1986 stx Touch drive a4ld swap
 

I have a 1986 Ford ranger stx 2.9 v6
with a A4ld trans with touch drive 4x4

whats the best transmission to swap the crappy a4ld?

Manual trans.

A4LD was used in Rangers until 2011
Ford changed the valve body in 1995 for new EEC-V computer to have full shift control and renamed it 4R55E, then changed software in computer and renamed it 5R55E
But for all those years it was still the same transmission inside, an A4LD
And Ford wouldn't stick with a bad transmission design for 25 years, no reason to, there was just not a better transmission made

A4LD got a bad name from transmission shops that had NEVER EVER seen an OverDrive transmission before, A4LD was one of the first
Shops would F* up rebuilds and when it failed, "it was a bad design", lol
"A poor workman blames his tools" always has been and always will be that way
Yet 20+ years later they were still going strong, so just not true it was a bad design

Good read on A4LD here: https://www.therangerstation.com/tec...ary/a4ld.shtml

If you or a shop does a "good" rebuild with update parts it will last you 250k miles

And automatics in 4x4s can be a real blessing when crawling along vs manual and feather the clutch, lol

Yes, manuals rarely fail, just needs clutch replaced, so WAY less trouble than any automatic, but not a Ford thing, lol

In my opinion you are way better off fixing/rebuilding the A4LD
Buying "rebuilt" A4LD can be a mixed bag, you really don't know whats been replaced, having a local shop do the rebuild might cost a bit more but you can "tell" them what you want to be done