AW4/A340 makes this list for sure
Longest lasting OEM Automatic transmissions?
- Thread starter LenZee
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The A340's had a bad bunch of bearings for a couple years in the early 2000's. Outside of that they were pretty stout. I put more than one through some serious punishment.
Also beat the royal snot out of some Turbo 400's and 727's. You couldn't kill those with a nuke.
Also beat the royal snot out of some Turbo 400's and 727's. You couldn't kill those with a nuke.
What made them so good?
Units behind '68-'70 429 & 500 engines used......
*6 frictions in the Direct Clutch vs 5 found in the rest of the TH400's at the time.
*Aluminum pistons in the Forward, Intermediate, & Direct clutches instead of Pressed together steel pistons that failed quite often.
*Sprags in the Intermediate & Lo/Reverse instead of Roller Clutches found in later models.
Hydramatic's of the time were THE best automatic transmissions in the world, Just about every luxury marque at the time (Except Mercedes Benz) used TH400's......Rolls Royce, Bentley, Jaguar, Aston Martin to name a few.
Ford's Lincoln division also purchased their automatics from Hydramatic in the 40's & 50's before Ford started engineering their own.
Nash/Rambler, Hudson, AMC, Willys/Kaiser & Checker were also Hydramatic customers.
*6 frictions in the Direct Clutch vs 5 found in the rest of the TH400's at the time.
*Aluminum pistons in the Forward, Intermediate, & Direct clutches instead of Pressed together steel pistons that failed quite often.
*Sprags in the Intermediate & Lo/Reverse instead of Roller Clutches found in later models.
Hydramatic's of the time were THE best automatic transmissions in the world, Just about every luxury marque at the time (Except Mercedes Benz) used TH400's......Rolls Royce, Bentley, Jaguar, Aston Martin to name a few.
Ford's Lincoln division also purchased their automatics from Hydramatic in the 40's & 50's before Ford started engineering their own.
Nash/Rambler, Hudson, AMC, Willys/Kaiser & Checker were also Hydramatic customers.
Aston Martin was actually a torqueflite user and later changed to the 4L80E. The 727 was almost 10x cheaper than the a 5-Speed manual from ZF. Maserati also had a similar dilemma.
I just figured they made the switch from the TH400 to the 4L80E like the other English marques did. Of course AMC liked to flip-flop between the A727 & TH400.
I may be wrong but IIRC the 69 Buick Riviera 430 ci with TH400 was configured the same way with the exception of the short tail shaft needed for the X frame.
All the auto. trans. in my 5.0 and 4.6 Ford Panthers from 1986-2011 lasted till 300K miles. Changed out fluid every 60K miles. Dealer did the ATF changes. No issues whatsoever with them.
I think this is a stunningly awesome appraisal of the "Bad CVT" thread that is somewhere else on this site. I appreciate your honesty!
Could be?......I'd need the I.D. code off the trans to confirm that.
JHZR2
Staff member
Ive had multiple examples of the Daimler 722.3 AT with well over 200k, working well (as long as the Bowden cable and transmission modulator were adjusted).
I don’t have any record of the 47RE in my Ram being replaced before ~425k miles. PO owned it forever and said it was replaced once. But my understanding is that the 47RE is pretty weak in reality... I guess I got the diamond in the rough.
I don’t have any record of the 47RE in my Ram being replaced before ~425k miles. PO owned it forever and said it was replaced once. But my understanding is that the 47RE is pretty weak in reality... I guess I got the diamond in the rough.
I knew someone who had an 89 Crown Vic with an aod out of an 86 marquis (original trans was destroyed by the cheap plastic tv cable grommet breaking - no line pressure destroys them fast). The replacement transmission burned up at something like 400k miles.
I've had the best luck with GM's th2004R in several 1980s cars. Around 270k miles on the 1987 model that's in my 84 cutlass.
Besides that, for newer stuff I'd vote for 4L80E in GM trucks, 4R70 in Crown Vics and ford trucks, and Toyota automatics.
Most low torque ATs from major manufactures could last well past 200K if maintained diligently. I remember driving a GM Olds back in late 90s and the transmission would shift like butter - those were the good old days of American autos. In the recent past have been on Toyos and they have served me well and most on the forum think the Aisin units are good. The Nissan transmissions have also served me very well over 200K... In short their is much success in getting any good manufacturer past 200K provided one is nice and easy on them
The 200-4R was a good unit, It just didn't survive the vertical integration of GM Powertrain because there was no way to mount a transfer case to it without completely reengineering the unit & the Center Support literally just floated in the case which doesn't bode well for truck duty cycle.
Was it really? A buddy of mine had a Monte; he had it rebuilt around 75k, and I remember him modding the tranny to hold up better.
Maybe his unit a fluke? Then again, they did put the 200-4R in the Grand National, didn't they...
I had an Malibu with a 229 CID V6, with the horrible Hydramatic 250. It had to be rebuilt at 68k; was there any similarity between the 200-4R and the 250? If memory serves (it's been a long time), the 700R4 was based off of the Hydramatic 350, no?
Overall....The 200-4R held up quite well, But like the 700R4....The TV cable adjustment was critical for proper Line Pressure rise & weren't always set correctly even from the factory. Front Pump failure was an issue with the 200-4R & 700R4.
The 200-4R is based on the TH200/TH200C, Basically Hydramatic added a Overdrive Clutch, Carrier, Overrun Clutch, & One-Way Clutch to the front of the TH200 along with a Variable Displacement Vane Pump instead of a Fixed Displacement Gear Pump.
The TH250 was based on the TH350, To shave weight & cut production costs.....The Intermediate Clutch & Intermediate Roller Clutch, 2nd Brake Band was eliminated & replaced with a simple Intermediate Band to hold the Direct Clutch Drum to achieve 2nd gear.
This created a Non-Synchronous 2-3 shift.....The Intermediate Band had to be hydraulically knocked off while as the same time the Direct Clutch had to come on. The timing of these events was never perfect & resulted in Intermediate Band & Direct Clutch wear.
The TH350 simply keeps the Intermediate Clutch applied & When the Direct Clutch comes on.....The Intermediate Roller Clutch will simply Overrun.
The 700R4 was almost a clean sheet design, But did share the Center Support, Lo/Reverse Roller Clutch, & Lo/Reverse Clutch with the TH350/TH250. The 700R4/4L60E is one of the very few units at the time that could achieve 4 forward ratios using 2 Planetary Carriers......The 200-4R & 4L80E used 3 Carriers.
Thank you for taking the time to educate me.
Let me ask you this: I still have my 2001 Ranger, with 200k miles; I hold onto my vehicles forever. Do you have any thoughts on the service life of the 10 speed automatics used in the 2020 Ford Ranger? Like I said, I hold onto vehicles forever, and want my next purchase to be something that will last a long time.
I am averse to buying a new vehicle, because the ten speed units in today's vehicles...I can't imagine what they cost to rebuild.
I have had bad luck with automatics; the Hydra 250 in my Malibu failed at 67k; the Torqueflite A604 failed at 120k; the AXOD in my 3L Taurus failed at around 80k.
The 4T60E in my 2008 Impala has been slipping since around 100k; I change the fluid every 60k miles (the ex-wife has that car, so I dunno what happened with it).
I don't abuse my vehicles, and change the fluids with some regularity. My current vehicle, a 2001 Ranger, has a manual transmission, so
...I am averse to buying new vehicles for a few reasons (you're the guinea pig/beta tester on new designs unless it's a "mature" model in it's life cycle; the depreciation is eye-popping compared to a few year old model, etc); But if I trusted the transmission I wouldn't let THAT scare me.
New car powertrain warranties are usually quite impressive vs. what they used to be not that long ago. Also, the major cost of a transmission rebuild is labor pulling/installing and cracking open. The parts and time to do extra clutch baskets is not that much in the overall scheme of things. Think of it like this: building a new house from the ground up is say $250,000. Land, permit, lumber, finishing, etc. That extra bathroom is $7,000. Not that much in the big picture.
RE: the 4T60E - I don't know it in detail, BUT, in a 4L60E we had (Express van) I found the trick was frequent partial fluid changes (what I do now on all vehicles). But if it's slipping right away after all new fluid, then that's not going to help.
The 10 speeds are so new that.....Nobody could tell you how these units will fare in long term reliability/durability!
The TH250, AXOD, & 4T65E are all known to fail within 100,000 miles, But it took 5-10 years for the industry & owners of these vehicles to realize this.
The TH250, AXOD, & 4T65E are all known to fail within 100,000 miles, But it took 5-10 years for the industry & owners of these vehicles to realize this.
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