I have been concerned by the hard downshift on my 90 4x4 150k miles bronco when accelerating at freeway speeds it goes from 4th gear to 2nd gear with little effort and realy crams down hard jerks the whole truck it will do it at any speed over 40 if i'm cruizing and accelerate. I notice no problem when getting to speed, maybe a little lag from 3rd to 4th, but nothing that seems unusual for a 150k truck that gets used. then the other day I drove with a guy whose 87 did the same thing, he said it was the seccond one he had that did it and he was concerned enough to want to get rid of it. is this a normal ford 4spd auto problem or am I just imagining it all and all ford trucks downshift this way "hard".

Maybe I should just stick with cars that are older than me and not worry about problems.

Thanks in advance for any advice

Eric

 

My '88 Bronco did the same. I had the tranny looked at multiple times by a mechanic friend. There were no problems.

I would accelerate steadily up to 45 then ease back on the gas and BAM!! it would feel like the ran over a 4 foot speed bump.

It was just the way the tranny was, sold it with 205k miles and I still see it on the road.

 

Its normal.

They began to get smoother around 94 or 95, but never really seamless.

later,
Dustin

 

I had a 1991 F-150 XLT Lariet for five years and from 120,000 whem I bought it to 160,000 miles did exactlly what is being described figured it was just a "ford shift". Loved the truck and I still see it to this day. The guy who has it loves it and has now 215.000 miles. Just change the filter and fluid and clean the pan every couple years and drain and fill the transfer case.