Topic: C4 Rebuild

[Stangly]

I would like to rebuild my C4 has anybody attempted this ,any tips or advice (books, videos etc) would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

[suskeenwiske]

You'll find that the C4 is easy to rebuild. To date, the best resource that I've found is a DVD from Ken Collins, Bad Shoe Productions, www.badshoeproductions.com. He has several different DVD's available depending on the model year of your C4. The format is as if you were standing right in front of him while he shows you how to rebuild the transmission step-by-step. Have a note pad and pencil handy; I found this helpful whenever he emphasized things I wanted to remember or refer back to.

I initially purchased the downloadable version from the Internet but quickly found that having the actual DVD's on-hand was much better; only a $6.00 difference.

You may have to purchase a couple of specialty tools which I found at Harbor Freight Tools for a reasonable price and one tool you may have to make. The attached photos are of the tool I made from parts I picked up at Home Depot, though any hardware store should have what you need.

Shop around for parts; they vary greatly in price and don't cheap out on the clutches and bands. I found nearly everything I needed on eBay and some from Oregon Performance and CT Powertrain Products.

All-in-all, I spent around $350.00 - $400.00 in parts and tools. You may spend less as I had to replace some additional internals; no telling till you take it apart...still cheaper than the Transmission Shop.

Hope this helps and enjoy; I had a good time rebuilding my C4.

Ray

[Stangly]

Ray,

Thanks for the link and the photos of the tool this should be of great help. I will let you know how things turn out.

David,

[suskeenwiske]

David,

This is pretty much all that's inside of a C4, not counting the Clutch Packs that I hadn't undone at the time and the Valve Body had not been disassembled either, other than that...this is it.

I attached a couple of photos of bad pieces inside my C4 that are common if the Transmission had not been regularly serviced; one just shows wear, the other pitting caused by contaminants.

Ray

[Stangly]

Ray,

That doesn't look to bad.  I think I'll get the DVD and check it out and then I can make the decision to attempt or not.  The ford service manual I have has photos but was intended for mechanics with more experience than myself.  Rebuilding a transmission has kind of been on my bucket list.

Thank you,

David,

[suskeenwiske]

Manuals, books and pretty much anything else I've seen on paper are often confusing and since watching the DVD's, I realized just how much is left out, poorly illustrated and poorly explained in the manuals. After watching the DVD's I changed from thinking that, Transmissions are just too complicated to...is that all there's to it???

Went straight to the garage and tore down my C4 in less than an hour; that made things even more clear once I actually saw the parts. Got lucky and found another C4 on craigslist for $20.00; bought it and tore it down also. It had some good parts that I needed and what I didn't need are good for spares.

The most difficult part of the whole rebuild for me was getting all of the grease and road dirt off of the Bell Housing, Case and Tail Section; everything else was gravy.

Ray