Here I am

Input Shaft Battle of Death

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what is a good transmission to use for my 97 12 valve

Mechanical FP gauge story and ??'s

Well guys,



I went and did what everybody thought I'd do.



I broke my "new" truck. Diagnosis so far is a snapped input shaft. I will have to drop the transmission to find out for sure. If I would have been driving an auto like you are supposed to, everything would be fine, but, I just liked locking up the TCC in 1st gear wayyy to much, so pulling away from a stoplight, I locked up the TCC at 10-15MPH, and proceded through the gears, then on the 2-3 shift, BANG, that's all she wrote,, I coasted to a stop, ironicly, right in front of a popular transmission shop.



I understood the Service Manager telling me that for $20 they would drop the transmission and inspect it all, and tell me what broke, so I had them put $20 on my bill, and left the truck at the shop for all afternoon, and when I came back in the evening, all they had to say was "Your transmission has internal problems, and it will be $850 to pull the transmission and look at it, parts are extra"

The catch is, 90 days, or 4,000 miles WARRENTY,, parts AND Labour. Flipside... What parts will they replace broke ones with? I CAN'T use my own parts, they have to supply that.

The owner fully understands, and knows this truck will be used for racing, and that I had not owned this truck for 3 weeks before I had allready broken it. He says "I've never seen a racing diesel pickup before, but warrenty will still be in effect"



So, besides getting it in writing, should I pay the overpriced $850 and keep going back with broken transmission parts? or, Do it myself in my driveway for $120 - $650 ? If I do it myself, I gain more experiance, and know what is in the transmission. If they do it,, who know's what parts they may use, and when the clutchs or whatnot go out, I don't have a choice on what parts go in, it's whatever they choose.



Anybody have any ideas?



I'm thinking about taking them for a ride, but I think after input shaft number 4 - 5, they aren't going to want to see me anymore.

If I do it myself, I will be saving ALOT of money, and be able to get intimate with my truck.



BTW, I have a 24V in the driveway too, with what appears to be some Head problems, and a Killer Dowel Pin. As soon as it stops raining for more than 12 hours, I'll tear into that one.



Merrick Cummings Jr



EDIT: My 24V appears to have a wasted cylinder, but I won't find out untill I lift the head off the truck tomorow. I have everything ready to pull the head,, even the rockers are un-bolted, so it won't be too long till I know what happened.
 
Not havin very much luck are you with your "trucks".



As far as the input shaft goes, is it not a billet shaft? How about the intermediate and output shafts... ... ... ... ... ?????



If you don't already have billet input... ... . get one!
 
The transmission has all stock shafts.



If I get a billet, I probably will, but the next thing to break is the output. Should I just pop a Billet in it now? or wait til it breaks again and then put a Billet input and output shaft. By Then, the Billet intermediate shaft should be ready. Whoo-Hoo, another $2,000 in the transmission.

I'm going to do the transmission work here. Might as well. I know how, Why should I pay somebody else to work on my own truck when I am fully capable?



--------



I've got the rocker arms off and cleaned, the head broken loose. I just need to remove the oil lines off the turbo, take the turbo off the manifold, and take off the bumper so I can finish removing the inter-cooler, radiator and A/C radiator.



I'm working on it right now. I just stopped by the computer to get a drink, and cool off.



Merrick Cummings Jr



EDIT: Eric,, nope,, not much good luck, besides doing about 5 25-30PSI 4wd launches on the 36x14. 5 MickeyThompson's and really liking the way it hooked and moved out. Can't wait to feel how it feels with "Race" tires. Hopefully the 24V will come out of my shop a bit faster, even though I'm tight on $$ right now ;(
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by MCummings

The transmission has all stock shafts.



If I get a billet, I probably will, but the next thing to break is the output. Should I just pop a Billet in it now? or wait til it breaks again and then put a Billet input and output shaft. By Then, the Billet intermediate shaft should be ready. Whoo-Hoo, another $2,000 in the transmission.

I'm going to do the transmission work here. Might as well. I know how, Why should I pay somebody else to work on my own truck when I am fully capable?



EDIT: Eric,, nope,, not much good luck, besides doing about 5 25-30PSI 4wd launches on the 36x14. 5 MickeyThompson's and really liking the way it hooked and moved out. Can't wait to feel how it feels with "Race" tires. Hopefully the 24V will come out of my shop a bit faster, even though I'm tight on $$ right now ;(



I would do the Billet Input Shaft this go around, since it requires removing the transmission, and yes once you do that the outputshaft would be the next thing to go typically if you keep up those launches. However to change an output shaft (I think tis the same on your truck) you only have to remove the overdrive section of the transmission to change the shaft. I'd definatly do the billet input, and if you can afford it might as well do the billet output too, its all about how much money can you spend right now. But with that truck and your driving, its a pay me now or pay me later type of thing. I just didn't have the funds to goto the billet output when I broke mine a few weeks ago so I stuck another cryoed output shaft in there, I'll just try to keep it under 20psi on the launch for now.



Gonna move this to the Products forum as well.
 
Good news from Merrick. Just got off the phone with him, and on the silver dually it looks like only the #3 cylinder was bad. Said it looked like #6 was running a little cooler then the rest, as it was the only one that did NOT have a nice brown coat on it, only a nice soot coat.



He is still digging though. :)
 
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