Smoked TC

[CAJUNCUMMIN]

Torque converter gave out thursday night on fm 105 in Tx cost me $800 to get my truck and trailer back home. This is a BD tc ,has any one else had failure with a bd tc and what kind experience did you have with the warranty

 

[Bob Wagner]

best wishes

how many miles do you have on the BD stuff?

 

[danandamy]

Brutally honest time.....

Good luck, you're probably gonna need it

 

[Missouri Mule]

CAJUNCUMMIN,

I read a thread a while ago and several members had the bd tc fail. Most of those members went with DTT instead of bd again.

 

[CAJUNCUMMIN]

The BD tc has only a few thousand miles and was installed less than a month . I am going to request a refund . My loacal BD dealer told me BD,s newest tc has been on back order for a few weeks, any body using suncoast converters

 

[John_P]

CAJUN:



Among the members that have the automatic transmissions

Bill Kondolays TC's seem to be the "way to go!" They all report

that the TC's and valve bodies built by him function very well

and are very dependable. Also Bill has a very good reputation

on standing behind his products and making himself available

if you have a problem.



I presently have a "Pro Torque" TC in my truck which was

installed by Scheid Diesel. This TC has been in my truck for

about one year now with no problems at all. Scheid Diesel

gave me a one year, 12,000 mile warranty with the new

transmission, TC and valve body. This TC is of the old

"milled stator" type design and not the "cutting edge"

technology Bill K. uses in his, but so far, so good.

However, if I change mine I will most likely go with one

of Bill Kondolay's TC's and valve bodies. FYI, Bill K. can be

reached at: 1-800-922-7782 or (604) 504-4002.

Scheid Diesel's number is: 1-800-669-1934.



Hope this has helped you some.



-----------

John_P

 

[Mopar-muscle]

wass the the new X stator TC ?

cajun , what do you mean the TC gave out , truck wouldn't move ? only thing in a TC to give out would be the lock up TC would be the clutch , so unless something with the stator let go you should still have been able to move .



we had a truck in the shop saturday with an X stator TC , i was excited to see if it was just hype or the real deal . well i was a bit disappointed , its not as tight as the DTT 91% and it heavier . i am being completely honest , if i thought it was better i'd say so , but it ain't ...

 

[CAJUNCUMMIN]

Mopar my transmission guy told me the clutch material had clogged the filter. He also told me the tc had got hot.

 

[JConley]

If you just installed a TC, it is very possible that you smoked it. You need to install a valve body. Without installing a valve body, you are not increasing your line pressure to hold everything together. If you installed a pressure lock with the TC, throw both of them away, and get some real parts that will put the power to the ground. Call Bill K and get one of his TC's and valve bodys. You wont be replacing them again!



Better yet, come to the diesel rally in Kerrville, and talk to him yourself. There will be many trucks there with his parts in them. Take a ride in one, and you will see the difference.

 

[Strick-9]

FM 105 crosses about 5 minutes from my house. What town was near where you broke down? I wish I could have helped.



I'm happy with my transmission, but I'm not here to tell you what to buy. What I do want to say is this:



NO TORQUE CONVERTOR CLUTCH WILL STAND UP TO YOUR POWER LEVEL!



I pull trailers a lot and I know what your truck is going through. You ease into the throttle on take offs because you have enough power to hurt your transmission and EGTs get out of hand under full throttle. Under light throttle your transmission shifts early and you are locked up in 4th gear at 45-55 mph. Then you gradually ease into the throttle and your torque convertor slips.



You need some kind of device to unlock your TC under heavy power usage. Use the TC clutch to reduce transmission temps once you are up to speed, but never pull heavy against it with a modified motor.



DTT sells a TC saver that taps into your TPS signal and unlocks your torque convertor at a certain throttle setting.



You can use an air pressure switch that opens contacts at 20 psi and plumb that into your intake to unlock at 20 psi boost.



You can also wire in a simple on off switch to unlock it manually until you get up to highway speed.



If you want a modified truck to live you are going to have to work around the factory PCM programming or face this problem continually.



-Chris

 

[Bill Kondolay]

CAJUNCUMMIN





When concerning tc's and transmissions the marketing hype and the real thing are generally quite different.



Almost every one of our competitors advertise that their products can handle 1200 ft lbs of torque, 500 hp ,



Sad thing is, my shop floor is littered with these converters that guys bought based on the marketing hype.



The majority of the tc's i swap out met their demise because the lock up clutch failed.



This is the reason we designed our tc not to lock up under hard excelleration. You actually have to roll your foot off the throttle to engage loc up.



How much you have to roll off to engage lock up depends

on accelleration rate and the amount of torque apply, it varies from truck to truck .



The reason why our tc's were designed this way is because the time it takes for the converter to engage the lock up system

is approx 4/10 of a second, now think about that .



In that fraction of a second when your lock up clutch is being applied, your transmission speed and your engine rpms become one unit.



In that fraction of a second if you have a 500rpm difference between fluid coupling and lockup you would have generated over 1500 degrees worth of heat.



In that fraction of a second your tc clutch is slipping, not just the tc in your truck but every dodge ram out there.



So if someone tells you the tc can handle the 1200 ft lbs of torque they are full of s--t.



One of the reason we stick out in this industry is because we are upfront about the limitations of the lock up clutch system and we designed our products to not rely on lockup.



It is hard to visualize this concept , you really have to drive a truck eqqipped with this product to believe it.



Now as i mentioned before i have converters on the floor of my shop with the heavybillet covers like the ones you are considering, guess whats wrong with these converters.



Smoked lock up clutch linings, its funny i never read about the manual guys going out and buying heavier flywheels, they always seem to be looking for better clutch material and more apply force.



You know technically speaking every transmission built out there is custom built. Custom built transmission in most cases implies more than it really is. My last place of employment technically speaking all the transmissions were custom built. What you guys didnt know was that it was being built by kids with little to no transmission experience. So the words custom built have little or no meaning in this industry unless you know exactly who builds the transmissions.



Be careful of words meant to sway you, try different products if you get the chance, not just mine. Compare products,



I will be in Kerville Texas and i will be hosting a tech seminar last weekend in September. If you are able to make it you will have a large mix of tc's guys are running in their trucks to compare. You may be surprise just how many others have experienced your same situation.

 

[bigkavr]

Excellent reply Bill. It's straight talk like this, that convinced me to go with DTT. My 91-TC and VB will be installed this weekend.

YeeeeHaaaa!!!! Can't wait!!

 

[tschwab]

Bill K is right on! Myself, father, uncle and good friend all have Bill K's (DTT) TC's and VB in our RAM's and couldn't be happier with the performance, reliability and DTT's service.



Just another happy & satisfied DTT customer.



Thanks Bill for such excellent products!

 

[bvanetten]

DO IT!

Before my stock transmission died lockup felt like an extra gear. It was quite fun actually! All kidding aside, getting put back into your seat when the TC locks is not a good thing. Now that I have Bills stuff locking up the TC is rather boring . Unless I'm on the highway for an extended period of time I don't lock it up. City driving... forgetaboutit! Because you guys have the luxury of computers to take care of things for ya I would put in his TC saver for sure. This truck can idle up a curb now! A truly impressive product.



Strick-9. This pressure switch you speek of. Where could I get one.

 

[Strick-9]

bvanetten,



The switch idea isn't mine actually. It came from Pier's back in April when we discussed different ways of unlocking the TC.

Got one of those in my truck. Pretty simple setup, for those of you that want to hook one up in your own truck, here is what you do. All I did was wire the lock up clutch wire through a Hobbs pressure switch, which is installed in the intake manifold & set it to unlock the torque converter clutch at a set boost level. If you get an adjustable pressure switch you can dial it in to your own trucks performance level.

I personally looked all over for a Hobb's pressure switch and talked to several autoparts stores and no one could put their hands on one for me. Maybe Piers can locate them for you.



-Chris

 

[danandamy]

I'll try and get you a NAPA part number for the switch on Monday, if I can remember. It's not listed in the books as "Hobbs switch" I think it's just listed as a pressure switch. It does sound like a neat idea, though. I have mine wired into a toggle switch for unlocking. I don't have anything for forcing lock up since I want my transmission to last

 

[danandamy]

Ok ok, so it was listed under "Hobbs Switch" Anyway, looks like the best one is a part number 701-1578. That's a 15 pound, normaly closed circuit switch. They don't list a 20lb.

 

[CAJUNCUMMIN]

Wednesday night I got my truck on the road again, using Suncoasts tc and vb kit, the truck runs like a sports car or better ! I can use the power the Cummins is capable of making now. Bill K. thanks for the info about tc. s and trannys I value your knowledge in this field. I ended up choosing Suncoast due to the short distance to me, time will tell the quality of thier product.