The transmission shop just called me. Here's the low down. He says there is internal damage, and the transmission is basically toast. Says they can repair, which is retarded to do that, for $2200. Or put a new transmission in for $2,800. I'm having them see what gearing the truck has as well, because this well alter my ultimate decision with either what transmission I get, or if I decide to downsize the tires. I most likely am going to keep the 35s though. Anyways, he also says I have a pinion seal leak, and a transfer case leak. Also, there's an engine misfire coming up on his diagostics as well.

So I told him I want to replace it because I don't want to repair a transmission that is almost as expensive as a new one, and won't guarantee ****. So he suggessted a couple transmission options that would withstand big tires. Now as for the transmissions you guys often mention like the Dr. Evil, the Fastman, and the one hometheater mentions a lot, forgot what it is, how do I go about that? Do I tell the transmission shop about it? Would they be willing to install something like that? Also, does replacing the transmission including installation for $2,800 sound about right? But for the record, the existing transmission is pretty much toast, so its going to need a new transmission...great.

Anyways, your help is imperative on this one, I'm open to all suggesstions here, ears are open. Thank you guys.

 

your already lookin at this the wrong way.

First off, you are the boss. its your truck, you do what you want with it. Dont ask the tranny shop anything, because that gives them room to blow smoke up your ***. Tell them what you want done. I personally would go with the fastman, his are not as expensive as the others, and they are designed to handle a butt load of hp. Get in touch with dan, then TELL the tranny people you are putting that tranny in there. I think the one that hometheatreman mentions is an aps transmission. cant go wrong with any of those 3. i wouldnt let him tackle your misfire problem, you can do that your self for wayyy cheaper.

Dont overlook rebuilding it either. Mine was rebuilt in 2003, and was desgined to pull a 35 foot camper. Shift kit and upgraded bands and internals and it shifts beautifully still to this day. It ran about $2300 for it.

 

$2800 if its a stock replacement is a ****ing rip off. Give Wayne a call. http://www.apsprecision.com/

Most likely that tranny is still a rebuilt one. You can get a brand new OEM one from him for under $2000 Then figure $500 or so for install which is still cheaper and brand new not rebuilt. Or you can get a built one from Wayne which is the only thing I'd do.

Any shop like that should install it for you just you have to pay for the install and the warranty probably doesn't cover labor.


Dr Evil trannys are right much cheaper and I've heard good things but never personally used them.

 

Alright, so far I've called APS who hometheaterman has suggessted. Wayne wasn't there, so I left a message and said my buddy Will referred me to him. So I'm waiting to hear back from him. In the mean time, I will call Fastman, and Dr. Evil to get some of their quotes as well. I will not take a transmission from the tranny shop though, I fear they won't offer me anything I'm looking for. So these three transmissions I'm contemplating are the way to go? Even if I do have 4.10 gearing, do you think it will be fine for the transmission. I'm hoping I have 4.56 gearing, but I'm still waiting to find out, but I want to make sure the transmission I choose won't be affected by the the 4.10 gearing with the 35" tire. I know 4.10 isn't too undersized or anything, but it's also not exactly where it should be either. As always, thank you all for your help. And thank you hometheaterman as well for pm'ing me, and letting me use you as a referral, I'm still waiting to hear back from him though.

 

Well, as I'm waiting to get in contact with Wayne from APS, I just got off a long phone call with Dan from Fastman. He basically told me I'm lucky how far I've gotten with the stock transmission itself. He said 106,000 miles is darn good for a dodge truck, let alone with big tires. To get the numbers out of the way, I'm looking at this... $1,850 for the transmission, $350 for the torque converter, $700 for the core deposit, and $250 for shipping. Yes, it's a lot of money. That totals $3,150. And I would still need to pay the shop to install it. So we're looking at most likely $3,800 or so just for the transmission. I still have some seals that need to be addressed too. Now, for his product, it sounds very nice though. They would build me a transmission completely designed for my truck. It would easily be able to withstand 35" tires he says. He also said he'd put a stall converter in it as well to give it some extra boost for torque. He says this transmission will be meant for offroading and street fun. I didn't even tell him I like to speed, he just said on his own that this transmission is designed for the both. So, it's a lot a lot a lot of money, but...if my transmission is in good shape, I can get back about $500 after I ship it back to him. I'm going to keep trying to call Wayne from APS though, what's your thoughts so far guys?

 

I have heard good stuff about The Fastman TB's but I don't know about his trannys. He says they have a 30 day warranty as they either work or don't. This worries me because what happens if you have it go out on you in 2 months. Thats a lot of money you just spent and will have to again. Wanye offers a 2 year unlimited milage warranty on the one I got.

The other things is I'd ask for a itemized list of what it has. I got my built one from Wanye for not less than that $3800. This was with $150 core as I sent my old one back to save $150. He took this off even before I sent my old one in. If I wanted to keep my old one my understanding is that I would have had to pay an extra $150 which would still have put it under $3800.

I've heard good things about The Fastmans stuff but just never heard of anyone actually running his tranny just people saying to check it out as they saw it on his site. He seems to know his stuff though. Then again that can get expensive and still not have a good warranty. That would be my biggest concern but it sounds like he has some quality stuff.

If yours is that bad it may not work as a core so Wanyes might be better here.

I paid $450 to get it installed and $150 to get the cooler installed as some lines had to be made.

 

Have you gotten ahold of Wanye yet?

 

Not yet, I called him two more times, but he's yet to return my phone call.

But I got a little update here, and I want to know what you guys think. I called my transmission shop back and I talked to the guy for a very long time. I told him how I was looking at other aftermarket transmissions that were designed to hold up against tough abuse and oversized tires. I asked him if he offered something like that and what I was looking at. So before I start, if I got a fastman transmission, it'd be $3,100 to get it here. To have it installed would be $650 from my transmission shop. And I still would have to address the two leaking seals in the pinion and the transfer case, so I would be aroune $4,100 with everything done and a 30 day guarantee on my transmission. This scares me. So he made up an estimate for me with their transmission. He called me back with some good stuff I think. He says they have a transmission that is very heavy duty. Everything about is built up, and will stand up to the oversized tires along with any kind of strenuous driving or offroading. Also, this transmission will come with a torque converter that has a nice stall kit on it as well. Transmission will also come with a giant transmission cooler as well. Also, I've decided to buy a new tranny pan that will allow up to 3 more quarts of transmission oil too. THe quote also includes fixing both leaks (pinion and transfer case). To top it off, this transmission comes with a 3 year/70,000 mile warranty. Total price including all of this (heavy duty transmission, stall kit, giant transmission cooler, oversized tranny pan, pinion and tranfer seals fixed, and 3 year/70,000 mile warranty) totals at $3,600. To me, that sounds amazing. Also, this transmission shop is local, so if I experience any issues, I can literally drive the truck right to the shop, it's only 5 miles away from my house. What do you guys think? Doesn't this sound like a pretty sweet deal. This will get EVERYTHING fixed, plus bonuses for way under $4,000. I am going to my bank tomorrow, and taking out a personal loan, I am not going to make my parents help me with this, this is not their problem. I haven't made any definitive decisions, so suggesstions are still wanted. Let me know what you guys think. I'm still waiting to get in touch with Wayne from APS too. But this seems pretty crazy for all the extras that will be getting done, and it being local with a huge warranty on it.

 

The warranty sounds nice but I've just heard of way too many people getting supposedly heavy duty trannys from local shops then having issues right after they get it or shortly afterwards.

At $650 to put it in I think I'd check around other places. Like I said I paid $450 from one of if not the best mechanic around for the install.

I'd for sure make him give you an itemized list of whats going into it for that price then post it up on here and let people look over it. It may be great but it may also just have a shift kit and more clutches in it and not address any of the issues they have. It's hard to tell without knowing whats in it.

Wayne set me with the quotes an itemized list with what parts were in it and what each parts cost. I'd ask for that with the tranny shop.

I'd keep calling Wanye. Even if you don't buy from him he knows his stuff and can tell you whats good and bad. He seemed with me to want to help me reguardless of if I bought from him or not. After buying from him he was really helpful too so he wasn't one of those places that act like they will help you until they get your money. After getting the tranny he was extremely helpful also and even told me to have the shop putting it in give him a call if they had any questions.

He also is on California time so is 3 hours different than the east cost. I'm not sure what time he closes but it shouldn't be atleast until 8 if that early on the east coast.

Also did you try his mobile number? I've gotten him at both but have the best luck with that one.


I think this is a decision you have to make as it's your truck not one of ours. I'm just giving you my opinion here but it ultimately comes down to what you want to do and what you think is the best deal as it's your truck and I and I'm sure no one else wants you to be kicking yourself later because you didn't get what you wanted. For me it was the APS tranny. I had my mind pretty much set on it and had I gotten anything else I probably would have been unhappy. I'd known for a while even before mine started acting up that I was probably going to get one from him if it did mess up just from what I'd read. When mine messed up I called Dr. Evil too and couldn't get ahold of them. So that mixxed with the fact I really wanted a APS I got ahold of Wayne and just went with his and I was happy with the choice I made or have been so far.

Good luck and hopefully you can get this taken care of.

 

The biggest reason I am wearry of local tranny shops I guess is not only hearing online how many people have had horrible experiences I also have a buddy around here that has a older 89 Ram 350 dump truck with the 360. He uses it for his trash service.
Well, he got around 127k out of his original tranny and since then said he hasn't gotten more than 40k I think it was out of one. He got over 300k out of the motor but has had 6 transmissions put in most of which were supposed to be built better than stock and built to last according to the local shops. This last one he got in there seems good so far but he still has had a a lot trouble. He has tried Jasper and then locally built ones and none of them seem to last. He said next time he needs one if this one goes bad he is going to look into some of the online companys and see what they offer.