I have an 03 Windstar with 221,00 miles on it, and the transmission has went out. I decided to remove it myself, and have it ready to drop except for the torque converter nuts. Only one was I able to remove using a big breaker bar. The others I had to burn off with a cutting torch.

I found a replacement transmission at a salvage yard, and the mechanic that pulled it, said that he had to heat every one of the studs inorder to remove the nuts from the torque converter. I went to the Ford dealer, and bought replacement nuts, and they are very tight screwing onto the studs.

Is this normal with Windstar transmission?

 

Just a note to say that I have got the new transmission installed, and it seems to be working great.

 

Do you have any helpful hints or lessons learned that you might be willing to share with me? I have a 99 Windstar 3.0L with almost 200K miles. Thanks!