Neon, compare these trannies to a computer.

You can buy a Mac for $2500, it'll do everything you want it to smoothly and quickly. Its very reliable, very durable. You call for tech support, you get an English speaking American based in the United States, who has a personality and genuinely wants to help you. Sure, you have to send it someplace a little farther away to get worked on if it needs it, but it gets done. It lasts you six or eight years.

Or you can buy a Dell for $750. Oh, but here comes a virus. You call their tech support, you get some heavily accented Indian man who claims his name is "James", and attempts to follow a scripted conversation with you. Thats not covered under warranty. Its not very fast anymore, my hard drive is slowly failing. Well, since it hasn't completely failed yet, thats not covered under warranty. You upgraded the RAM? Well, you didn't use Dell OEM memory purchased through Dell, thats causing the problem (total B.S.), and you voided your warranty completely! (BTW, not speaking from personal experience, just giving you a selection of horror stories I hear from customers at my job.) It lasts three or four years, probably with tons of problems.

Sure, the stock tranny will do fine at first, but then when it starts to die, you'll complain and wonder why the stealership isn't doing jack crap to fix it. They'll most likely give you a similar run around to what your old transmission shop did.

Chrysler is easier to go after? No way dude. The stealership knows a million different ways to get out of covering a warranty they give you, and they have a lot more money for lawyers (and aren't bullied by them as much) compared to a local tranny shop.

Suck it up, get an APS, get it installed, and be happy with the truck for the rest of the time you own it. We are all probably going to put more money into these trucks then what we get out of them in the end, a truck is for fun or work, not to turn around and make you money. No vehicle appreciates in value until its designated a "classic car" or has had a ton of upgrades poured into it, and even in the case of the latter you aren't going to get back the cost of the upgrades.

Not trying to be mean, you know me, I'm on your side. But watching you make mistake after mistake, and then come back here and say "you guys were right!", and then you walk away, ignore our advice, and make other mistakes. Not saying you ignore it every time, but you seem to ignore all the big stuff. You have your right to your opinion and your choice, of course, but every time you ask us for advice after you've already made up your mind. I'm sorry man, I don't want to offend you at all, but its getting a little tiring.

As PCFixerPro says, I wish you luck.

 

I agree here. I don't think a dealership would be easy to go after. Chrysler I'm sure has lawyers working around the clock for them that minus well take a case instead of just getting payed to sit there. They have enough money and enough lawyers I highly doubt they would let a letter from a lawyer do much. Vs. a local shop that can't afford to pay a lawyer that much to defend the case he may or may not lose. One that also doesn't have lawyers working around the clock getting paid if they are working on the case or not.

It's also not uncommon to hear of dealerships getting out of doing warranty work for some reason or another. Basically I'd go with the best product not the best warranty. As you learned or should have learned the warranty doesn't mean much.


I think if you want a stock transmission I'd get a stock one. It still will have all the flaws the original ones do which are quite a bit but I doubt you will get a dealer that will fix those issues like APS or Dr. Evil do. I also think by having them beef it up you may or may not get a warranty.

I don't think the stock transmission is the way to go just like I told you the New England transmission wasn't the way to go but you let them talk you into it about how great it was and more than likely you seem to be willing to let them do it again.

That being said I think you mostly have your mind made up so good luck with your new transmission.

 

Bingo. You hit the nail on the head, I think. IMO, Neon, you are shopping the wrong way. You need to select the product, and then look at getting a warranty. Or at least, select the exact type of product you want, and then get the best warranty you can, or want. Warranties are important, but as you have discovered, the product has to be good first. A good product means a good company, which means a good warranty. A bad product means a bad company, which means the warranty is crap.

I'm a Chrysler fan through-and-through, don't get me wrong, but all manufacturers are pretty much the same on warranties. Last time I checked, stealerships weren't doing anyone any favors on the warranties, regardless of the car's make.

 

If you go to the 3rd Gen forums, you'll see quite a few stories about dealers refusing to fix problems on nearly-new trucks. So, don't think that just because it's a Chrysler transmission, you're going to get good service if something does go wrong. Also, seeing that you work your truck hard, it may well be worth the money to upgrade to an APS unit, instead of a notoriously unreliable stock unit.

 

I read through your guys' responses, and I just get confused. I do want an APS. It's going to built for me and the way I like to drive my truck. It's tough for me to though. I'll have to see how my dad reacts to it. I'll give him the bait, but he may not let me try and my own thing again. The performance transmission got a bad stigma from these clowns at new england, so he may not let me try and spend a ton of money on another one. I understand all of the points made here too. I'm very conscious of the fact that dealerships suck, and I can completely imagine them stiffing me somehow someway if it started to act up. It just sucks though, if I buy an APS, it's going to cost more than what I paid at New England. The bill was $4,000, but that was with labor charges, and a transfer seal fix. The unit I believe was around $2,900. An APS, cost about $3,500, or something to that effect for the Performance Plus unit. Then I would have to get it installed by somebody reputable for probably another $600. If something went wrong, my parents would be very reluctant to help me. As of now, my parents are on my side. They see I was shafted and that is why they are helping me out. If I go through the dealership and something bad happens, my parents will back me, and that's kind of what is important to me, having my parents approval. My dad is the one who helped pay the lawyer fee. I will try to insinuate an APS if we do get our money back, but if he doesn't like the idea of trying the performance crap again, I will go to the dealership.

 

just get a stock tranny, less if your going all out on your motor,

 

I think you should address whats tearing your trannies up in the first place. I don't know your truck setup or drive train combo, but can't see any reason why a mildly hopped up 360 would tear even a fresh stock trans up. I beat the bejesus out of my 96 rams 5.2/auto trans/3.55 rear and have over 170k on all 3 with no rebuilds. The only problem mine has is the common convertor drain back delay when going into gear. I just let it run in nuetral a few seconds or so before putting into gear and all is well, no delay. Make sure you flush all lines, put a new trans cooler (now is the time for a upgrade in this area) and maybe even a deeper capacity pan with cooling tubes. You can also install a trans temp guage to keep an eye on things. A rebuilt trans or engine is only as good as the sum of the parts and the rebuilder. I also have a hopped up 95 caprice wagon and after 160k the stock trans finally started to slip when shifting into second. I went with the factory gm reman trans for the reasons you stated above, 3yr/36k warranty and a reputable company to go to if a problem arises. good luck and if you have a link to your setup I'd love to see it.

 

And this is somewhat my point. The majority of dodge ram pick up trucks 94-01 have the stock transmissions in them. I'm sure the 46RE is prone to failure more than other stock units, but it doesn't mean it's going to fail. I have 4.10 gearing with 285 tires, so that should be just fine. I also have a large transmission cooler and deep dish transmission pan. To me, even if this stock unit lasted me 90,000 miles, I could buy another new one for the price of one APS. My final point is that everybody advocates APS, because it's an easy suggestion, yet most here do not have one. Most people either have a rebuild on their stock units, or have stock transmissions. That's why I think it makes sense to buy a stock unit. $2,300 guys INSTALLED. That is smart in my opinion. And, I can complete my loan immediately. I think people get to wrapped up into the bad stigma of the 46RE. There are just as many success stories of long lasting stock units as bad. Some are lemons. I have the deep dish pan, the transmission cooler, and the proper gearing and tire size, and new lines. And I will ask them if a heavy duty torque converter is possible. I will only add upgrades if it won't void the warranty. To me, I have all the right amenities to prolong life of a 46RE, and the money left over to finish my loan. If I buy the APS, I'll have no money to put towards the loan, and I still will have to deal with having someone install it most likely reluctantly.

 

The reason everyone "advocates APS" is maybe because we have been in the same spot as you. I had my tranny rebuilt at a local chain... and im not very impressed. It's out of its warrentee period already (1 yr) and it just doesn't seem to be stout in my opinon Sure it works for the time being, but I also droped 3800 on mine with a rebuilt torque converter with just the basic internals and some new sensors. I feel I made a mistake with my transmission and I can promiss you that when this sucker goes, I will get an APS. Not because its easy to suggest, but because he can build it stronger, and warenty it for my needs. I hear he is a real nice guy to deal with and those are the ones who gennerally arn't out to screw ya.

 

Interesting points..