What the hell was Ford thinking??

Johnnb · Nov 27, 2005

When they designed the AOD trans. I have to drive an automatic due to being paralyzed from the waist down, but I can't stand how the car shifts from first into third skipping second.

I had the trans re-built before we installed it with a full race kit, with extra kevlar clutches, big shift kit, 2,800 stall.....etc...it just seems a bit stupid to not be able to utilize second the way that I would like to.

This is really going to suck for times at the track this summer.

timewarped1972 · Nov 27, 2005

the 2 main areas i can think of over the years where ford goofed was one, not adopting the gt40 iron head as standard production 302 head, and 2, the aod.
what all did they do to the valve body when they rebuilt it?? they should have been able to re program it to avoid the problem your describing. if all else fails, not that you wanna spend more money but, look into a lentech or pa performance valve body and that should solve the issue....have you asked the place who built it about this?? also, if you still run a tv cable with that valve body it might be out of adjustment.....

cjman15 · Nov 27, 2005

How do you drive with your paralysis

tjm73 · Nov 27, 2005

The AOD is actually quite tough when build up correctly.

8950HO · Nov 27, 2005

Johnnb said:
When they designed the AOD trans. I have to drive an automatic due to being paralyzed from the waist down, but I can't stand how the car shifts from first into third skipping second.

It should not be skipping second gear.Something is wrong.

deadlast · Nov 27, 2005

i have yet to see a stang with paddle shift. that would be so awesome

RacEoHolic330 · Nov 27, 2005

cjman15 said:
How do you drive with your paralysis

I'm gonna guess that he uses some kind of hand lever mechanism. I drove a Cadillac at work once with one of those. You steer with your left hand and use your right to control the throttle and break. Pull to accelerate, push to break. It's pretty cool.

Johnnb · Nov 27, 2005

timewarped1972 said:
look into a lentech or pa performance valve body and that should solve the issue.

Do you know if these are hard to install?

cjman15 said:
How do you drive with your paralysis

I will take some pics of the hand controls.

8950HO said:
It should not be skipping second gear.Something is wrong.

I am sorry I will change what I put in there, it does not skip second except when I put it to the floor starting in first gear. It will go to 5,500 or so and then shift which I like as it does not feel like it makes any more power any higher, but then shifts and goes into third. Just normal driving it goes into second.

Sorry for the mistake.

Johnnb · Nov 27, 2005

Is this the part from PA that I would need?

http://www.performanceautomatic.com/parts_aod.htm

AOD/AODE Diode and Drum Assembly PA53404 - $224.38
The latest design by Ford, this unit replaces the troublesome spring and roller assembly for 2nd gear in the AOD and AODE. Repeated failures have shown that the diode is the high performance replacement chosen by the pros!

Damn I wish I would have known about this before we put the trans together. grrrrrr

Matty469 · Nov 27, 2005

My car originally had an AOD (swapped some years ago). Something I figured out by mistake was you can start in first, kick it to drive and allow it to shift to second, then put it back down into first. The trans has a fail safe that will not allow it back into first until you roll slower than 32 MPH. So it will stay in second until you put it in drive. Also found that if you were rolling in second at about 40 MPH and put to the floor, it will kick back into first and give you a hell of a good rolling start.
I know none of this could have been to good on the trans, but I was going to swap it out anyways. Never did actually have any problem with it though.

Foxfan88 · Nov 27, 2005

my AOD has never skipped 2nd, that doesnt sound normal...

the AOD isnt that bad. its just got some bad gear ratios for performance oriented cars (ie the stang) but they seem pretty tough. only thing they dont really like is hard downshifts from OD, not good at all.

timewarped1972 · Nov 27, 2005

the first thing i think he needs to do is get a run down on what all was done to the transmission.......it could be something in the valve body but.....if he had it built and installed it maybe the tv cable is out of whack.if it still runs one

Andres2882 · Nov 28, 2005

There is a paddle shifted stang in the latest issue of 5.0

StangLou · Nov 28, 2005

It will go to 5,500 or so and then shift which I like as it does not feel like it makes any more power any higher, but then shifts and goes into third. Just normal driving it goes into second.

Mine does pretty much the same freaking thing. I can romp on it from a stop, 1st pulls nicely up to around 5500 like you said. It then shifts to 2nd for a couple hundred rpms, then shifts right to 3rd. The car has done this since I bought it with 46,000 on it. 2nd gear is pretty much useless for me. When I am driving normally it shifts and hold 2nd fine. I have never had an issue with the AOD (that wasnt self induced) other than that. Im hoping to get that taken care of with a shift kit, and new valve body soon though.

davs5.0 · Nov 28, 2005

John; congrats on wanting to take the car to the track. My best friend is paralized and is dying to get into something fast so he can take it to the track. Don't forget the AOD was designed to work in Lincolns and Grand Marquis and little old grandma doesn't like neck snapping shifts and wants good fuel economy.
Now to solve your problem. Look into a new valvebody. www.lentechautomatics.com has exactly what you are looking for. Their street terminator valvebody will make your tranny work the way it was supposed to. 1-2-3 instead of 1-d-od. You now engage OD with an electric switch. The trans will shift automatically when you leave the shifter in D or manually when you feel like shifting gears yourself. The install is pretty easy. Just a bunch of bolts hold the valvebody in. Pretty much a remove and replace. The wiring for the Od switch is pretty straight forward. Nothing a normally skilled backyard mechanic can't do. No fancy tools needed.

Johnnb · Nov 29, 2005

davs5.0 said:
John; congrats on wanting to take the car to the track. My best friend is paralized and is dying to get into something fast so he can take it to the track. Don't forget the AOD was designed to work in Lincolns and Grand Marquis and little old grandma doesn't like neck snapping shifts and wants good fuel economy.
Now to solve your problem. Look into a new valvebody. www.lentechautomatics.com has exactly what you are looking for. Their street terminator valvebody will make your tranny work the way it was supposed to. 1-2-3 instead of 1-d-od. You now engage OD with an electric switch. The trans will shift automatically when you leave the shifter in D or manually when you feel like shifting gears yourself. The install is pretty easy. Just a bunch of bolts hold the valvebody in. Pretty much a remove and replace. The wiring for the Od switch is pretty straight forward. Nothing a normally skilled backyard mechanic can't do. No fancy tools needed.

WOW....thank you so much for the awesome information as that is EXACTLY what I want. The car is just lethal in first gear and shifts hard into second and holds it for a couple of seconds and then goes right into third and it totaly kills the fun in the car.

With the rebuild kit we put in it shifts very hard, and very quickly which is what I wanted it's just the stock shifting right into third sucks.

I saw the guys at Krazy Koncepts replace the valve body in a customers lightening and was shocked at hosw easy it was, and wish I was not paralyzed as I could do the work myself.

I have a background in racing imports as we were running high 10's all motor but it just got too expensive especially being paralyzed to go any quicker, and found out how cheap it is to build and race Foxbody stangs.

If your friend needs any help or anything I have been doing it for quite a long time and more then willing to help out.

jackchan · Nov 29, 2005

our little shop installed a shift kit from trans co once, but the springs for the 1st to 2nd shift werent upgraded like they were supose to be, so we had to go back and change out that spring..first would leave hard, second was like a normal shift, the it bark the tires in third gear on the shift.....some of the older kits may still be out there with the weaker springs. Just a thought.......transco did give us the upgrade kit so it didnt cost anything additional.
Good luck
Jack

Johnnb · Dec 6, 2005

Awesome information Jack, I really appreciate it. It has no problem barking them from the shift from first to second, but second is a bit weak, but can bark them into third.

I think I am going to go with the valve body from lentech as it seems the way to go and what I am looking for.

What the hell was Ford thinking??

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