mine died at around 160k. new tranny has about 30k on it now. had 10k on a fresh rebuild when i bought it. still shifts good, but its a bit hesitant going into 3rd sometimes, but i think its because of the way ive been driving her(like a grandma).

 

Well I got a call from the transmission shop today (Slipco) with a diagnosis... He pulled everything apart and found the torque converter had failed and left some shrapnel in the vavle boby which caused the solenoid codes. He also found a pitted gear which drives the planetary gears so he is replacing that as well as my overdrive unit. The overdrive unit works fine but is cracked and leaking where it mounts to the transfer case... He said someone tried to rig it up with RTV when they installed the new transfer case and it was dangerously weak there now as well as still leaking....

He quoted me $1,550 with rebuilding with a master rebuild kit including the torque converter and $375 overdrive unit. I asked him to fix the leaky softplug that was between the tranny and engine while he has it apart so I imagine that will go up a bit but all in all I think its a great price. I decided not to bother with the shift kit since it just makes the truck shift harder and if anything harder on the clutches.(at least thats what the local performance shop owner tells me) I dont race the truck so its not important to me... and as far as the shift improvement kits the shop said the cost would go up due to the extra work and time. He didnt seem like he wanted to deal with modifications and warrantying them although He did say he cuts out the cooling line check valve otherwise he wouldnt warranty it so that tells me he has had some experience with these before.
He also said I shouldnt mess with adjusting the bands until they start to act up. He showed me how much clutch material was on there (which was very little) and told me the more you adjust them the faster it actually wears them down despite what maintenance manuals say.
My mechanic recommended the shop and said they have never had issues with them...I've been using this mechanic since my first car (less and less now since I'm doing more of my own work).

 

Mine has always done this before... I wouldnt doubt it has been rebuilt before and I have a shift kit already...

 

A trans shop call SLIPCo????? Seriously?

Sounds like a good deal though.

 

shift kits are easier on clutches.. make for longer life of trans..

 

I thought the same thing but the local speed shop (K&S auto) is pretty up to speed (no pun intended) on these things being that they also build racecars and muscle cars and the owner was very clear that the shift kits are harder on the transmission and clutches....He sells them so if he tells me its not what I'm looking for I'm inclined to believe him... It costing him a sale afterall. I guess it would be like speed shifting in a manual? perhaps it makes the clutches more likely to snap or fail in some other way?
yeah I thought Slipco was an odd name too...the shops been there all my life though... I guess its not too weird since a transmissions job is all about when to control slipping and drive.

 

I was told by a couple local tranny builders that a shift kit saves the clutches by not letting them slip as much, but could stress the hard parts more in a performance vehicle.

I have a stock motor and dont plan on building a drag truck, so I went with the transgo jr. figured it will help it last longer with the little bit of towing I do, plus I like to feel my shifts its one of those things when you like to blast the music, I can go all by feel and never have to hear it, plus my ears are messed up from when I was a kid.

And that doesnt sound like a bad quote at all

 

Mine went at 197k, my rebuild was 1150 on the bench with better bands and clutches along with his own recipe for a shift kit. It works well and he is a very respected builder in my area. He builds the trans for the people that did my gears that own a race team.

 

thats a good deal too... I think price has a lot to do with local demand and economy....
Its funny but I'm actually relieved this happened... it was always looming there for me in the back of my mind on long trips.....

 

Well mine ended up beng $1,825 out the door with replacing the softplug behind the tranny, a new transmission mount and he did bypass the check valve... truck runs cooler now... I may have to go back to a 195 stat or get an sct tuner now