Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) Keeping my miracle transmission?

[Gifford]

I have a 97 12v with 180k + on it, the transmission has been abused, (towing, off-roading,drag racing,side-shows,TST'ing,etc. ) but amazingly she keeps on going (leaking about a QUART a week, but as long as I keep feeding her, transmission works just fine). I have NEVER adjusted the bands, and I only changed the fluid once when I put the mag-hytech pan on!! I believe that there has got to be something special about this transmission and I dont want to turn it in as a core. My question is, would it be foolish to ship this transmission to ATS and have them rebuild it and send it back? The guy at ATS said these rarely go more than 90k miles, so I think mebbe it might be worth it to keep it, Whaddya all think?

 

[shendren]

only go 90k mi? what's with that? i think someone is blowing smoke up your butt... ... ...

 

[bramage]

transmission mileage

The transmission in my first truck was the same way. I sold it with 180k with the original transmission and it's still going with almost 250K. No bombing but lots of abuse. My second truck was a different story. I think there is something to your theory but I would say that the longevity of the rebuild has more to do with the rebuilder than the core. My . 02.



Barry

 

[rrausch]

I had 107,000 on mine before I let Clint go at it and ATS it! It is the best thing I ever did to my truck. Now I COULD have gotten by for another 10-20,000 miles by babying it, but I didn't want to baby it! Also I didn't want to have it go out a zillion miles from an ATS installer. So I bit the bullet and drove to ATS. But they have hundreds of installers around the country now, most likely they have one near you. You won't be sorry! I think ATS has done the most thorough job of engineering of all the Performance Trans builders out there.



So if you are asking my advice, my 2 cents is to go ahead and get it ATS'd. Other guys have had long transmission life, (Illflem has 200,000 on his '95 Dually as I recall), but that is not the norm. You have been lucky! Where are you located?



And yes, ATS can most certainly rebuild your trans to Stage IV Specs, I watched them do it to mine!

 

[illflem]

My stock trans has lasted a long time mainly because where I live. 65 mph highway at the end of my drive and a town with three stoplights. It's almost always locked in OD. I don't do burnouts and OD is unlocked under 50 mph.



Something I've heard from several sources but can't figure out how it works is if you change the fluid/filter do it at the recommended intervals or don't do it at all. The results are about the same.



I had a Plymouth Fury beater I bought used with over 200k on it. Around 250k the trans quit shifting. Limped it to a gas station where they changed the filter, mechanic said it was the original, the bolts were still painted on! The filter was finally totally plugged, new one fixed right up for another 25k till I sold it.