My Experience With ATS in Denver

[JTBMC]

Excellent Post,

I will be heading to Denver soon as I have an appointment on the 16 th of May.

TJ

 

[TxDieselKid]

Merrick,

Thinking about coming to the dark side?



Andrew

 

[rrausch]

Yeah D. Showan, BD used to mill the stock stator on a lathe! There is a picture of one in the latest TDR. They just lopped off a 1/4 inch or so!



If you ever see an ATS milled stator you can see what an amazing job of engineering went into it. Their 4-axis CNC allows them to mill compound curves, convex on one side and concave on the other, on each individual stator blade. That improvement alone is worth a lot.



M. Cummings, I think it is 4 to 5. I know they put in one additional set; that is one additional clutch and one additional steel. Don Ramer would know, you can call him toll-free at 800-949-6002. He'll take time and answer your questions. They are very friendly folks there, and won't try to hard sell you at all.



I'm believe the 24V has a slightly different trans than my 95 12V.

My trans is a 47RH--(the H means hydraulic). You might have a 47RE(the E meaning Electronic) But call Don, he would know exactly.

 

[StakeMan]

Very informative post rrausch. I hope this thread continues in a postive way.

 

[MCummings]

Originally posted by rrausch

I'm believe the 24V has a slightly different trans than my 95 12V.

My trans is a 47RH--(the H means hydraulic). You might have a 47RE(the E meaning Electronic) But call Don, he would know exactly.

Cool, thanks, that's what I was looking for.



So in other words,, You might not be able to put more bands in a newer ('98. 5+) truck ??



Or does ATS put more bands in all trannies??



I guess I could call Don, and could find out straight from the horses mouth... .



Merrick Cummings Jr

 

[rrausch]

Somewhere I got the idea we are not supposed to talk about price on the TDR website. So I guess I can say this: I got the stage IV package, with the complete trans re-build, and I paid the full price listed at the top of page 58 of issue 36!



If you want to know the exact number e-mail me.

 

[LSMITH]

rrausch, thanks for taking the time to write that up for us. Good job and thank you.

 

[Briar Hopper]

Great post, rrausch, very well-written. I hope you're having fun with the truck now.

 

[illflem]

rrausch, if I'm not mistaken it's ok to post prices as long as you aren't the vendor or work for them. I've done it many times with no warnings, etc. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Animal]

rrausch,



Do you know the thickness of the stock stator before milling, and the thickness after milling? Also you stated a lower stall speed, what was your stock stall speed compared to now? Last can they mill different stall speeds or just one?



Thanks

 

[rrausch]

Thanks Animal. ATS doesn't mill the stator thinner, like the early BD example on pg. 51 of the latest issue (36) of the TDR. Milling is actually not the best word to describe the machining they do to it. They use a 4-axis CNC machine, which is computer controlled, to machine each stator blade from different angles to create a spoon-like shape. This makes the truck GO FASTER at lower speeds.



You're familiar with a woodworking router right? Think of a 4-axis CNC as a big machine which can hold a bit, like a router, and push that high-speed bit, into the stator blade from any of 4 different directions all the time while being pulled and pushed around. The result is the machine can take the fat teardrop shape of the original stator, and turn it into the spoon-like shape which Don & Clint came up with.



I think the reason the factory didn't do this in the first place is, (A) Their engineers were not as motivated as Don & Clint, and (B) It is probably more expense than the executives wanted to spend.



As far as stall speed, I don't remember exactly what mine was before, but this is what would happen: I would mash the gas from a dead stop and the rpm's would climb to about 1800 and the truck would slowly take off.



Now I mash the gas and the truck runs like a violated primate. RPM's don't go as high, from a dead stop, and when it locks up now, the rpm's don't drop as much. Now they only drop a couple of hundred when it locks up. I'll observe it some more and keep reporting.

 

[Animal]

Originally posted by rrausch

The result is the machine can take the fat teardrop shape of the original stator, and turn it into the spoon-like shape which Don & Clint came up with.

I understand they don't mill the height of the teardrop, they reshape it into a spoon, but now with the spoon shape it is thinner than the teardrop. I'm just wondering how thick the new spoon shape is compared to the teardrop?



You said before when you nailed the throttle the RPM’s went to 1800, what does it go to now?



Thanks

 

[pwr2tow]

Mcumminings,

Yes, the 47RE can be built up to handle more power. most aftermarket trans shops sell a beefed up transmission.



Ron

 

[Pit Bull]

Sounds like if I made this upgrade I would have to quit driving like an old man Oo.

 

[rrausch]

Another thing I just remembered. Before I got my ATS rebuild, I had a mystery switch to lock my TC so I could use the exhaust brake. Don Ramer really discourages the use of mystery switches with the TripleLok, because once engaged, the TripleLok WILL NOT SLIP. And if you forget to un-lock when you are coming to a stop the torque won't hurt the TripleLok, but it will probably bend the darn flex-plate like a pretzel or something.



With my old slipping TC, I could forget about being locked and come to a stop and the truck would shudder a bunch, as the TC slipped, until I remembered to unlock the TC again.



Their remedy is the TripleLok Controller, an electronic, solid state box with a dial knob on the dash which automatically locks up or unlocks at a certain speed, depending on how far the knob is rotated. It is really neat! I can turn my exhaust brake on and it comes on automatically whenever I slow down as long as the Controller is turned on. Turned off, the trans goes back to factory lockup points, and the exhaust brake goes back to manual operation.

 

[rrausch]

Animal... it is a very thick spoon! They just mill a little bit, but enough.