my bd transmission

[CUMINNTSTRKN]

well guys bd tore my transmission apart to see what damage i had done to it.



i have had it for around 6000miles, i've done 250+ 4wd 25psi launches. i've been in 1 sled pull so far, i have locked the transmission up in 1st gear and left it that way all the way through the quarter. the weekend i got the transmission in i drove home at 22kgcvw over 4 passes that were at least 6%. my transmission was working great when they took it out.



my transmission is a off the shelf bd transmission with a heat treated input shaft. i have the standard lsx convertor in my truck, there is nothing hot-rod about my transmission other than the input shaft. they had my baseline pressure at 72psi.



this is what we found:

we cut the convertor apart and it looked great, there was hardley any wear on the clutch surfaces.

the forward drive clutches looked brand new, i could still read the part #'s. i'm sure the bands had wear, but i forgot to look at them. the 2 clutch packs showed wear. the clutch fibers were discolored.

what does this mean?

i can't beleive it held up as good as it did. i thought a shaft would have let go 100 launchs ago.



the reason i'm posting this is because no one can build a bullet proof transmission at my hp level. at least not one i could afford. i'm being honest about how my transmission looked. there was wear, and i'm no transmission expert but it held up great.

i'm putting down around 700hp through this thing and i couldn't be more impressed. i'm not saying this is the end all transmission but it's holding up to my abuse great. everytime i get in my truck i try and break this thing. we did raise my baseline pressure to 85psi this time, but that is the only thing different about this transmission. my job is to break this transmission so they can sell a product that the normal consumer won't have any problems with.





jim

 

[LSMITH]

Good post Jim, thanks for the update!! I guess these things aren't made of glass after all . Give that transmission everything you can, I really hope you do break it to see what breaks and the fix, what breaks and the fix... ... Your R&D (rodding and destruction, LOL) is good for all of us. Keep it up!

 

[D. Showan]

Thanks for the info, I'm glad it's working so well for you

 

[Strick-9]

Jim,



Thanks for the update. Do you know which two sets of clutches showed wear?



You mentioned the forward clutches were fine, but two sets were discolored.



They were probably the direct clutch pack and the overdrive clutch pack. That's what I've abused the most. Hard 2-3 shifts and 3-4 shifts are what does it.



I've seen a ton of different 'discolored' clutch packs from my own trannies. I've seen everything from brand new to welded and broken and an arrangement of colors from light blue to solid black. Nothing surprises me anymore.



Can you describe yours a little more?

Were they just blued a little or were they burnt black and warped or what?



How many months did it take to accumulate these 6000 miles?



I'd like to thank you for sharing this information with us. I like the fact that BD didn't ask you to keep your mouth shut about it.



It's nice to hear about other people damaging parts as well.



Did you notice shift problems or did they just want to updated it before May madness? I've pulled some messes out of mine and it really makes you respect how much abuse these trannies will take and still get you down the road day after day.



Thanks again,

-Chris

 

[CUMINNTSTRKN]

chris



1st of all i know squat about transmission's. the clutch pack that looked good was the forward clutch pack? it was bigger than the other 2 packs. on the 3rd gear clutch pack about half of the fiber was turning black, it was the half closer to the center. the od clutches were in a little better shape than the 3rd gear ones. steve said something to the effect that if they had used the thinner steel plates they would not have done as well as the thicker ones.



the transmission was working great, they just wanted to see how everything looked. i don't know how it would of lasted, but after reading some of your posts i could have put another 100k miles on it.



i will always be honest about the transmission, good and bad.

i had this transmission in for about 3 months. like i said there was nothing wrong with the way it was working. we justed wanted to see how it looked after my abuse.



jim

 

[Bigsaint]

Great post Jim !!! Makes me wish I had an auto .



Scott W.

 

[Chipstien]

Hey BigS, can't be that hard to put an auto in.

 

[Bigsaint]

Stare into the mirror and repeat after me ... . " I bought it for towing, not for racing, I bought it for towing, not for racing, I bought it for racing, not for towing" DOH !!!!!



Scott W.

 

[CUMINNTSTRKN]

scott



lol with the auto i can do both.



jim

 

[BFC]

I bought it for towing, not for racing, I bought it for towing, not for racing, I bought it for racing, not for towing" DOH !!!!!

AAAAHhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, denial is a wonderfull thing. use to be there myself, told the wife I get a Comp that be it .....



Glenn

 

[John]

Thank you for the update Jim. I really appreciate your honesty on a subject that is REALLY intense on this BB.





... I still can't believe it held together THAT long! In fact, I told Rob you would be lucky to get home without smoking your new BD transmission with the load your were towing!

 

[JMichelson]

CUMINNTSTRKN

Thanks for the BD information. I had a BD transmission installed in my 98 12 valve in January of this year. I paid a large chunk of change for it and so far it has done what I expected and what BD said it would. Mine has had a pretty easy life compared to yours. I have said it before and I’ll say it again the test of any aftermarket transmission will be will it work as good 100,000 miles down the road as it does today. Keep us posted. Jeff

 

[CUMINNTSTRKN]

i have a update on my transmission's for you guys. i have had a ball trying to kill transmission's.



bd put in transmission #2 it was working but 3rd gear was slipping while using n20. Unfortunately i had to head home. The transmission was working but it was only able to hold 560hp.

bd brought my 3rd transmission a full blown race/r&d transmission to vegas with them. After they got the transmission in i broke a output shaft. We replaced my output shaft Thursday night. Friday i took 3rd place on the dyno at Diesel Dynamics. Saturday i took 1st place in the over 500hp sled pull. Sunday i took 2nd at the dragstrip. i drove home and had a transducer issue because off all the pressure we are running in my transmission. i then drove back to vegas so Diesel Dynamics could really abuse there transmission. They gave me quite a bit more power, and changed another transducer for me. we were actually blowing holes in the transducer board. i have not blown another transducer sense we modified it. During there testing we found that 4th gear was slipping. So i left DD and headed home. On my way home the 4th gear slipping got worse. So i called bd and made a appointment to take a peak inside my transmission. We were not sure what they would find when they tore my transmission apart. We found that the seals had ballooned and was letting pressure by them. In turn we had a major lack of apply pressure on the 3rd gear clutches. The piston was damaged by the faulty seals by letting the hub contact the piston. we put my old piston back in my truck after we machined it little. my transmission is a full blown race/r&d i am working with bd as they are with me. they are trying to get the perfect transmission setup. Before we had the seals problem the transmission was working flawlessly.



So my 4th transmission is going in today, and sense we were able to hold all his hp before with this transmission, we have a good feeling about this one. Muncie will be a great place to showcase dd's power and bd's transmission. i just wanted to let everyone know that were getting closer to a transmission that won't slip. now i still don't know much about transmission's, but i'm looking forward to muncie!!!





jim

 

[DEZLPWR]

Jim,

So, you're running DD injectors now and not BD? Do you have the Super Mentals in there?

 

[KatDiesel]

Originally posted by DEZLPWR

Do you have the Super Mentals in there?

Bigger.

 

[DEZLPWR]

:--)

 

[Snow man]

WAY bigger!

 

[CUMINNTSTRKN]

Originally posted by DEZLPWR

Jim,

So, you're running DD injectors now and not BD? Do you have the Super Mentals in there?

right now i'm running in between a super mental and a mega mental. when i compete i will use my mega mentalsx10 . i'm very happy with the dd injectors. when i came back from dd i had there cam and modified vp-44. my mileage went up 2mpg on my trip home, even with the transmission slipping. i am very impressed by the quality control that dd has on there products.







jim

 

[Chipstien]

CUMINNSTRKN,

With the current transmission war going on, consider yourself lucky you have a BD transmission.

 

[Mopar-muscle]

Originally posted by Chipstien

CUMINNSTRKN,

With the current transmission war going on, consider yourself lucky you have a BD transmission.

i'm glad it wasn't me that said that .



jim , thanks for being candid . but you are confusing me on which clutch pack is smoking??



there are 3 clutch packs , the one closest to the TC is the 3rd /reverse , it is engaged when the trans is in 3rd , od and reverse only .



the next in line i suppose is what is called the forward clutch pack , same size cluthes as 3rd/reverse , its applied in all forward gears , but not in reverse .



the next is the OD brake , this is actually the OD clutch pack , it is applied when in od only .



the next is the od direct , these are inside the output cluster in the end of the od section , they are applied in all gears , expect od , when od applies it releases these , they are the smallest clutches in diameter inside the dodge trans .



clear as mud ???