I love my APS transmission and Wayne has always been great to me on answering any questions or helping me with any issues. I didn't have to wait 3 months for mine but it did take a while and that's one of the things I've said before. I waited about a month but I did usually call a couple times a week. However, it shifts great to me and I haven't had many of the nonstop issues people like 01DodgeRam360 has had with the local transmission shop he dealt with.

I didn't have a drain plug installed on mine either. He told me he quit doing it as they kept getting hung on stuff during shipping so he stop putting them in. I added one to mine.


The only issue I've had is I lost reverse. Everything worked fine until all of a sudden one day the reverse chattered 2 times when I hit the gas hard then it just completely went out. I was super upset. I never had a issue with the forward gears. I called Wayne and he wanted me to check the rear band adjustment and walked me through it. It was loose so he told me over the phone how to tighten it. I did and put it all back together and reverse now works flawlessly again and has been for several months. I've never had any other issues. He told me sometimes when it's breaking in they get too loose and you have to adjust them and that anyone that has built these transmissions has seen this and that it shouldn't have damaged anything else. It's performed flawlessly since. The only downside was I had to pay for fluid and I paid to put a new filter in while it was apart. I was told I needed to check the bands at 10k miles but it didn't last that long before getting too loose so I think it just needed adjusting a bit sooner than normal. Not a big deal and works flawlessly since.


Overally I like my APS transmission and other than the wait getting it to me I've had a pretty good experience. My pleneum kit took about 2 weeks but I ordered that after the transmission.

Oh, one more thing I forgot to mention is that I didn't get a torque converter with mine either. He told me he sent it UPS instead of with the transmission. He called UPS and said they couldn't tell him where it was. I told him I needed one right now and at least by the next day so he resent one overnight. I told him I'd pay shipping but we worked out to where he payed half and I paid half. So I paid an extra $60 to get my torque converter. That was what he said was half but it was less than half of what it would have cost me had I shipped it.

 

No joke, that scared me away. Coupled with Hometheatermans experience with reverse
going out, geeze I dunno if I want to deal with all that waiting and problems for the money.

My second choice was Dr. Evil, so I'm looking into them more extensively. I've also looked
into PATC a little, but I'm looking for more information.

 

I have been reluctant to share what I've gone through with Wayne until everything had been completed between us, but when I see someone inquiring about him, I can't remain quiet. It really is a shame, because I have read so many good things about him and his products, but after having to deal with his lack of getting things done for me, I'm quite disappointed, to say the least. He has so much potential to be a huge success with his work, but he drops the ball on doing things on a timely basis, and following through with what he says he's going to do without having to be constantly hounded for months to do it. For the money he charges, and the sales pitch he gives, you expect top notch service. I have yet to feel that I've received that from him after I placed my order and paid for it in full, and up front.

As for the drain plug, it's not necessarily that big a deal to me. But when you add that to the numerous other discrepancies between what he promises and what he actually does, it is just another irritation factor to me. On his website, it shows a crate that the tranny is supposed to be shipped in and what you would return the old unit back to him. What you actually get is a pallet with some half-a**ed cut blocks of wood to help keep the screwed down tranny from tilting. No paperwork of any kind, and definitely no protection for this expensive tranny.

My tranny seems to run fine, but the shift from 1st to 2nd seems a little too soft. Wayne told me back in November that he was aware of this issue and had "his own version" of the correct part that he feels should be in there with the shift kit. WHY wasn't this installed in the first place?! At any rate, he told me he was sending it to me on November 10th so I that could have it before I changed the fluid at the 1,000 mile mark. I told him then that I was close to that point already at that time. That was 2 months ago and he has since told me that he was sending it the next day, but still no part has arrived!!! I can't help but be pissed off at his lack of following through with what he says he's going to do. If he isn't going to send something, then he shouldn't say he will. If he's not going to install the parts he advertises and charges for, then he shouldn't advertise that he will.

As for the tranny, it seems to be running fine so far. Let's just hope it continues to do so. I personally wouldn't deal with him again in the future. He's higher priced than his competition, and his overall customer service for doing what he says he'll do is severely lacking, in my opinion.

I do have a good thing or two to say about him, though. Usually he returns emails fairly quickly, (not phone calls) and will answer technical questions very thoroughly. He does seem to know his stuff about trannies, and he also seems to enjoy working on them. He just needs someone in his shop to keep him on track for the business end of things to keep people like me from being disappointed with their dealings with him. I don't want to start trashing his reputation, but I feel I do need to share my experiences with my fellow DF members so they don't get blind-sided if they decide to do business with him.

As for Dr. Evil, they never returned my emailed list of questions I sent when I was researching for my decision in the beginning. Wayne did and in great detail I might add. Someone from Dr. Evil finally did leave me a voicemail a week or so later after I had already ordered from Wayne, indicating that they didn't check the email that often, or at least the one I got from their website. If I called them back, they would be happy to discuss my needs. At that point, it was of course already too late.

 

I remember when I was dealing with Wayne for awhile. It was during a time period where I wasn't sure what was going to happen with N.E Transmission. I just remembered feeling a little over bombarded with perhaps pseudo niceness. When I'm talking to somebody about their product, and potentially spending over $3,500, I really am not looking to speak with somebody that sounds like my friend. I want the security my transaction will be secured, acknowledged, built, and send out timely.

Honestly, his "laid-backness" spooked me out. I'm not questioning him as a person, he sounds like a nice fellow. But, I don't like it when business men try to talk to you like they are your friend, it just crosses the boundaries, and confuses thing. Some may say its a tactic. It makes it awkward for the customer to critique or complain because they feel they'd be letting their partner down. Just wasn't a fan of his over jubilant attitude. I feel bad that Ron had to go through with what he did, let's hope the product is as nice as what he paid for.

 

I have dealt with Wayne for other APS products, and he has always been fantastic. Everytihng i've gotten was super high quality, and it always shipped on time and arrived in a timely manner. Wayne has been easy to deal with, and is very knowledgable. I've never bought a transmission from them, but if i were in the market, I wouldn't hesistat (based on my past experience with APS) to give them a chance.

 

I finally received he part for firming up the 1st - 2nd shift this last week. It isn't anything fancy; just a cut piece of Aluminum rod with instructions on the install. Wayne said he was sending it to me BEFORE Thanksgiving! Now that I finally have it, I now have to find some time to get it installed so I can report on how it changes things. Wayne didn't charge me extra for this part, I have to mention. Considering how long it took to get the items I DID pay for, I doubt it would've made any difference on how long it took for him to send this to me.

As for Wayne, I really hate to give a bad review, but he just seems to find it hard to follow through with what he says. Maybe it's just me and he doesn't like me or something; I really don't know. I still have mixed feelings about doing business with him in the future. For the money he charges, and the amount of hype he advertises on his website, his customer service needs improvement, even if it is for just a few of us who feel disgruntled over our experiences with him.