What thread on back of torque converter?

[MalcolmV8]

I don't have the nuts that attach the torque converter to the flex plate. Anyone know what thread that is? Looks really fine and I'm going to guess it's metric. I'll check with my Ford dealer tomorrow but usually they can't tell me, they can order it in sometimes but that's about it.

Thanks
Malcolm

[evensteven]

I cant remember on an AOD or the 4w70r or whatever it is, i know they still use an AOD flexplate. mine is stamped "AOD". I know on a older c4 converter they were a 3/8-24 or whatever the fine thread count is, but an AOD i think is metric. Alot of help I am. I think the important thing is to use locking nuts. I myself am looking for a 7/16-14 x 2 1/4" flanged bolt for the bellhousing, Ford wants 5 bucks a piece! Good luck.

[plowboy34]

I absolutely agree with evensteven, just make sure they are locking nuts, they WILL come loose if not. I would just order them straight from Ford or go to junk yard and pull them myself knowing I got the right ones. For the price I would probably just order them, not something to be wrong on. Trust me, been there done that.

[MalcolmV8]

I lucked out. My dealer had them right there. Thanks guys.

[MalcolmV8]

Oh... how tight do I tighten these? I know I can't get a torque wrench in there but is it REALLY tight? Should I use some red thread lock on them?

Thanks

[cjcnomor4]

20-34 lb/ft on the nuts. i dont use loctite, but i dont see why you cant if it will give you piece of mind. if you have a mustang pan, you can get at them from the drivers side. if your front dif is in the way youll have to get them from the center between the pan and flexplate. if you cant get an air tool in there you may need someone to hold the crank bolt while you tighten the converter nut. let me know how you get the trans in. mine didnt clear the radius arm cross member and i had to jack the body off the frame and inch or so, slide it in and drop the body back down. your 4x4 frame is different so let me know if you come up with an easier way.

[MalcolmV8]

Thanks for the info, and yes I have a 95 Mustang oil pan on there. As you can tell I've never worked with an auto before. I take it all I do is get the "very light" torque converter up there on the flex plate. Get the nuts on and then tighten them down. At that point I just lift up the transmission and slide it on right? I know it's going to be tough. Even though I have a basic cheap transmission jack it's going to be hell. That 4r70w tranny is VERY heavy. It's not going to be like wiggling around the T5 which I could easily remove without a transmission jack.

[cjcnomor4]

no no no. you need to put the converter in first. if its not seated and you tighten the bellhousing, the converter will damage the pump or the housing will crack. you need to put it in and wiggle and spin it until its all the way in. hold 2 studs across from each other or the stub in the center, wiggle it and spin it until you cant get your fingers behind it. it can be a pain sometimes to line up the splines, but when you cant get your fingers behind the converter when you slide them over the top youll know its in.

[MalcolmV8]

Ohh. So the converter is slid in the tranny on the ground, wiggled around until it seats all the way in and then the whole assembly is lifted up and slid onto the back of the motor? Sounds like you saved me from a lot of trouble breaking my tranny and or converter.

Thanks
Malcolm

[cgrey8]

I've never messed much with automatics either so this may be a dumb question, but is there an access hole that you use to bolt the converter to the flexplate or is the bottom of the tranny open? It seems when I helped build the 68 Camaro, the TH350 was open on the bottom, but I can't remember.

I would've made the same mistake bolting the Torque Converter to the flexplate then trying to fit the tranny onto the torque converter. However it sounds like you install the tranny and converter at the same time, THEN bolt the converter to the flexplate once the bell has been bolted to the block. Or am I missing something?

[plowboy34]

As cjcnomor4 said, put converter in tranny and stab the thing as a unit. Once you can't get your fingers behind it, I pull it out just a tad then push it back in real hard. It should make a good solid sound like it hit's solid, not a hollow sound. Then once you get tranny bolted to the engine, actually since your not knowledgeable on automatics, when your tightening the bellhousing bolts up, do it evenly as possible and as your doing it grab the converter studs and make sure you can wiggle the converter back and forth. It should be movable at all times, especially once you get the bell tight against the block, if you cannot wiggle the studs back and forth with two fingers you did not have it in all the way. Your in for a job if you've never done one, you have to line up block and converter nut's at same time. It's not bad once you do it as many times as I have but the first time can be a little frustrating. What I do is just compare where the hole is on the flexplate to a bellhousing bolt and try to set converter to that. Also make sure one hole is at the bottom of engine so you can see it as your stabbing it. I strongly reccommend you have a friend there to help if you can. Best of Luck to you.

[MalcolmV8]

let me know how you get the trans in. mine didnt clear the radius arm cross member and i had to jack the body off the frame and inch or so, slide it in and drop the body back down. your 4x4 frame is different so let me know if you come up with an easier way.

What year was your truck again? Mine's a 94 4x4 Ext. Cab. I think I'm going to have the same problem. I was looking at the clearance there last night while I was changing out the speedo cable setup. Man that sucks. I don't want to have to unbolt the body and jack it up each time I want to (have to) pull the tranny. I see on each end of the radius arm crossmember there is two rivets and some bolts. I may just grind off those rivets and pull the crossmember and then use grade 8 bolts to re-install it.

[cjcnomor4]

i thought about that too. the weekend i got to putting the trans and engine in i left my grinder and drill bits at work. i ve got basic stuff at home, but the bulk of my tools are at work. if i dont remember to bring stuff home, i need to work around it.

[MalcolmV8]

First thanks very much for the tips on installing the torque converter. I slid it in and it hit solid and I thought I was done. Knowing what you guys had told me I kept fiddling with it and trying to figure it out. I grabbed the flex plate and held it up on the torque converter and then held up the starter motor. That showed right away it was not in deep enough. I messed with it a while and was about to give up when suddenly it just slid down all the way. Woo Hoo. Thanks guys.

cjcnomor4, getting the rivets out of that radius arm crossmember was a royal pain. I wasted about a whole day on it. I don't know what was so special about those rivets. I've ground off the rivets on the cab mounts before and it was no big deal. On these I ground them off on the out side and after pounding and beating on them forever with a socket extension and a 10# hammer I wasn't getting anywhere. I even drilled out the center with a 3/8" drill and still couldn't budge them. I got inside the frame rails and ground off the back sides and tried hammering them from the inside out. That worked. It's almost like they were tapered and would only go from inside out. The driver's side sucked because I had to remove the fuel & brake lines as well as the bracket that the fuel filter attaches too. I also tried tapping in the trans tunnel a little but that wasn't going anywhere so I tapped it back the way it was and covered it with some under spray so it doesn't rust. That crossmember is finally loose but man what a horrible job. Jacking up the body doesn't seem so bad now although now that it's done future removals / installations will be easier.

Later
Malcolm