The thing about the Fastman transmissions that would for sure keep me away from them is that while they look cheap by the time you add up the shipping, tq converter, etc they seem to be close in price to other companies out there and then the biggest issue I see is that they only have a 30 day warranty. He says they either work or don't which isn't true. If it starts slipping in 35 days I wont be happy where as I could have gotten another brand for not much more with a lot longer warranty. To me if you can't offer more than a 30 day warranty you don't really believe in your product. Especially when all of the other companies offer a way longer one. You know If I was getting it for 1/4th the cost it would be one thing but by the time you add up all the aditional stuff you need from what I've heard they get close to the price of others.

APS or Dr. Evil is who I'd go with if it was me.

 

Well, for over 2 weeks I have sent 4 different emails over to Dr. Evil with the questions I had for them. I have yet to receive the first response from them. I tried calling them once, but got a weird busy signal. I am very surprised that I haven't heard from them at all.

Fastman has a sales rep (Martin) who has been very informative and answered all of my questions with complete answers each time I emailed him, and was very quick to respond. He was willing to answer any more questions I could come up with and wanted me to be happy with whichever company I went with. I did not speak with him on the phone, but he did inform me to feel free to call him anytime I want. He seems to be very nice The only quams I have with going with them is that they have a 3-4week lead time after ordering the tranny, and they don't have an official warranty period. He did however told me that if I really wanted one they would offer me a 1 year warranty. The pricing on their tranny for what I want would be just under $3,000 with shipping both ways. This doesn't sound too bad, but I just don't feel it is the best choice for me. They do incorporate used parts that they feel don't fail too often, so there is a possibilty that something could go bad and need replacement sooner than I would like. I don't think I would have any problems with their tranny, but I don't feel I will go with them.

Wayne over at APS has been the best at answering my questions, giving me detailed inside information on how and why things operate, and seems to be very enthusiastic about his work. He explained things to me about the different parts and genuinely seemed to want me to be happy with my purchase, whether it was through him or somebody else. He uses a 200K mile build parameter for his trannies, and this includes the abuse of racing, offroading, etc. His trannies come with a full 2year warranty with unlimited mileage, even under racing use! Fastman would give me a one year warranty for normal driving only and if something went wrong, they would determine if it was my fault or theirs. Wayne would just fix it! For the price I will pay for this kind of product and service, I feel I would be making a wrong decision to go with anybody else. His tranny is going to cost me just under $3,600 and will be 100% NEW on everything.

I will probably be ordering one from him in the next couple of weeks or so. Thank you guys for your input. HTM, your review of APS was impressive and I see what you mean about Wayne. I was a little sceptical about paying that much for a tranny, but after doing the research that I have done, and communicating with Wayne, I feel that out of the choices I looked at, his is going to be the best value for the money. It won't be the cheapest initial cost, but I believe it will probably last far longer than the others would have, and I will have the peace of mind that everything will be 100% new making this a "bullet-proof" tranny. With that in mind, it will be cheaper in the long run. I guess I'm taking my own advise once again. (see signature)

 

Yeah see thats what I'm saying with a lot of other transmissions like the Fastman you are getting on up there close to what the APS costs anyway and you don't have everything new. Wanye is also great to deal with and has been 100% even after I got the transmissions and just had a few questions or wanted to update him on it. He was always awesome to deal with and always treated me like a buddy unlike the guys at the shop 01DodgeRam360 got his from.

When I got mine I called Dr. Evil and didn't get an answer but I never sent any emails. I mostly had my mind made up on APS anyway and I didn't get them the first few times either but I kept trying until I did get ahold of Wanye as I had my mind made up on a APS for a long time and after having it I love it. Sounds like you may be getting the same transmission I did as you are paying around what I did. You getting the performance model he offers?

I thought I'd throw this in there since you said The Fastman had a 3-4 week lead time like it was bad.

The only complaints I have about APS is they weren't the fastest. I feel it was more than worth the wait honestly but it did take me a little over a month to get a transmission. However I did order it on Christmas eve. I mean who else offers enough service to talk with a customer on Christmas eve? He told me they were closed until after the new year officially but that he would start on my transmission not Christmas day but the next day and thought he could have it ready to ship in about a week. Well it ended up taking about a month before it was ready and then another week to get. Now I still think thats pretty impressive being as I did order it on Christmas eve so he should have had some vacation. I'm not trying to come off as complaining here just trying to be 100% honest. I called him 2-3 times a week or so to check up on it until I got the transmission. He kept telling me they were making some new parts or something and that I could wait for them to be done or get it like it was then but that he thought it would be better with the new parts. He kept telling me they should be done in a few days but apparently they took longer than expected. He threw in a heavy duty overdrive unit for free since I had to wait. Another guy on PS ordered one about a month before me and ended up not getting his much before me maybe 2 weeks or so. All honestly if you need a transmission tomorrow this might not be the best choice but you know all of the transmission shops seem to take a while. I mean look at how long they took with 01DodgeRam360's they charged about as much took a decent amount of time maybe not quite as long but it wasn't super fast and then look at how it turned out. Not that great. I wouldn't hesitate to wait a month again for this a quality transmission like this. It's not something I expected to be done in a day either it just was a little longer than he initally thought. So just wanted to tell you this as I want to be 100% honest in my reviews. This is the only downside I see to APS and honestly it's not a downside that bothers me too much as I'd rather wait for a quality transmission which this seems to be.

I love mine and I love the service I get from Wayne anytime I have a question. I highly recommend him.


Seems like 90% of the guys that try to cheap out and get a local shop to do it end up spending a lot still maybe not as much but not too far from what a APS costs and they still have problems and a crappy transmission that the shop can't get right. I just honestly don't understand why anyone would go with anything other than a APS for these trucks.

 

I appreciate your full explanation about your experiences with Wayne. I understand that it may take a month or so before I get it. He expects to be able to have it on its way in roughly 2 weeks after I order it. I expect it to take a little longer when some of the parts are custom made like he does, and he is also blueprinting everything as it is installed. Fastman was not performing the blueprinting service. Not that they were going to do a sloppy job on it, but I wouldn't expect them to take so long if they weren't spending the extra time required such as custom parts and blueprinting. I agree with you on being worth the wait. Waiting for perfection is better than having just adequate a little faster. I am so far not in a desprate need for the new one either. That's why I started early on my research so I would already have something in the works before it became more of a problem to wait. I just have to round up the necessary funds and get it ordered.

Thank you HTM for sharing you experience with me on APS. It has been a strong influence in making my decision. I wouldn't have considered them before since they seemed to be so much more expensive at first. It makes it easier to decide when you can have honest opinions from others that have made the purchase. Salesmen can always be persuasive, but it's the customers that give you the best answers on how good their purchase was. I also let Wayne know what a great review you gave on him. He was pleased to hear he had yet another happy customer.