Below are some pictures of 12" torque converter parts from a 1997 ford crown victoria police interceptor. All AODE and 4R70W transmissions use similarly designed converters. A larger version of most of the pictures below can be viewed by clicking on the image.

Here's the converter before it was cut open. The drain plug that's visible on the top was "decontented" somewhere in the late 2001 - early 2002 model year depending on transmission model.



1/4" thick steel takes a large amount of effort to cut through. I burned up one grinder and also went through a handful of abrasive cutting wheels in the process of opening the converter.



Here's the converter with the top cover (impeller) removed. Visible are the thrust washer, stator (reactor), and turbine.



Here's all the components inside the converter layed side by side.

Of note, the stator contains a one way clutch in the center that rotates freely in one direction and locks up in the other direction.



And here's the same components flipped over.

Note that the angle, size, shape and number of the vanes (fins) inside the converter all play an important role in determining the "k-factor" or "stall speed" of the unit. There are dozens of different torque converter models avaliable for the AOD-E and 4R70W transmissions. But unless an aftermarket converter is purchased, all units will be either 11.25" or 12" inch in diameter.



Here the components are layed side by side in the order they were removed from the converter.

From left to right: cover (flex plate studs/lockup clutch), pressure plate, turbine, stator, thrust washer, impeller.



And the same view with the components flipped over

From left to right: cover (impeller), thrust washer, stator, turbine, pressure plate, cover (flex plate studs/lockup clutch)



Here's the lockup system of the converter. Visible on the left is the friction material. On the right is the pressure plate with it's integrated torsional dampening springs. When this converter is actually installed on a transmission, the turbine shaft would pass through the center hole of the pressure plate.

Converter slip can be varied anywhere from 0% to 100%. To obtain controlled slip, transmission fluid is directed through the hollow center portion of the turbine (forward clutch) shaft. Flow out the turbine shaft lifts the pressure plate away from the cover which makes the converter slip. When no fluid flows out of the turbine shaft, the pressure plate is forced against the cover friction material by the hydraulic forces against the other side of the turbine.

Of note, when components get worn, the slip rate that the powertrain control module commands may not necessarily equate to the actual slip rate of the converter. This can cause "shuddering" that sometimes occurs in older high mileage crown vics. In this particular case, the vehicle did not "shudder" at all. The friction material inside the converter is in suprisingly good condition considering the vehicle had close to 150k miles on it.

Also of note, the friction material is located on the case cover rather than the pressure plate itself. This will cause a relatively small amount of slip ( <50 RPM ) even if 100% lockup were commanded in fourth gear (overdrive).

The stamping of "LuK" on the pressure plate refers to the LuK corporation. They have multiple internet addresses including: www.lukusa.com www.luk.com and www.luk.de



Here's a tape measure next to the converter outer shell depicting the thickness of the outer cover.



Towards the bottom of the above picture, a glimpse of the back of the torque converter drain plug is visible. When the drain plug was first decontented from production vehicles, the converter cover was still drilled for the plug and had a thin peice of sheetmetal spot welded over the hole.