Hey You, I found this thread:

http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/07...nsmission.html

Any further thoughts? They say this on their site:

Upgraded Internal Components: Yes:
Performance shift kit, valve body improver kit, and more.

Dyno Tested: Yes:
up to 35,000 RPM at an extended period of time.

 

Hey Bluesky or heyyou, had a local shop tell me that a shift kit was a bad idea for a 4x4, that it was too hard on the transfer case. Does that sound right?

 

A too-aggressive shift kit is just a bad idea overall in a truck, but a milder kit ("heavy duty" rather than street/strip) is fine.

 

I might be ordering a Mega Viper!! I figure if I'm going to go that route then I should go big!

 

Mega Viper is a sure way to make sure you don't have any problems. Reputable company, they tell you EXACTLY what they put in the trans, and we have folks on here that have them, and like them.

The other company...... are really vague on details. I would give 'em a call, or drop them an email, and ask them what "upgrades" they do, and precisely what they are. They could slap in a shift kit, and an aluminum piston, and claim "performance upgrades"..... without knowing exactly what they do, I wouldn't trust them.

 

If you're gonna be a bear, be a grizzly!

I'm perfectly happy with my Mega Viper. I liked knowing before it went in that it had already seen the dyno at least twice. Most local shops don't put any power through their in-house rebuilds until the unit is installed in your vehicle, and then if the thing grenades they sell you a radiator. Eff that.

 

Okay guys, turn out my guy is a Jasper certified installer. So I might go that route. The Jasper Trans will be about $3200 installed, Mega Viper would be about $3600. I'm confused on what to do. I do like Jasper's 3 yr, 100K mile warranty, and they have repair places across the nation. So if I drove to California and the thing grenaded (using unregistered's term!) I would get warranty replacement fixed at a shop in California. That's pretty sweet.

 

Okay guys! I need your input. Here is the deal:

Quote on the Jasper transmission, installed:

$2575

Includes 3 year, 100,000 mile warranty. That is nationwide. No matter where it breaks down, Jasper fixes it.

However, my cousin that works for Chrysler got in my ear last night. Told me I was nuts to drop $2-3 grand on a truck worth about $5000. He wants me to take the money I would spend to fix it, put it down on a 2013 Ram lease which with his discount would come in < $300.

I hate leasing. Love my Ram. But am torn about what to do. Any thoughts?

 

Leasing for personal use is just plain moronic. Valuing your current vehicle on its book value is wrong-headed unless you're actually going to sell it. And if the transmission is shot, it's not a $5000 truck anyway. It's a $1000 truck.

The leased vehicle for $300/month is also going to cost you hefty insurance premiums for the duration of the lease. Do that bit of homework required to find out how much the insurance is going to bite out of your wallet every month and that lease might not look so tasty after all. And what do you have left at the end of the lease? Nothing. You get the option to buy the thing for more than it'll be worth on the last day of the lease.

If you're flush enough that you can make the most rational decision regardless of near term cost, then the way to view the decision is as one of cost per mile going forward. If your truck is in good shape other than the shot transmission, and you're pretty sure you can squeeze another 100k miles out of it with just routine maintenance, maybe a few relatively big hits on things like brake rotors, those expensive darn unit bearings behind them, and so on, then you're looking at, what? Maybe $5k, $6k for the transmission and all of those repairs, perhaps?

Project out your oil changes and tires and other routine maintenance over time, and add it all up on top of the number you figured above. If you're putting 10k miles per year on, that's ten years worth of non-fuel direct costs. Plug in your insurance premiums and fuel costs.

For any potential replacement vehicle, do the same. Make sure to allocate something for any repairs/maintenance that aren't covered under any warranty that comes with the thing. Drop about 15% from the EPA estimated fuel economy of the replacement, too, because those numbers are not at all real world numbers. It's a big PITA to do so much research and calculation, but we're not aiming to avoid mental effort here, we're looking to make the best decision.

With your cost to go 100,000 miles in each vehicle figured, subtract out what you expect you might be able to sell each for with 100,000 miles on the clock. Whichever one gives you the lowest number is the one that makes the most strictly financial sense. Good luck figuring up what your '01 might be worth as a classic in 2023, though. By then it might be impossible to give the thing away due to outrageous fuel prices -- which would be just as true of a 2013 model full size pickup truck. But if you're comparing truck to truck you're rolling the same dice anyway so WTF.

Myself, I'm keeping my '98. Sure, I put $4k into the transmission replacement in a $6k truck. BFD. $10k won't buy a new truck anyway, and I plan to drop another $10k or so into it. Then it'll be with me until I'm either forced to stop driving or dead, unless I manage to wreck it beyond repair. So for $20k plus maintenance, insurance, and fuel I'm driving for as long as I'm going to be able anyway. That's less than half the price of a new Ram. I'm way ahead. If I end up being forced to stop driving when I'm 78 years old, and I've done my maintenance and repairs, I'll be putting a 41 year old second generation Ram into the antique market where it'll be worth far more than I've got into it. At the same time, the 2013 will be just 26 years old, a classic rather than an antique, and worth far less than half of what my '98 would bring. If my driving habits don't change, that Mega Viper will still be under there and going strong with probably another 100k ahead of it.

Any rebuild that's not just plain done wrong will last three years. If you get 5,000 miles out of it you're almost certainly going to get 100,000. What matters most is how far past that 100k mark you're going to get, if you don't get rid of the vehicle first.

Don't lease for personal use. Only dummies do that.

 

Thanks Unregistered. Pretty much had already made the decision not to lease. Wife helped with that as well. Not that I can't afford a $300/month payment, even with the insurance, but still I hate "fleasing" (to quote Dave Ramsey).

So I put the call into the shop today. The Jasper trans has been ordered and will be installed. I'll get the truck back either late this week or early next week. Can't wait.

Thanks for everyone's input here. In the end the Jasper reman was the best bang for the buck, with a great warranty that is nationwide to boot.