2015 Transit 350 (transmission failure)

the_twig_187 · October 21, 2015

well this moring i got the joy of pulling out the transmission out of a 2015 transit 350 with a 3.5L Ecoboost. the vehicle was making grinding noises and the transmission tech couldnt lift the vehicle on his hoist because it is too large. overall the job is a royal pain in the ass (compaired to a econoline van) you have to drop the sub frame, a bunch of front end brace brackets, the steering rack and swaybar need to be swong to the front of the vehicle and positioned with a bungie cord. the only positive improvement I saw on this job (and this is a HUGE improvement) was the way they have secured the starter to the transmission. instead of having the bolts go forward towards the bellhousing (so you have to use a bunch of wobble sockets and the percise extensions in order to remove the bolts) they have just two bolts facing rearward (as if they were transmission bell housing bolts)...who ever thought of this at ford should be promoted to president! ok, well maybe not that high up but come on lol how hard would this have been for the engineers to have done years ago.

Keith Browning · October 23, 2015

Yeah but those two top bolts on the bell housing are a bitch! Ran into that pulling an engine. While doing that, I was wondering how bad pulling a transmission on one of these would be. You know, this trans in all of it's incarnations has been around for what? 30 years? Still cant get it right.

the_twig_187 · October 25, 2015

yah those top 3 bell housing bolts "would" be hard "if" you didn't have the snap-on bell housing extension. its a 3 foot long, black molybdenum extension with a 3/8th end for a socket to fit and the other end is a 1/2 inch drive... makes it a piece of cake to take out pesky bolts.

Keith Browning · October 25, 2015

I think I simply used a chrome universal with a short 13mm on it at the end of a long extension.

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tonybullitt · October 25, 2015

These are what I use on all bellhousing bolts along with the long extension. Snap on 206pfsxm

lmorris · October 27, 2015

yah those top 3 bell housing bolts "would" be hard "if" you didn't have the snap-on bell housing extension. its a 3 foot long, black molybdenum extension with a 3/8th end for a socket to fit and the other end is a 1/2 inch drive... makes it a piece of cake to take out pesky bolts.

Use that as well. GAX24