Troyer Performance has long been known in the F-150 performance world. Mike Troyer is undoubtedly in the upper echelon in the F-150 world, and operates the only company that focuses on F-150 performance. The man eats, sleeps and breathes F150 --- a full blown Ford truck man. What some people may not know is that his shop goes way beyond tuning. If you need a performance transmission, they can handle this. If you need it installed, they do this as well. Need your engine replaced? No problem, not only do they have the expertise to handle custom engine design and building, installs and upgrades, but they can also recommend the best path to take to get where you want in your build based on your needs. Stock, mild or wild modifications, Roush, Saleen, Whipple and ATI Prochargers, turbos, he’s tuned and built practically all of them all, plus knows his way around suspension systems as well. And though Mike is known as an F-150 expert, he also knows his way around Mustangs and other Fords -- it’s not unusual to see a Mustang at the shop being worked on. They also have a 1997 Lincoln Mark VIII that is being converted into a 200+ mph monster!

(Troyer Performance long block engine to be installed in one of Mike’s client’s truck)

If you own a diesel don’t let that stop or discourage you from contacting Troyer Performance. Mike knows his way around diesel tuning and was part of SCT’s initial R&D efforts to properly tune the 6.0L Powerstroke trucks without puking coolant fluid. Safe tunes are pretty common nowadays, but tuning without raising cylinder pressures too high was quite an accomplishment back then.

Now on to my transmission saga - the OEM transmission does a good job with a stock Roushcharger and a proper tune but its not going to hold up to adding significantly more power and hard driving habits. Since I have additional power above what the stock Roushcharger provides, I initial had the transmission in my F-150 initially performance-built by someone very highly regarded with Lightning and Powerstroke 4R100 transmissions, but it turns out that experience didn’t necessarily carry over to the 4R75-E in the 2004-2008 F150. It lasted about 6,000 miles and the computer had difficulties adapting the 1-2 shift. The 2004-2008 F-150s are heavy and the 4R75-E requires someone with 4R75-E specific expertise and experience, especially with its application in the 2004-2008 F-150.

I talked to Mike Troyer at Troyer Performance and Darrin at BC Automotive. Darrin’s skills have historically been primarily in the car (Mustang, Crown Vic, etc.) arena, and over the past few years Mike & Darrin have worked together to build transmissions & torque converters adapted specifically for the truck market. The transmission in this truck is made based on experience with these heavier trucks at power levels from 400 RWHP to well over 1000 RWHP, and they have worked together to come up with combinations that are specifically suited for these trucks and are basically bulletproof. I was at Troyer Performance for a visit with Mike (and some other work on the truck), so it was a natural to have the transmission delivered & installed there, rather than my crawling under my truck and doing it myself. My truck is lowered, and I didn’t relish the thought of yanking a transmission around while the truck is up on jack stands. I’ve done plenty of work from axles to engines, but transmissions are something I tend to stay away from… it’s really something that requires a lift to do it properly.

Pictured is the new transmission with a lot of propriety work done to it. Without giving away details, its sufficient to say that additional clutches are added everywhere, with extra attention paid to the inherent weakness of the intermediate clutch assembly. Many internal parts were hardened to help the transmission to handle up to 1000 horsepower and 7500 rpm. More than enough for my truck! The overdrive band setup was enhanced as well since this is another one of the 4R70/4R75 weaknesses. This allows the band and drum to handle the demands the added power brings to the table. The valve body assembly was modified to increase fluid flow rates to the torque converter, clutch packs, etc., without causing the kinds of problems seen when modifying valve bodies with a typical shift kit.

The torque converter was custom-made for this application, as are the converters in all transmissions ordered from Mike. This means you’ll get a converter with the stall speed and lockup characteristics matched to your wants and needs, the power level, how you use the truck, and the truck’s configuration, leaving room for additional power should you choose to upgrade your truck’s power in the future. The torque converter’s lockup clutch surface area is increased significantly over stock in order to handle full-throttle lockup under high power levels.

These transmissions have been installed in numerous street and race trucks, so Mike can provide them for any 1997-2008 F-150, Mustangs and most other FoMoCo vehicles.

Now, Mike does a few things differently when it comes to his shop. Some say its overkill, but when you’ve had any kind of problem with a transmission, it’s a case of if your going to do something, then do it right. So the first thing the shop did was replace the auxiliary transmission cooler located behind the bumper….

Flushing the auxiliary cooler simply doesn’t do a good enough job of cleaning all the contaminants that are present any time a transmission fails or has clutch or torque converter issues. If you have doubts, disconnect one of the hoses after power flushing the cooler and run your finger along the inside of one of the side tubes. A film of goop (my technical term for transmission fluid, clutch material and metallic particles) will come off on your finger. Considering the cost of another quick repeat transmission failure or replacing the cooler, replacing the cooler is cheap insurance to insure that the new transmission does not become contaminated from any small materials getting into it that are still in a cooler after only flushing it, instead of replacing it.

While replacing the aux cooler a Ford transmission in-line filter kit was added. Put this on the line going into the cooler, to prevent “gunk” from going into the cooler. The filters are relatively inexpensive and I recommend you change them on a regular basis to help keep the entire transmission clean. Even if you don’t rebuild or replace the transmission on your truck I highly recommend you add one of these filter kits to your truck. 15-20 minutes of work for added transmission life…. it’s definitely worth it.

Next, since my truck is a 4x4, the transfer case had to come out. This is a relatively easy part to remove if you have a lift. Not terribly heavy (it sure feels that way if you don’t have a lift or transmission jack!). One of the things I plan to do in the future is pull this unit again and build it a little stouter, as well as replace the front drive shaft. 4x4 really helps with launching the truck at WOT without wheel spin but its hard on the transfer case. I’ve heard of one case where someone twisted and snapped the front drive shaft launching this way.

The original “built” transmission came out next, and was reviewed to see the condition. Most of the hard parts were good but the intermediate clutches, overdrive band & the torque converter were in bad shape, and the intermediate clutches in particular were considerably worn. The converter was not large enough for this application and showed signs of developing too much heat (see the photos below) as well as the snout never having been properly lubricated to protect the crankshaft pilot.

Before installing the new transmission, the coolant lines are thoroughly flushed and then cleaned using “Kooler Kleen”. This product is used to prevent transmission contamination by removing and eliminating contaminants such as grease, dirt, sludge, grime and metal shavings in transmission cooling systems and lines, without leaving any water or soapy residue in the system.



Its sprayed into the external coolant lines (photo with Mike pointing at the lines), allowed to soak in and repeated until it comes out clean. (Note that the coolant lines where not connected to the external transmission filter and new transmission cooler during this procedure.)

The radiator was also replaced with a dual core, heavy duty custom Troyer Performance radiator rated for 1200 HP. This step helps keep it running cooler since the transmission fluid flows through the primary cooler located at the bottom of the transmission. Mike changed out the radiator not only for better performance, but also because it too, contains a transmission cooler that must be replaced whenever there has been a transmission failure in order to prevent a quick repeat failure (Ford found this out the hard way back in the late 1990’s) from contaminated materials getting into the new transmission. The only way to prevent that it is by replacing the radiator and any other transmission coolers. We also discussed the tuning on the truck, and added long tube headers at the same time. It was agreed that we wanted the extra cooling capacity of the dual-core radiator to help deal with the higher under hood temperatures which can result when increasing power levels in order to maximize BTU dispersal and keep the engine running cooler.


(Truck on the dyno for tuning)

The weight of the truck and the high stall speed of the torque converter I wanted in my truck requires a good deal of tuning work, easily handled at Mike’s shop. Mike normally recommends about a 2500 rpm stall speed for the street, though he can have one built to other specs as well.

Mike can work with anyone from a novice to an expert, and if you get it installed at his shop he’ll handle all the data logging and tuning on site. My case was a little different, where I choose to do several subsequent data logging sessions because I have some background in this, and as a result wanted more direct input in the shifting strategy, firmness and lockup characteristics. Rest assured, when you leave Mike’s shop you’ll like the results!

If you’re too far from Mike’s shop for an installation and need the transmission shipped, he’ll send you an instruction sheet that even a novice can use to data log the truck. Follow the instructions and email him the logs. You’ll receive tunes for the truck which, in most cases, are spot on the 1st time, though in some cases with more radical builds it may require additional tweaking. Mike backs up his work and the transmissions for one year so you can order with confidence.

Driving impressions… it's fun to drive while still being “civilized” during most normal driving. Launching from a stop is really good and I have to be careful because traction is now an issue even with the Yokahama Parada Spec tires. Even my brother, who owns a late model Corvette, was impressed. He noted how off the line in 4x4 my truck could easily match his Vette… though we both knew that once his car hooked up I didn’t stand a chance!

Highway mileage went up as a result of the torque converter. At 55-60 mph I logged over 20 mpg and at 75 mph the truck gets about 18 mpg. City driving is about 14-16 mpg if I can manage to keep off the boost. There’s a little more shifting in city driving than stock due to the stall speed the truck has, but nothing excessive. Transmission temps are exceptionally low. In 80-90 degree weather the transmission stays at 145-165 degrees on the highway. Here in Georgia when it gets around 95 to 100 degrees the transmission holds steady on the highway between 160-170 degrees. Stop and go traffic the temperature will be about 10 degrees higher. A full 0-100 mph WOT run drives the temps up to about 185-195 which is a very respectable number (note that after a hard blast like that you should allow the truck to run for a little bit before shutting it off, otherwise the temps will rise over 200 if you immediately shut the engine off after the run because the fluid doesn’t get a chance to circulate through the auxiliary cooler while air is moving past it).

To receive more information on this and other modifications for your vehicle, contact Mike Troyer at Troyer Performance. The shop’s number is *. He’ll be happy go over the details to build something suited to your needs.

(Copyright 2009 Ken Payne, All International Rights Reserved. )

If your company is interested in sponsoring a product or service for this project truck please Ken Payne at [email protected].

* Updated info, 2016: Mike Troyer has retired and closed up shop. Darrin Burch at BC Automotive can be reached at bcatransmissions.com. If you need custom tuning for your performance modified or stock Ford truck, check out www.motorhaven.com - in the tuning business since 1999.