AOD to 4r70w swap in an 86 Bronco

I got all the wiring hooked up in the last couple days, and was able to get the Bronco running and driving. I tested it on the road and it went up to like 4000rpm before it would shift out of first. I brought it back home and loaded the normal "profile" from US Shift and redid the setup procedure (TPS, tire size and axle ratio) and tested it again and it was perfect.

Transmission Depot told me to baby it for the first 500 miles of use. No towing or pedal-to-the-metal business. Today I drove it around town with my fiancee and it behaved very well. I do notice that a tiny tap of the pedal is enough to get it going forward. I think the combination of a 20-years-newer transmission and a modern controller make it a totally different ride.

Another thing to note is that the Quick4 controller will work with just the TPS input, but it feels a lot better when I hooked up the tach signal as well. The Pro-flo 4 engine ECU has a special 12v square-wave output wire for tach signal, and the Quick4 can hook right to that with not modification or resistors. The Quick4 can also just be hooked to the Negative coil wire, but it needs a special resistor in-line to even out the noise. US Shift supplies the resistor with the Quick4.

Congrat's!!!   Good to know!  

I'll be curious to see a report after a bit on how you like the EFI/E4OD combo and what kind of MPG you get.

im thinking this will become the daily driver . you will get spoiled!

Nickelplate wrote

I got all the wiring hooked up in the last couple days, and was able to get the Bronco running and driving. I tested it on the road and it went up to like 4000rpm before it would shift out of first. I brought it back home and loaded the normal "profile" from US Shift and redid the setup procedure (TPS, tire size and axle ratio) and tested it again and it was perfect.

Another thing to note is that the Quick4 controller will work with just the TPS input, but it feels a lot better when I hooked up the tach signal as well. The Pro-flo 4 engine ECU has a special 12v square-wave output wire for tach signal, and the Quick4 can hook right to that with not modification or resistors. The Quick4 can also just be hooked to the Negative coil wire, but it needs a special resistor in-line to even out the noise. US Shift supplies the resistor with the Quick4.

This is great news and information, thank you! I'll be wiring up the rest of my Quick4 this weekend. All of the connections to the transmission have been completed, but I need to do the TPS and input power, etc. Interesting on the tach...I'll be coming directly off the coil, but I see the resistors came with the kit also.

Thanks so much for sharing this info.

Gary, I gathered MPG data with Ford EFI/AOD, Then a similar trip with Edelbrock EFI/AOD. Now, I'm hoping to do another trip after I get all the kinks worked out and see the best improvement yet with Edelbrock EFI/4r70w!

Mat, I am looking forward to daily driving this thing. I lost months of Bronco Time to the Monster debacle.

Rembrant, if there's anything specific that I haven't mentioned that you want to know, hit me up.

Nickelplate wrote

Rembrant, if there's anything specific that I haven't mentioned that you want to know, hit me up.

You've more or less already answered all of my questions. I'm starting up a newly rebuilt engine here, and a used 4R70W that I installed. I was wondering what I needed to do with the trans/controller before starting the engine, and it sounds like the wise thing to do is to go through the setup. This truck is just a low rpm cruiser, so all I need is the stock trans map. That will be fine for me.

I guess I'll do the TPS setup, and then after I get it started and warmed up I'll probably have to reset the TPS again after I finish tuning the carb and setting the idle?

Yeah, resetting it after your final carb adjustment seems to make sense since your idle tps position will probably change.

This thread has been really interesting, my Bronco had a C6. I had it changed for an AOD and I am not happy with how it was done. One part that confuses me is the brace at the back seems to get in the way of the oil pan bolts.

When you put your 4r70w in, did you have to move the brace?

When I had my AOD, the crossmember did block some access to the rear pan bolts. The 4r70w is 7/8" longer (the added length is in the bell housing), which pushes it back and further obscures the rear pan bolts. Luckily there are no modifications needed to fit the 4r70w, because the crossmember has slots instead of holes.

I was considering making my own crossmember anyway, because of how much of a PITA it is to get the stock one out, but I am hoping that I don't have to take it out again for a very long time now.

Thank you!

Hey, I have a dumb question that I just want to confirm before installing a sticker (my B&M shifter came with an assortment of stickers to be used as gear position indicators). The 4R70W has six positions, correct?

1. Park
2. Reverse
3. Neutral
4. Drive (O/D)
5. 2
6. 1

When I get to position six, or first gear, I am also up against my bench seat, so I can't move my shifter any further.

The gear indicator in a 1996 F150 that my transmission came out of would look like the below, correct?



If I'm remembering correctly, the old mechanical AOD had two different positions for Drive and Overdrive, correct?

Aod has

P
R
N
OD
D
1

Edit as i am an idiot! Removed 2

the aod does not have a valve body which allows the holding of second gear. it is programmed to shift 1,2,3 in d .1,2,3,4 in od. yet only stay in first in 1/L. so the indicators only have P R N OD D 1
that's not to say many don't do the aod shuffle to hold second gear.

Oh boy, I shouldn’t post pre coffee

The pattern of the 4r70w is PRNO21, and the pattern of the AOD is PRNOD1. So on my truck, the D is actually a 2. And the O is O and D depending on whether I press the button or not.

The Quick4 also has a special 1st gear setting where even in the "1" shifter position, it will still upshift to 2nd gear if you hit a set MPH or RPM. The default RPM for this is set around 5000. This is just as a safety feature to keep your engine from blowing up.

Regarding the shifter, I noticed a problem with mine. I grafted the AOD arm and the 4r70w arm together, which worked great. But the problem is that the clocking was different and is not able to be set another way. So I had to readjust the shifter linkages. Now, the linkage swing is maxed out before it can push it into "1".

The solution is to graft an extra section of metal into the rod that is next in line after the transmission shifter arm. I'll post more about this later when I actually do the work, and I'll include pictures in case my description here is lacking. But basically, I'll need to make that rod longer, and then readjust the 9/16" nut on the column linkage again.

Nickelplate wrote

The pattern of the 4r70w is PRNO21, and the pattern of the AOD is PRNOD1.

Perfect, thanks for confirming. I don't have a gear indicator obviously, but the B&M shifter kit came with a set of stickers with the various patterns. I just wanted to confirm that it was the PRNO21, as I can't move my shifter further back than 1st gear anyway. The closest sticker in the kit is actually PRND21, but that works fine for me. I really just wanted to confirm that there wasn't another position that I couldn't reach because of my bench seat. Thanks!

Hopefully one of the last updates needed for the Monster situation. I freighted the broken transmission back to Monster. It arrived today and the receiving guy signed for it even though there was no RMA number. So now I have my money, they have their transmission, and I will call them tomorrow to make sure they know it. I will also be asking them where my $350 is for the core transmission I sent them. Hopefully they play nice. If not, I guess it's small claims court!

Well, I was able to call Monster today and tell them they they had accepted my return, and the dispute was solved in my favor. I said I would like to be paid for the core transmission I sent them that they never paid me for. The polite support guy said he needs to talk to "his executive" to see what to do next.

I ended up getting an email from the admin assistant to the CEO with a picture of the original bad transmission, saying that they received my return, but I didn't follow their warranty document so they are still going to send me to collections for the money I got back in the credit card dispute. It feels to me like doing that would just be vindictive, since there is no way any thing would come of it. I told them I don't owe monster any money since I don't have any of their merchandise. The secretary fellow was not very courteous, and said he didn't know of any core charge that I was owed.

So, either he was bluffing to try to bully me and just reinforce the idea that fighting their shady business is going to be a struggle, OR he'll refer my case to collections and waste slightly more of my time while I send the agency the collections dispute letter that I have already drafted in case it happens.

I have paperwork from the shipping company proving that they accepted the delivery, PLUS photographic evidence that the secretary guy sent me when he said "we got it, but..." and included a picture in the email.

I wonder if they'll send me my core fee... doubt it.

this may just be as good as it is going to get. or they may pressure you and write this off as a loss in their taxes. time will tell

I doubt you'll get your core fee back.  And I'd be surprised if they don't send it to collections.  But you are prepared for that, although you may have to get an attorney even then.

Good luck!