1995 windstar transmission pull

[drummerdaddy]

My girlfiends windstar has a leaking torque converter seal and I am trying to pull the tranny. Does the engine and tranny have to come out together because there is little to no room to split it and pull the tranny by itself. Plus it has to come out the bottom!

[ghostguy6]

This should be under the ford forums not O/T, and rule number one around here is

[Neutrino]

moved

[drummerdaddy]

well this isn't the most user friendly forum I've seen, sorry to disturb you

[Dngrsone]

Well, maybe not in OT, but we're pretty nice here in Windstar. I don't have my books in front of me ATM, but I'm pretty sure the engine and tranny will drop out together. The entire assembly drops out through the bottom along with the front suspension, so it's a pretty rough job if you don't have a lift.

[12Ounce]

I agree with Dngrsone, it's a pretty rough job without a lift...which I don't have, just a floor jack and a couple of little "barrel" jacks. Some all-thread rod comes into play to help lower the subframe. I've done a couple of sub-frames, but not a Winnie.
Unless you've got a high-ceiling garage, you'll be working outside. The radiator support must be raised high enough to clear the engine once the subframe is lowered.
A piece of plywood under the lowered subframe makes it easier to skid around.

Be careful.

[jgbmo]

A couple of years ago the first gear piston in my '94 Taurus (AXODE-AX4S) tranny cracked, causing intermittent (at best) engagement in first gear. As it turns out, Ford had switched to aluminum pistons for a few years, and those pistons had a tendency to crack somewhere between 90K and 120K miles--regardless of how frequently you change your fluid and filter.

Anyway, I read about a way to pull the tranny and subframe while leaving the engine in the car, and it worked great! I used a couple of 2 by 4s laid across the opening of the engine compartment--one aligned with each exhaust manifold. Then I wrapped chain around each 2 by 4, and bolted each end of the chain to an exhaust manifold bolt. Then I disconnected the tranny to engine bolts, torque convertor to flex plate bolts, disconnected the struts from the lower control arms, pulled the drive shafts ends out of the tranny, disconnect the outer tie rods from the steering knuckles, placed jacks under the subframe, disconnected other pertinent stuff, and lowered the subframe and tranny as a unit. After I dragged it out from under the car, I was able to easily separate the tranny from the subframe and took it to a shop to have it rebuilt. I have put over 30K on the tranny since the rebuild (with steel pistons!), and it is running fine (knock on wood). I suspect this technique could work with a Windstar, but haven't tried it yet (and hopefully won't have to for a very long time).

Best of luck to you!