Competition 1st 1/8th mile drag attemt=dead transmission

[BILLVO]

Well my first attempt at the 1/8 mile drags didn't end on a good note today. Made one time trial run and did a 8. 9 sec run had smarty on sw4 and drag comp on 5X5 ran in 4X4 and boosted to about 5 psi ish squeeled all four tires from line. Did same thing on second time trial and snap went the transmission output shaft right in the staging lane. I new it was coming pretty soon with the stock shafts in the transmission yet,and with my power level but I figured it would have been the flexplate or input first to go.



Time for billet built transmission and a couple questions.



At my powerlevel what billet stuff is recommended? I have read that the intermediate shaft should stay as stock and run billet input and output.



I do all with this rig daily driver/ranch pickup pulls stock trailer and other things regular but as you read it also sled pulls and drags. "I prefer sled pulling"



What transmission builder has the best warranty. I know that DTT is the highest recommended but not sure if it is the fullest bang for the buck.



Just looking for honest answers.



I know make the calls and listen to all the sales pitches. But I have met a couple people in the last few weeks Both with DTT converter unhappiness.



Any on board transmission dealers I need one asap and if you see this before monday PM me with info.

 

[BILLVO]

How hard would it be to just replace the output shaft with a billet and continue to run it?



Here are pics of my second run. Not quite the 8. 9 sec of the first one. :-laf



At lest it went home behind another Dodge.

 

[WUnderwood]

are you steering or pushing!?!?!?!?!

ha hah, just messing with you

 

[83 crew cab]

I would go with suncost



you could pull the over drive unit and just change the shaft would not be that bad



when I broke my input shaft it twisted the spines on the output shaft so it would probly be better to pull the transmission all the way down and check everything out



if you lose a input shaft you will proble have to send the converter out and have the piece removed

 

[BILLVO]

are you steering or pushing!?!?!?!?!



ha hah, just messing with you

Everyone else took pity on me and let me steer.

There were close to 200 cars here and I was the only dodge diesel that ran. And I woke up the whole crowd when I made my first pass and had everyones attention when I was lining up the second time. Nobody there had ever seen a diesel run that fast here before.



What is a good place to buy a billet shaft? I was thinking of contacting Opie for 1 of his intelligent engineering shafts.



Would a BD rad box or other tq management eliminater be better for competition than the smarty "I am not sure what else is out there besides these 2"? I believe that with the smarty this is the reason for breaking the shaft as it is so touchy to feather into a smooth boost. It is all or nothing it seems like even on the lowest catcher of 4 it real hard to feather into a low boost because the rpms just jump up to fast.

 

[BlitzkriegSSII]

I have a Suncoast trans that im really happy with. I ran an 8. 44 @ 85 mph the other day on the 1/8 mile. I run in 4X4 and build up to about 10-12# at the lights, then lock up the TC when i hit about 2,000 RPMs. Its held up pretty good so far! I've turned a lot of heads when I get out there on the track. :-laf Good luck with your trans!

 

[BILLVO]

I just bought a Billet output shaft from Opie at opieparts.com. He gave me the best deal of all billet shaft selling co's. The rest of the transmission is still good so I decided to just replace output with a billet for now. Rather than spending the 5 grand for now. I want to see how long the rest will go. Can't see sending in a good transmission for a core when theres life left in it yet.

 

[BILLVO]

Nobody has responded to my question about the Torque management issue or what transmission builder has the best warranty or if a billet intermediate shaft is a good thing or not?

 

[Bob Wagner]

Bill my dtt transmission built in 2001 when only a vb and t/c upgrade with the aftermarket clutch pack is still holding 400 HP and the transmission has never been dropped only filter and fluid changes.



This goes from circi 00/01 275's/VA to smarty and Mach4's and its the same perofomance since day one.



I just added a double deep mag pan that I bought used to replace my single deep.



I do notice the transmission is more aggressive with new detron/mercon3



love this transmission and fluid since day one . Bill Kondaloy is my "guru"

 

[Bob Wagner]

and I have been on the track many times





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[paulb]

Nobody has responded to my question about the Torque management issue or what transmission builder has the best warranty or if a billet intermediate shaft is a good thing or not?

As far as I know, the BD RAD is the only thing on the 01 and 02 autos, that will completely eliminate torque management. There are other things that will reduce it, but not eliminate it. The down side to the RAD is that when it is on, it will turn off some of the gauges, including the tach.



I prefer DTT. One of the reasons that my truck runs as consistent as it does, is because of the trans. As far as warranty... The best one, is the one you don't have to use.



As far as I am concern, the jury is still out on intermediate shafts. I would say for piece of mind, put one in, if you are going to be doing some hard launches on traction limited tracks. I did bend a billet intermediate one. Had it been a stock, it probably would have broken. .



Paul