Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) Looking at new transmissions.

[strehl]

Bobdrag I sent you a pm. That would be awsome.

 

[Bobdrag]

Strehl, I sent a reply to your pm.

 

[jmy]

Andyman,



As others have said, call Dave he will help. I had a similar problem, hunting between 3rd and 4th, after I installed a new transmission and TC. Dave sent me a apps filter that fixed the problem with electrical noise from the apps sensor to the PCM. Problem wasn't the transmission at all. That was 70K miles ago.

 

[AndyMan]

We've been e-mailing both Dave and the transmission shop that put it in. All I've heard from Dave is crickets chirping. It's been WELL over two weeks, and not a peep. The transmision shop wants to look at it again. Far as I know, it is scheduled to be in the shops hand sometime this coming week.



What irritates me is that we have asked Dave VERY SPECIFIC and direct questions, and haven't heard squat back. I realize that most people say "call the guy if you really want to talk to him". While I understand that, courtesy dictates that by sending him an e-mail, he can respond to our in-depth questions at his leisure. Obviously he doesn't respond to e-mail post sale... which causes me to wonder... why list an e-mail address on your site?



FWIW, we did all our pre-sale correspondece with both him and the transmission shop via e-mail. We probably exchanged 25 e-mails with him.

 

[BTowler]

AndyMan, I'm having a similar problem with my Suncoast, lockup jerks so much the truck lurches! Suncoast tells me it is supposed to shift that way, they built it for the mods I am planning on doing and once those are done it will shift better.

 

[Joe Mc]

Call the big vendors: ATS, DTT (I'm partial to them) Suncoast etc. Tell them what you application is, explain the intended use I. E. : hauling weight, horsepower desires, etc.



Let them recommend what they feel would best fit your application/use. Inquire about price, warranty and most of all customer service and do they "really" stand behind their product.



Example: DTT - Master Rebuild kit, valvebody, Tq converter, bands + Mag Hytech DD pan = about $3,500. 00. Start adding billet stuff - input shaft abt $800. 00, output shaft abt $800, mainshaft/drum abt $1200. 00. Now your talking in the neighborhood of $6,300. 00 +/-. The question you have to ask yourself "do you 'really' need the billet stuff????"



I'm probably way off on the prices - go to their site (and the others) and check, call talk to everyone. Become knowledgable of the products offered then go forward making an educated decision. Best of luck.

 

[BTowler]

At 500-550rwhp he will NEED the billets! One good hard launch can cost you all the money you put in and then some if your stock flexplate breaks, or at the least you trash your transmission breaking a shaft! Suncoast flat out would not sell me a transmission without the laminated flexplate and very highly suggested the billet input since I was planning on 450rwhp. I could get by without the others since my truck is 2wd and I don't race it.

 

[Giachino]

I ordered DTT parts about 3 weeks ago... stated goal was 450hp, daily driver, moderate towing.....



They recommended the FlexPate and Billet Input as well..... i'll get the billet output at some point in the future, but not too worreid about it for now as it's more $'s that i dont have right now, and it can be easily added later... .

 

[J.BURCHFIELD]

My stocker is slipping pretty bad now that ive had the edge on it for a week. I know everyone has there pereferences on which companyto buy from. But i dont even know where to start looking.



My goal for the truck is to hit 500-550hp. I tow up to 12k with it occasionally, i'll be joining my buddies at the county fair truck pulls, but mostly i tow light(around 4000lbs) or drive empty so what do I all need in the transmission?



I should have about $4500 to spend on one soon. Is that enough for all the stuff I need?



I need help. theres just too many options to figure out and i dont know who/what company will be honest about my needs.

My tran. started slipping at 35K so I ordered a Torque Converter from Sun Coast (see their add in TDR) and had a local Tran. shop install it. Dealers do not have the personnel to do this, they just think they do. I only tow 5,000 and my truck is a 98 12v (not much above stock) but I have not had the slightest sign of a problem since having it installed 6 or 7 years ago. Dodge uses a poor excuse for a transmission. The Torque Converter is made from a cheap sheet metal stamping. Sun Coast machines theirs from a solid billet. It won't warp under heat and has 40% more clutch area. If I had it to do over again I would. Synthetic Tran. fluid will run cooler and it is expensive but well worth it in my opinion. I change fluid and filter at 50K and suspect that I could go longer.

 

[CSnyder]

Andyman, First thing you need to consider with Dave at Goerands is that he is a small shop with less than a dozen people working for him and he sells MANY trannies a year so do the math on how much free time he has for a computer without taking away from his personal life. Thus the reason to call him if you need answers right away. If he doesnt answer then leave a mssg that says Dave I have been emailing you please respond or call me back at... I also know Dave is on the same internet provider as me and we have been having LOTS of trouble with it the last few weeks. Ill be happy if I dont loose connection before I finish typing this. Also Dave uses their dial-up because thats all thats available in his town and when you get booted every 2 minutes with dial-up you get frustrated FAST.



Also I know Dave was getting ready to go to IRP last week already when I seen him so your best bet will be to call him next week and not email him. I dont think its fair to him that you bash him on here about his customer service when you dont know his situation. Thats why Im here typing this now so you understand and keep a cool head with him. Ive seen customers come into his shop ranting and raving and calling him names and Dave still takes good care of them and usually, as said in an earlier post, it has absolutely nothing to do with his transmission.



Rant over, Chris

 

[AndyMan]

Chris,



I was cool with your post until you accused me of "bashing" him. Sharing MY EXPERIENCE is HARDLY bashing. It's the reality of WHAT IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING.



Since you've seen fit to "pour some salt on the wound"... here's some BASHING for you... (remember. . you started with the accusations. )



How can I quantify your first sentence? So... it takes ten minutes to build a transmission. He builds 200/year, that's 2000 minutes, divided by 12 people, that's 166 minutes per person, which is roughly 2. 7 hours a YEAR... . WOW, sounds like he's got plenty of free time. OH, it takes longer than 10 minutes? Well, how long exactly does it take? I've never built a transmission, much LESS been part of a shop full of professional builders. It's like me telling everyone here that I build 8 IBM Power 5's this year, and so I did it by myself and I had no family time all year long. Any IT professional worth their salt would call me a no tallent imbecille. (I'm NOT saying that about Dave G. I'm simply stating that you can't expect me to do math on something I have no knowledge of. ).



I really don't care about Dave going to IRP. That doesn't help my jacked up transmission. I also don't really care that he can't answer e-mail b/c he needs family time. I need family time too, and when my products get jacked up, I get a page in the middle of the night, and have to put my shoes on and go fix it. I don't have any sympathy for his situation there. Him going to IRP gets him more business. It doesn't appear that he needs more business since he can't take care of the customers he's already got.



You stated: " I dont think its fair to him that you bash him on here about his customer service when you dont know his situation. " Let me tell you... I DON'T CARE about HIS situation. He's a business owner... "Them's tha breaks!" so they say... What you've effectively done is furhter re-inforce the fact that I don't need to do business with him. I'm not HIS kind of customer. "I" do business via e-mail and the internet. "I" am a knowledgeable and empowered customer. "I" have NO desire to pick up a telephone if I don't have to. BTW... Stephan Kondolay at DTT always answers e-mail promptly. Their transmission probably costs more, but I KNOW I can get responses when I have questions in a timely manner.



Here's another ringer you told us: He's only got dial-up. Hello! It's 2k7. If you wanna keep up with the big boys in an internet based REALITY, you're gonna have to step it up. DSL and Cable aren't the only affordable high-speed solutions.



You also stated "Dave still takes good care of them and usually, as said in an earlier post, it has absolutely nothing to do with his transmission. " How does that apply here? Are you saying that I am not capable of pulling the lever into Drive or Reverse and mash the pedal? How can you accuse me? This is another thing that's wrong with vendors... It's always the CUSTOMERS fault FIRST. We have a broken transmission and no evident hope of getting it repaired unless WE BEND OVER BACKWARDS FOR THE MANUFACTURER!!!



So what you're really telling all of us is that: "so long as we do everything Dave's way, then we'll all be happy CUSTOMERS. " ??



BUNK! Dave and ANY other vendor is going to do it MY way, or I'll go somewhere that will.



I sure wish we had known all this before we spent thousands of dollars on a product.



EDIT: AND BEFORE SOMEONE SAYS HOW I'M SHOWING MY REAR ON THE INTERNET... HERE'S MY PHONE NUMBER. CALL ME AND LETS LET SET UP A TIME TO MEET AND "DISCUSS" SITUATIONS SUCH AS THIS. ANDY GIBBS 615-210-1200

 

[Giachino]

Here's my . 02.....



The aftermarket trans industry is a relatively small market (compared to other industries at least)... . to my knowledge (i'm in IT as well, so not a Trans Builder expert either)... . there are relatively few "large" trans builders... . i would speculate ATS is the biggest???



I would assume that someone at ATS would responsd / answer the phone in a prompt / timely manner... most likely a "Customer Service" person and not the owner or someone w/ the experience of Dave or Sephan... . the smaller shops "personalize" their customer service..... there's a trade off... . response time vs. talking to the main guy..... i can only imagine the workload of Dave / Stephan /... .



In the end, i don't think it's possible to get the same level of customer service you'd expect from buying a computer, or really anything else...



I chose to go with DTT as they have a builder down the street... . you are correct, Stephan is very responsive... . that being said, my parts have been on order or 3-4 weeks... . and apparently the TC and Billet Input are on Backorder so i don't know when i'll get them..... my installer, only install's on weekends..... so if i have a "problem"... what if the part was on backorder, or it was a monday... . i'd be in trouble in getting the truck fixed in a timely manner... and that would really stink, definately not on par with other industries, and a major headache..... but i'm still going forward with it, becasue i believe it's the best trans solution for me... .



Don't get me wrong, I sympathize, i'm spending $4500-$5k (e. g. large investment)... . and i ordered the same day as my pool... . which will be completed in 3 weeks..... kind of crazy that it appears that i'll get my pool completed first!

 

[DCreed]

autos stink ! Dodge didnt put the right trans in these trucks to begin with! all who bought them should be sent a stick conversion to solve the obvious problem that makes the "other guys" trucks look good. DC should have named it the "PROBLEMATIC"!!

 

[SAndreasen]

my dtt took almost two months to get all the parts wich is a long time but it was well worth the weight. it shifts great and works perfect

 

[SnoKing]

DCreed - The Torque Converter was not matched to the diesel engine, but the rest of the transmission when driven correctly stands up to a stock engine fairly well, with many reporting 150K+ miles. Now Jammer 3's Smarty, TST PM#, HTBG Turbo and it is the transmission fault that it can not take 500HP??????



And of course everyone only tows 18K combine with their 2nd gen auto's, RIGHT???



SNOKING

 

[DCreed]

SNOKING- stock is ok for some but even these werent so great. if you use the addage"dont fix what aint broken"DC updated the 46-47-48 trans series for a reason. thats all.

 

[J.BURCHFIELD]

SNOKING- stock is ok for some but even these werent so great. if you use the addage"dont fix what aint broken"DC updated the 46-47-48 trans series for a reason. thats all.

Knowing them as I do they probably upgraded just enough to last out the warranty. When it comes to DC transmissions, the weak spot was the torque converter made from a cheap sheet metal stamping, at least that was what was in my 98 12v. Had it replaced with a Sun Coast torque Converter machined from a billet with 40% more clutch area. End of problems. I was not about to go to the dealer and have it replaced with the same crap, even if it was under warranty.

 

[BTowler]

Whoa, all these long waits for DTT makes me glad I didn't go with them!!! Suncoast had my order ready in two days. ATS could ship the same day. I really question what is going on if they are backordered that bad, they probably don't build anything they sell, just outsource it so if the machine shop doing the work is busy they get put on hold.

 

[SnoKing]

SNOKING- stock is ok for some but even these werent so great. if you use the addage"dont fix what aint broken"DC updated the 46-47-48 trans series for a reason. thats all.

You are correct! 215HP, then 235HP and 245HP, then 300+ on and on. SNOKING

 

[SAndreasen]

it was a very long weight if i had known it would take that long i may have went with ats because they have a dealer close also . probably the only reason i went with dtt is because i had a dtt in my 95 and it worked so nice and i personally new the builder . also my stock transmission had a bd torque converter and valve body upgrade when i the truck was bought brand new and it lasted 170,000 miles with just these upgrades