F150 4w70r

Lshaw97

Senior Member
I have a 02 f150 180k miles on the original 4r70w transmission, it’s shifts great right now and no problems. How many miles can I expect that transmission to be trouble free? Anyone have any experience with this trans?
 

ribber

Senior Member
I have the same but 03 model with 120K miles. They're good transmissions from what I'm told. Mine is also in good shape and the fluid looks good. The drivetrain in the 97-03 F150 was pretty solid.
 

transfixer

Senior Member
I have a 02 f150 180k miles on the original 4r70w transmission, it’s shifts great right now and no problems. How many miles can I expect that transmission to be trouble free? Anyone have any experience with this trans?

With normal use you might get around 250k out of it before it will need rebuilding, as ribber mentioned those units are pretty durable, one of the better transmissions Ford has had .
 

transfixer

Senior Member
Would my 04 have that ?

Yours has the same unit more or less, although Ford made some design changes in 04 which seem to make them more prone to failure, we were told they changed vendors on some torrington bearings used in the unit starting with that year, as a result we've seen a lot of bearing failures on those units between 04 up to about 09, sometimes even later units, I have seen bearing failures on 2013 units.

You can expect to get 150-200k out of it before it gives trouble.
 

ribber

Senior Member
Would my 04 have that ?
Model year 2004 was a redesign, but I think (not 100%) the tranny is the same. But, transfixer knows more about it than I do.
However, 2004 brought the 5.4 3 valve in and it was a pathetic engine. On the contrary, the previous generation 5.4 2 valve version was (is) a great engine. I still can't believe Ford managed to go from one of their best engines to one of their worst in a 12 month span.
 

transfixer

Senior Member
Model year 2004 was a redesign, but I think (not 100%) the tranny is the same. But, transfixer knows more about it than I do.
However, 2004 brought the 5.4 3 valve in and it was a pathetic engine. On the contrary, the previous generation 5.4 2 valve version was (is) a great engine. I still can't believe Ford managed to go from one of their best engines to one of their worst in a 12 month span.

Yes, its still basically the same, they added an input speed sensor to the trans, and changed one internal part to a non ferrous metal part, to allow the speed sensor to read off the input drum. Other than that is the same as previous years, with the exception they started getting torrington bearings from a different vendor, ( supposedly) the failure rate on those bearings is pretty high on the 04 and later models.
 
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