Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) ats transmission commander

[Dallan]

i have an ats transmission commander and i just blew up my tripple lock. my friend has also blew up a tripple lock and a five star torque converter and the trans shop said if i dont take it off i will blow it up again. any opinions?

thanks

 

[snowaholic]

I ran an ATS Commander for 7 years ( manual knob, then the newer commander body), and it never caused a problem to blow up a converter, yeah it was in a Ford, but that is besides the point. Heck I do not see how it could blow up a converter, it is basically just commanding lock up. Now the Co-pilot is a different animal, and is a much revised Commander, that does assist in a little more than just lock up.



I'm leaning more to something else than the commander causing the problem. Maybe bad input shaft, or flexplate, or maybe trash still in the transmission fluid from a previous transmission blowup still circulating around an playing havoc with the converters.



Just my . 02, maybe others with a longer experience with them on a 48RE will chime in, as I plan on adding a Co-pilot to my 48RE in the near future... .

 

[Dallan]

the transmission shop told me its because there isnt a converter on the market that is made to lock up in all gears. they are only made to lockup in fourth

 

[snowaholic]

I can understand that with a single disk converter on a not so stock powered truck, but any of the multi-disk converters on the market now, can handle being locked through shifts up and down. For quite a few years now, tons of high-powered diesel people, Haulers, and RV'ers have been using everything from manual lock up switchs, to lockup boxes on built and not so built trannies in Dodge's, Gm's, and Ford's.



I ran three different styles of lockup for well over 150K miles, yes the the transmission was aftermarket and so was the converter, but the converter never blewup on me. Now, I did break an input shaft, and spline an output shaft (at the same time), but that was just from my abuse. I can say that I miss having lockup in my Dodge, and will do it again.



There are just way to many people on this board and on other boards on the net that use some sort of converter lock-up for what your transmission shop is telling you to be true. I believe there are quite a few converters being made out there that can handle being locked up. Suncoast, ATS, BD, PI, ect. . ect...



Now, I'm not anykind of transmission guy what-so-ever, I'm, just lending my . 02 from personal experience, and all the friends I know that run some sort of lock up device.

 

[BlitzkriegSSII]

I have a SunCoast and i use a manual lock up switch. I give it hell all the time and its been doing good. When im at the track i lock it in first at about 1700 RPM's and keep it locked all the way down the track. My friend has a 97 with the SunCoast and he has been just as hard on his truck for much longer than i have. The only thing he broke was a stock input shaft.