I can't tell you much about the AOD trannys. Other than thats what everybody seems to want to use on a Ford project. I did read on the Ford Bronco site last night that those guys like the Ford Ranger overdrive I think it was the AL4D. So i'm not partial to any trans other than my customer wants an o.d. automatic.
Hell I'll put a G.M.700r4 in there if somebody makes a kit to do it,as I don't want to tie a bay up fabricating stuff to make it work. AOD's must be pretty decent as I had them in 2 Explorers and pulled a 24 foot fully loaded race trailer all over the country with em without a problem. The steering kit by F100 central does the same as you did ,as we want to retain the original column.