[Alan Roehrich]

Alex,
You may have had better luck than many. But as a rule, and I worked on the stuff for a while, the E4OD and the 4R100 had some serious durability issues, they often burn up the over drive, they lose reverse on a fairly regular basis, among other issues, such as the torque converters coming apart. When I was doing transmission work for the general public, as opposed to almost strictly racing and high performance, I saw a lot more of the E4OD and 4R100 than I did any other light truck transmission. We had a fleet customer that used Ford trucks, and it was a serious problem for them. I built the E4OD from the time it entered service until it was "replaced" with the 4R100, and yes, it was most certainly based on the Ford C6 transmission. They added a center support that was somewhat similar to the one found on a GM 200 4R and an extra drum. In fact, the thing looks a lot like an over grown version of the A4LD, the over drive version of a C3. They've gotten better over the years, and may be decent now, but I would not tell anyone to go buy one.

The V-10 may have gotten better, but was never a great piece for the average truck owner. Your definition of acceptable service may be different than mine. I've known quite a few people who bought V-10 powered Fords, you're the first person I've ever met who bragged about one. One of my best friends bought one on a Friday and the rods came out of it the next Monday on the way to work. The new engine never had any power, it was an extended cab Ford 4X4, it never got better than 10MPG unloaded, and never had any more power than a good 460 had.

I'm not going to argue with you about it, I'll just say that the experiences of my friends and customers do not agree at all with your assessment, and leave it at that.