DTT does it all. I've asked before if they work on the trannies behind gas engines as well as behind diesels and they said, yep... Only difference between the two types of trannies is the quality of parts that go into them at the factory, maybe the size of the radiator to go along with it, and the size of the torque converter. All they ask is to just specify what you'll be doing with your truck and they will custom build one with your requirements in mind. They are pricey, but if I ever do decide to rebuild my auto and not just get a manual out of some 70's truck, I'm going to go with DTT if money's not too tight.

 

Stay away from chain transmission shops. The staff is not well qualified, etc. Find a erputable builder in your area who has been in business for years. I talked to my machinist and got a name from him who to have rebuild my transmission locally.

Also,this is no longer the 1950's and 1960's. You're paying someone for a skill and years of experience. Respect that and the person performing the work. After all, if you were so wonderful you'd be rebuilding your transmission yourself. Sit down (bring the guy some coffee/donuts/whatnot) and chat him up about what your loking at performance-wise and that you understand costs for parts and labor. Be direct and ask questions about his methods and reasons for reusing certain parts. Ask if he'll cut you a break if you pay cash for the job, such as half of the ESTIMATE up front. No one can tell you what the rebuild will cost until the unit is completely dismantled and every part analyzed.

I bet you'll walk out feeling better and have a better piece of gear in your truck.

 

I agree about the chain shops. There is one called Aamco, and uh, they just bothered me. They had the overly nice smuck running the phone, and their prices were just UP THE ****ING ROOF. I hate people who are overly nice, just makes you feel uncomfortable knowing they are full of ****. Anyways, this shop I've chosen to go with is called New England Transmission. They've been in the business for years. They are located in an industrial park about 5 miles from me. They've really pleased me so far. Their representative is very professional, and can actually answer my questions. They've also been extremely stedfast in getting me quotes together. I like the fact that their transmission comes with a 3 year/70,000 mile warranty. He told me for a transmission that heavy duty, they feel confident dishing that kind of warranty out. And VWandDodge hit a really good point, about talking to them personally and taking care of them. I think he's been spying on me or something lol. But today I went down there and just spoke to him before they closed. I said listen guys, I have a lot of options for this truck. I want to make sure your guys' transmission will be designed for the truck the way it stands with the oversized tires. He was vry kind and confidently explained how this transmission will easily account for what I'm looking for in my driving styles and the big tires. He also made me feel good when they explained how big this indepedant transmission cooler will come with the transmission, along with a bigger transmission pan as well. Tranny will also come with about a 2600-2800 stall converter as well. To top itoff, their estimate includes fixing those seals, and recalibrating my speedo for the oversized tires. I'm still calling a lot of transmission shops that you guys are mentioning, but none of them seem to be giving me that warranty I'm looking for. If I did buy one from them, I'd sitll be looking at paying someone to install it, and getting the leaks fixed as well, and buying a transmission cooler and a bigger tranny pan. So for $3,800, I feel like I'm getting the most bang for my buck, even though this is a disgusting amountof money. I'm taking that personal loan out and I will deal with this myself. I'm really excited though. IF I get all of this done, this truck will be brand new. It's the only thing thats been wrong with the truck. IT will be awesome when my transmission will actually be designed for the way my truck is built, and I won't feel bad about driving the truck around. I'm also really eager to find out what the gearing ratio is on this truck. There going to call me tomorrow and let me know what it is. IF it's 4.56, man, I'll be so happy. Anyways, that 3 year/70,000 mile warranty with a very repubtable and local shop sounds awfully appealing to me. Am I crazy for liking this package that comes with EVERYTHING the truck will ever need for a tranny?

 

Good luck with the tranny rebuild........Im pretty sure you have 4.56's if your runnin 2000 rpm goin 65mph

 

A 2800rpm stall might be a little higher than I'd want. I'd ask if they had a smaller one. The stock stall is at 1800rpm. Although you may not notice a difference with it. Sounds like a decent deal with a nice warranty but like I said earlier I'd make sure that you get an itemized list. I could tell you all the stuff I wanted to about something being heavy duty and will stand up to your speeding and burnouts and everything else if I wanted to that doesn't make it true. They may very well have the best deal for you but I'd for sure get a parts list and stuff like that before I dished out that sort of money.


A huge cooler isn't that big of a deal. A B&M cooler which is what a lot of guys seem to like is only like $70 at most from Jegs or $150 or so for a kit. While thats not something super cheap it's not super expensive either so it's not like you couldn't add that on your own.

Wanye will only offer you a 2 year warranty not a 3 year but he has unlimited milage with his and you know you are getting a quality product not taking a chance and hoping you do.

It's like a local shop here found out though. He bought a bunch of transmissions from a company as he thought they had a solid product. Well, now they have switched owners and he can't get them to pay for the 2 he has had come back. He was telling me how he had to pay out of his pocket so as he has learned don't just base your decision on the warranty as they can tell you all they want that doesn't mean something wont happen when they go out of bussiness or something like that happen.


Also for recalibrating the speedo you can get that done fairly cheaply at the dealer or just buy a Hypertech for $150 or so used and do that and get a little power while doing it.

 

Another thing not related to your transmission is don't think it will be like a new truck when you get it in. Sure it might feel like one for a little while but thats what I thought when I first ordered only to find out after more checking I had a bunch of other stuff that needed replacing. I've got probably over 7 grand into my truck at this point just from this last round of repairs. This is without a pleneum as I'm not sure if mine is bad or not. This however does include the APS Pleneum kit just not the install of it yet. This doesn't include the repairs before that which I have quite a bit more into.

I thought I just needed a tranny. Well, after jacking it up to pull the tire to mess with the brakes I decided to check the ball joints. Well, turns out I needed upper and lower ball joints which ran me around $700.

Then I had already known about the clip that had broken off the LSD in the rear end. I decided to change the fluid again and well, more of a clip had broken off. The factory LSD's in these trucks are plain and simple just pieces of crap. Almost everyone I've talked to has had a problem with theirs. If you don't already have a aftermarket LSD in there I'd pull the cover and see if the clips are broken off. If they aren't already I'd start saving to buy another one for when they do break off.

Next up is the Pleneum gasket. Thats quite a bit of labor and a few hundred in parts. Or probably a few hundred more in labor if you don't do it yourself. You have already found out you need this.

Then you have the common steering box problems. Have you checked yours? Mine seemed a little bit wet looking. Couldn't feel it being wet but it was stained so I don't know if it was from something else or if this just leaked very slowly at one point. I don't seem to have lost any fluid so hopefully mine is good for a while but I'm keeping an eye on it incase it gets to leaking. Expect andwhere from $150-400 for that if you do it yourself.


Then I had a problem with brakes where I pulled mine to grease them and noticed the pads were cracked even though they had 50% life left probably. Well, for saftey reasons I wanted to fix this. I noticed the seals looked a little dry rotted on the calipers so I replaced those too. Then I had to get my rotors turned so all that added up. Now this isn't a common problem just one I had. The rest are common problems so if you haven't already addressed them I'd keep an eye on them.


I just wouldn't expect it to be like a new truck when you get it back. There are still a ton of things you can and probably will have break you will need to dump money into. I love my truck but If I had of known what I was getting into I probably would have traded it in. I thought about it but liked mine more than new ones but still. Now I have a ton into mine and it's not worth much more than it was. These things just have soo many common issues that are very costly.

Then you have your suspension issues which clearly need addressing so there is more money down the drain. I have a feeling if you are anything like me the tranny is just the start of you spending money. I have mostly new stuff on my truck now and it hopefully will last for a good while but it took quite a bit of money to get it there.

 

Yikes. Let me ask you this. There is a guy on youtube who wants to buy my truck. I told him it's going to take an offer a little over the top to even make me consider selling it considering how much money I have sunk into it, along with how much was done to it when I got it. There is also going to be $3,800 of transmission work being put into the truck as well, so I'm not even going to want to part ways with it at this point. If he wants to buy it, I was thinking at least $11,000 at the bare minimum. He can do $10,000. But, that's what it basically books at stock. I would want at least 11,000, but preferabbly in the $12,000 range for what this truck is. Is this an option that'd be smart to exercise, (just in case). I don't want to sell my truck, but I always like to leave the option open, because you just never know.

 

If you choose to sell, I would do it before you get the transmission done. Then deduct the cost of the transmission repair from the top dollar you want for it. This way you don't have to shell out any of your own cash. I would just hate to see you in the same boat as me, I did the rebuild and I am still finding **** wrong withmy4x4 Turd.

 

If you decide you do want to sell it I wouldn't get that tranny rebuilt. I'd try and find a used one for $600 or so and slap it in. Who cares if it has a lot of miles on it or will die in 2000 miles as you won't have it. It would be a whole lot cheaper to do that.


I can't tell you if you should sell it as thats your choice. I'm just telling you to be prepared to spend a lot more money. You might get lucky and not have to for a while or you may be unlucky like me and it sounds like 98DodgeRam1500.

I've spent so much money into my truck now that I can't really sell it as I would lose way too much. Not that I want to just saying I can't really sell it. I've had my truck for several years now and really like it and am getting it close to how I want it. So that was a big reason for keeping it and dumping money into it. I wish the body was perfect now but don't want to spend 3-4k to have that happen.

If I bought a new truck it seems like I'm hearing of people getting new 1500's for under $20k and the new ones have a lifetime powertrain warranty. I think I would have come out for not much more just buying a new one then I would have a perfect interior and exterior along with a lifetime warranty and a new truck that is worth more.

On the other hand if I buy a new one it wont be a 1500 it will be atleast a 2500 to get a SFA which I already have now. So there makes the price go up. I would more than likely get a diesel which makes the price even higher. I seriously looked at a Ford F-250 and F-350 diesel as I wanted one pretty badly but at $48k sticker I doubt I would have gotten it for under $40k and I just thought putting 10k into mine was a whole lot cheaper. I don't have a diesel but I can live without it.

I am like I said though getting my truck close to how I want it versus if I started over with a new one I could pretty much add on $5000 to modify my truck to how I wanted it. Then I probably wouldn't have them cover stuff with the warranty anyway. When I factored this in it seemed like it was more worth while to keep my truck.

If you don't care if you have a stock truck or want to modify one all over again and don't have an attachment to yours now it may be better off to trade in as there are lots of things that require a fair amount of money to fix that go wrong on pretty much all of these trucks.

BTW have you ever had your rear diff cover off to see if those clips on the LSD are broken off?

 

Holy cow man I saw your signature. Did you really pay $600 and some for a OEM Catalytic converter? Why not just buy a Magnaflow high flow one for under $200 and bolt it on yourself?