I know there have been people looking for information in the forums on PATC as far as transmissions and there has been very little info.

Well after much looking and debating with myself I ordered a transmission from them and decided I would keep a running commentary on my experience with them.

I have a 99 ram 1500 sport, all stock. This is the second tranny i have had go out on me and i am not that hard on my truck. Mostly hwy driving with some muddy roads in hunting season, NO mudding with the 2nd tranny. Only used tranny's I could find in my area (eastern NC ) were $1000 with 120,000+ miles. Started to go with Auto Zone rebuild, but my casing was busted so that would have been $2200.00 for the same POS that I had.

Here is their description of what I ordered from them:"The level 3 Mega Viper transmission comes with all four sets of Alto Red Eagle clutches and Kolene steels plus a direct clutch PowerPack, high capacity 5 clutch direct clutch drum, a Fairbanks TransAction Kit, performance 3-4 accumulator spring for a firmer shift into overdrive, high performance low / reverse servo, cast aluminum accumulator piston, performance intermediate servo cover, Mopar 5 to 1 intermediate band apply lever (4.2 gas) giving an extra 31% torque holding capacity in second gear on diesel models, extreme duty brass impregnated carbon fiber flex band and a heavy duty intermediate band strut. A special manual valve allows converter fluid charge in park. It has the stronger Mega Spring for overdrive direct clutch apply with more holding power in reverse, 1st, 2nd and 3rd. The heavy duty / high performance torque converter that comes with this package deal can be ordered in stall speeds up to 2800 RPM for gas motors. The diesel transmission comes with our triple clutch billet converter. This transmission (518, 46 RH / RE) is good for any type heavy duty / high performance use up to 700 (gas) horse power using pump gasoline, towing, 4WD, high performance and others. The Mega Viper transmission has 14 major performance upgrades. All of this can be yours without a trade-in for $2599.00 on gas units"

So..all told, I'm getting the tranny with a 1800rpm stall kit. They threw in a transmission cooler with the sale. Total with shipping... $2760.00. This was done on Thursday July 14 right at the end of the day. I was promised an email when they shipped and that the freight co would also contact me.
8 days later, Friday July 22, no word whatsoever and I'm starting to sweat wondering if I've been ripped off. Had some paperwork to finish up and then I was going to call them. Before I could call I got a call from Southeast Freight that they had a tranny for me and it would be delivered monday the 25th. WHEW! one hurdle done.

I just took delivery. It was completely crated, very professionally, not just a pallet like I expected it to be. I havent had time to open it yet and as I nearly sliced my right index finger off friday (no exageration!) I am going to have to get someone else to install this for me.

Probably Thurs before a local can start on it. I will let everyone know how this works out and what I think of the tranny when I've had a chance to run it some.

Steve

 

This is the route i'm going if or when my Tranny $hit the bed. I'd love to hear all about what you think. There is another guy on here that has posted about his. I think his name is Unreguser or something like that. He had nothing but good things to say about it.

 

I've been perfectly happy with my Mega Viper. I went with the upgrade to the billet converter, also at 1800 stall, and added a deep pan, filter extension to get the filter deep into the juice, and added a remote filter -- with that kind of investment the remote filter is darn good cheap insurance. I've only got about 6,000 relatively easy miles on it so it's way too early to speak to its durability, but I love those crisp shifts and its greatly improved overall behavior.

Be sure to get your TV cable adjustment right. Unlike the stocker, if you run the cable out too far you're going to find out in short order how much runout you've got in the rest of your drive train. It's unnerving and bad for the parts, too. The folks who put mine in got it wrong, not only got it wrong but did it on purpose, and it was hours before my spine unlocked.

I'd not hesitate to hang a trailer on the hitch, I don't motor down the interstate worrying that I'm about to see a cloud of ATF smoke in the rear view mirror, and I feel confident that with just routine maintenance I'm going to get well more than a quarter million miles out of the thing. I might be fooling myself on that last part, but time will tell.

Enjoy that stout bastard of a transmission!

 

heyblue - How do you like your Viper? I have a Level 1 installed, but haven't started up yet, but getting close to.