I took a good look at the crank and flywheel. No excessive crankshaft end play. No excessive runout at the flex plate. This time I replaced the pump seal with a new seal before I installed it. I have yet to even drive it home from the shop so I cannot say how this one will turn out. I thought maybe since these rarely go out, that the trans sits in a warehouse for quite some time before it is installd. Maybe since they don't go bad often, the rebiulders don't know what they are doing. Or maybe during transit, the torqhe converter moves around enough to damage the seal. I really wish I knew what was up. To make things worse, the trans is really expensive to build at the dealership that Chrysler will only authorize a replacement trans instead of allowing us to build it ouselves and make sure it is done correctly.

If this trans goes out with a blown pump seal, I am going to just replace the flexplate and hpoefully that will help some. I can't see the crank being bad, but you never know. At this point anything is possible.

I am really getting good at swapping my trans though. Maybe I should start carrying a spare trans with me on trips.


Bryan

 

[Bryan C.]

Hell, if you want a nasty job, I've got an 87 project XJ that I'm thinking about putting an NV5600 into...

5-90

A NV 5600 :shocked: Those things are friggin huge. Talk about rotating mass. :shocked:
I will admit, it would be cool to have a 6 speed manual trans.

Bryan

 

[Bronco]

Dig this http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=14895