More than likely blew my ATS!

[CATCRACKER]

broke s/m hopefully not my ATS!

I wasnt towing anything just had my 4wheeler in the back. I was just arriving in town after a 3 hour ride. I had to get in the right lane so i wanted to pass the guy next to me so the throttle went to 7/8 and locked it up around 30mph and as 2nd was locking up POW instant nuetral. :-{} left me on the side of the road 3 hours from home?! My dad had to pull a trailer from 3 hours away and we had to load my truck up on a trailer and haul it home. Oh well i called and talked with Clint and since i am not the original buyer of the ATS i guess no warranty although he did offer to open it up and fix it w/o charging labor only for parts.



total 500 take-out

418 shipping

800-1000 parts

total=Holy SHTI



this transmission is rated for 550hp... ... I know i am not close to that i dont know waht broke yet but i will keep you posted i may find out its the transfer case i will know when the tech looks at it tommorow. You guys have any suggestions of what else i should check? How many horsepower you think i am running?



clint's guess was a shaft in the transmission.....

 

[KLockliear]

If you start it and put it in gear, do you hear anything? When you then go back to park, do you hear anything?

 

[ECappleman]

Sounds possibly like an input shaft since you said you locked it up. Did it have upgraded shafts? This is an upgrade item that doesn't come with the build up kit. The stock input shaft won't hold up to 550hp and even less if you use a manual lock up switch or do high boost launches.

 

[robertyoke]

do you have park?

 

[y-knot]

You can't blame Clint or anyone from ATS, they do offer a warranty, but no-one would make it transferable. Do you know the history of the transmission, and how they cared for it? Did it develop a leak after the incidence?

Sorry to hear about the problem, but it sounds as if there was more go on . I take it you were going 30 and mashed the pedal to pass, it was in 2nd gear and the TC just went into lock-up? While, did the rev's shoot very high?

 

[Chipstien]

Maybe a flexplate?

 

[tractorface]

Why no transfer?

I know this is common practice amongst most vendors but why are warranties not transferrable. I don't understand. Seems like the offer to rebuild for the price of parts is a pretty fair solution, shows good intentions.

 

[y-knot]

I think it is way more then fair, and way more then anyone could expect a manufacturer to do. It is consistent thou with the way ATS seems to treat their customers. I have had two small problems and both were ironed out quickly and fairly.

The warranty is only offered to the original buyer, he is the one that made a contractual agreement with the manufacturer, and he and he only is illegible for warranty claims. Most aftermarket performance parts suppliers adapt this policy in regards to warranty fulfillment. It is the original buyer that was given the terms and conditions of the warranty, the manufacturer has no way of knowing if the new owner has these conditions or has adhered to the terms of the original agreement. I have no problem with the way these things are handled, and do not believe the new owners are entitled to the same benefits as the original buying owner. It was he that spent the funds and received the new parts, the second or third owner did not spend the money for new parts, they instead bought a used truck with used parts, their fore they are not entitled to the same benefits bes toyed on the original purchaser.

 

[Lorenz]

what kind of warranty does ATS have?

 

[CATCRACKER]

I want to say on the record i dont know what happened but to say i blew my ATS may have been jumping the gun since the transmission is still in the truck. I dont know why it broke but all i know is that i dont have 550hp i dont tow alot and when i broke it i had a 4 wheeler in the back not a 15K goosneck. I have over 1200 posts i am no rookie on this site.



i will answer the questions you have asked.



1. the previous owner of this truck is a person that runs this site he did not abuse the truck. He was running at about 250hp or so.



2. i dont power brake or put this truck on the drag strip.



3. since i have had the capability of lock up in 2nd gear i would say that i have goosed it and locked it up maybe 15 times. I normaly use lock up when slowing downhill with a load and turn it off at 1400rpms



4. i spoke with clint and told him of my troubles and he said he would provide the labor to fix if i sent it to him in colorado



5. i dont know how many miles are on the transmission but i dont think it has more than 30K on it



6. it does have park and no noise at all when in gear



7. anyone on this board who has seen my posts knows i am not a shti starter i might get down hard on the ford's and chevy's but thats all in good fun. Lord knows i get enough shti when i am at the deer camp about owning a dodge. You have no idea when i showed up this weekend at the deer camp with my truck on a trailer how hard i got ribbed about "POS dodge". I will say i was mad that day.



8. i do have the stock shafts. but i was told and read with my own to eyes that it would hold 550hp and they could be right time will tell and in all fairness i will post here as soon as i find out. who knows ats could get the transmission and say hey the shaft did break it was deffective and we are going to help you out.



9. transmission had 1500miles on new fluid and filter i called and talked with ats and they told me how to do the fuild drain etc.



I hope no one takes this as me bashing ATS i am not b/c when i get the transmission back from clint i am putting it back in my truck and i am going up in HP from here if it breaks again well... ... ... ... i dont know what i will say. I know this if i get this back and it breaks a billet shaft my dodge diesel days will be over either that or find a new wife.



I have no doubt that clint is going to take care of this problem he has a good product and a good reputation.



I also hope that i am not coming across as a whiner. I wanted to post like i always do for the benefit of others on this site.



I do have a question for ECappleman why do you say that the transmission will not hold 550hp b/c before i bought this transmission i called and talked with ats and they told me thats what it took for them to break a stock shaft. where did you get your info.



My transmission is being pulled as we speak and i will know what broke so hopefully for all of you ATS owners i have good news.



Once again i am not bashing anyone as a matter of fact i made sure i wasnt with one of the moderators as not to harm anyone from this.



i will shut up now i will post back when i hear s/m in the mean time i am going back over my 1st post to make sure i did not come across the wrond way.

 

[snowracer69]

I disagree with a lot of what y-knot is saying considering the warranty transfer. A good manufacturer stands behind their product 110%, all the time, no matter WHO broke it, or WHY it broke. I have worked for a company that did that, no matter what, we fixed the problem, and 99. 9% of the time at our cost... guess which company all those customers come to now? Sure ain't the competition.



Yep, it costs money for them to do that, and sometimes you get taken advantage of... . but most the time you're taking care of a customer who is in the end going to make you a lot more money then he cost you.



Just my take on it. Obviously it is meaningless until CAT figures out what broke and why.

 

[banshee]

It sounds like a broken input shaft to me. I did almost exactly the same thing in my old 2001 last summer. I was street racing a guy, I pulled ahead once, slowed down for the stoplight, it turned green while I was still rolling ~10mph, so I stomped it to the floor... it downshifted to 1st, took off hard, and on the upshift to second... POP! It stripped the splines out of the hub, so that was the only damage done, but it still left me down in the parking lot I coasted into. At the time I was dynoing in the high 400s and was bumping the 12s (which I eventually got to). It was a stock shaft, and I knew it was going to break eventually, so I wasn't surprised or upset at ATS. I bought the transmission before billet parts were available, and that cryoed shaft they had at the time lasted about a year. AFAIK the billet replacement is still in there and still going strong in the truck that bought my transmission. Don't take this the wrong way, but you're experiencing what is a routine thing when hot rodding on stock parts. Upgrade to the good stuff and you'll be good to go.



John

 

[Cooker]

To put a HP range on a stock input shaft in a BOMBed truck and transmission is a bad practice IMHO. Some are lucky and some aren't.

 

[y-knot]

SRacer,

That all sounds good, but that isn't what happens at all in the real world. If every manufacturer was to be responsible for all their parts they sell, even after those parts have changed hands and have been installed in other vehicles, many of which might not have been ones designed for the parts, the aftermarket industry would shut down, they would go broke.

How do you figure that they should honor a warranty that was not originally offered to them? We are not talking about a vehicle that comes with a five year transferable warranty. We are simply talking about parts. Transmissions,Transfer Cases, fuel pumps, rear gears and all after market parts. Many of which do come with a limited warranty for 90 days or less. The larger ones may come with a 1 year warranty. What is left to transfer? That was not in the original agreement. If you buy your parts used, you should not be untitled to the same entitlements of the original purchaser. That is just part of buying used equipment, you spent less so you got less.

I do not think this post is in any way bashing ATS or anyone else. But usually people like yourself feel they are untitled to the privileges of the original owners, you are not. If ATS, DTT or B&D sell anyone a new trany, they are entitled to the full conditions of that warranty that accompanied that product. But if you come along and buy the trany at a latter date, you are not entitled to anything but the piece you bought. Sorry that is why others pay the top dollar for the new pieces.

 

[CATCRACKER]

Y,



as a result of what is going on with me i have been doing some digging and i have alot more info on this subject now but i am not going to give it out but YNOT you are wrong that all dont have transferrable warranties. I am going to let everyone else do their own homework on transmission's. I am ending my responses as not to offend anyone. When i am done with my transmission depending on the results i will do an exhaustive thread on this subject or i might just shut my mouth which will probably be best so for now thats what i am going to do. One last thing i will say is that as a result of my thread ATS, DTT, Suncoast, GOEREND, BD etc. should not be upset with me as a matter of fact i bet they sell more billet shafts for those who only want to go to 350hp with a lock up device. Depending on how much help i get it may be a costly lesson for me to learn.



PS i have been around this board as far back as 1999 not 2002 as my sig shows. I want people to know so they can avoid this situ..... if you have a lock device pull your transmission now and put in billet shafts before its to late.

 

[snowracer69]

y-knot,



I guess I just believe in doing business a different way then you. Yes, it costs money, and sometimes you get taken advantage of... but at the same time you can/will make more loyal customers who will repeat their business because of how they were treated the first time around. I just think it pays off in the long run to treat a guy like you'd like to be treated... I guess if you don't want to be treated good, that's your perogative.



And if I'm interpreting CAT's post above correctly, he thrashed a stock input shaft... no fault of ATS's, except they didn't convince the previous owner to put a billet shaft in the first time around. I drove for 2 years at 450RWHP with stock input/output and didn't break it. I also launched 0 times in 4x4 and locked it manually 0 times in that two years, probably attributing to the fact that my stock input shaft is sitting on my desk all in one piece.

 

[CATCRACKER]

transmission input blown

well its official i am looking at a broken input shaft. the good Lord has blessed me and it broke so clean its hard to believe that the two pieces where actually together at one time. i will post a pic. so you guys can see. and its official you can break a input shaft with a lot less than 550hp if you have a lock up device!!!!!!!!!!!!! i am finding this about the hard way and it will cost me $1300

 

[MCummings]

... the throttle went to 7/8 and locked it up around 30mph and as 2nd was locking up POW instant nuetral.



Oh well i called and talked with Clint and since i am not the original buyer of the ATS i guess no warranty

Hehe,, Exact same thing happened to me on a transmission that was built for a twin turbo truck, and had only ~2,500 miles on it.



On a 2-3 shift at 1/2 throttle. POP. I had no gears, no noise, but had park.



Of course, no warrenty on my practically new transmission since I wasn't the original owner.



Of course, I called ATS, it was $700-$800 for their OE designed billet input shaft. I called DTT, and, it was $600 for their re-designed Billet input shaft. (more splines).



Total cost was $600+ shipping for the shaft. I did the trans work myself, with the help of a good friend over the phone.



I think it's bull that the warrenty is not transferable. Dodge Warrenties are, Edge Products Inc are, Autometer's are, DTT's are,,, shoot,,, I can't think of many companies warrenties that AREN'T transferable.



Merrick

 

[CATCRACKER]

mcummings,



thanks for the info i am going to check into it. I am doing reasearch now to see if all billet shafts are the same. I am not taking anyone persons word for it. I not going to make the same mistake twice anyone have any info on d/f b/t competitors billet shafts?

 

[snowracer69]

I am doing reasearch now to see if all billet shafts are the same.

They're not.

I can't think of many companies warrenties that AREN'T transferable.

Apparently some people don't like to do business the old fashioned way where you take care of a person just because, not just because they spent tons of money with you in the past. Weird, huh?