Time for a transmission upgrade

[HBarlow]

My DTT built in 2007 was $6400! It included all the billet parts and good stuff available at the time. I thought it was an outrageous price to pay but it seemed to be about what others were paying at the time.

 

[CharlieFoxtrot]

IIRC, the PO of my truck paid ~$4k installed for the DTT without billet shafts, around 2005. Also at that time, I was paying about the same for Ford trannies without billet shafts. Looks like the shafts add around $1500(?) in parts.



So, $7K nowadays!?! I checked several inflation/CPI calculators on the web, and inflation only accounts for about an 11% increase (~$500 on my $4000 trans) between 2005 & 2011.



I wonder how much better the builders' products are now than they were then. I don't think my Suncoast governor transducer was even available. That's a $100 part you couldn't get back then.

 

[cerberusiam]

$7k is an Ultimate transmission with all the billet parts, not the normal build needed for most of these trucks.



All the billet shafts will run $2000-3000 depending on who and where you buy them.



Now, when you start building the way DTT does on their quality units its easy to add $2000 more than a standard parts build. There are pieces DTT has developed that address the OE short comings. There also upgrade drums, pinins, etc, that add to the cost in some cases. One really has to know the pieces used to correlate costs across different builders.



The $3000 mark generally gets a solid build with the a good TC, some upgraded internals. Some places may include a cheaper billet input in that or add another $500. Going up from there its all billet shafts, billet pistons, upgraded drums, upgraded bands\clutches\steels, upgraded pinions, and specifica machining and change sto accomodate the upgraded pieces.

 

[Mobius1]

$7475 is what mine is. Billet Flex plate, Billet Input, Billed intermediate, lifetime warranty triple disk converter, Mag Hytec double deep pan and a shift enhancer box. That is with $1000. 00 core charge and $200 freight each way.



Stuff definitely isn't getting any cheaper... .

 

[JFought]

i was quoted at 4800 bilit input, and triple disk converter. shipped. no really heavy trailers, or racing.

 

[BGlidewell]

what are the logistics of getting a gorend or a dtt? (Do they have regional people who install their transmissions or do you have to drive up there or what?)

 

[HBarlow]

For DTT, which I am familiar with, Bill Kondolay or son, Stefan, can refer you to one of their authorized rebuilders. Bill has extremely high standards and only has a limited number of transmission builders he will sell his parts to and allow to be on his list.

I used: James Transmission Technology - (972) 467-3702 - Home

James is located in Midlothian, south of Dallas. James did an excellent job for me and stands behind his work. He made an embarrassing and costly mistake on mine. He used a new untried substitute product instead of Locktite to secure the torque converter bolts on the flexplate when he put mine back together.

I was transporting at the time and running 11k to 12k miles per month. Just a few weeks after James completed my transmission the tc bolts loosened on the flexplate and began making a terrible rattling noise. I called James and he asked me to bring it back.

He loaned me his personal pickup for the day, removed the transmission and flexplate from my truck, installed another new and expensive billet flexplate because the bolt holes were hogged out on mine, and put it all back together for me at no charge. That mistake cost him some parts and a day of labor which he cheerfully ate without excuse or complaint.

I recommend James. I think he is proud of his work and pays very close attention to his work and his reputation.

 

[Wertles]

I hope to have the same experience as you Harvey, minus the loose flex plate. I checked out a few other shops that were referred to me personally but no one else wanted to spend more than five minutes with me. This guy has spent over 2 hours with me answering questions and going over the pros and cons of each part. I'm pretty sure he doesn't have too much free time as he has work from most of the dealers.

On a side note, he is much more knowledgeable than on first impression. We were admiring each others jeep wrangler when he popped his hood and low and behold he transplanted a 4BT under the hood and I believe he said a NV5600 and Dana 60 axles underneath that he shortened and installed. He has also built a couple sled pulling trucks including the engine. He gained quite a few cool points in my book and I now don't feel like I'm dealing with someone who has only gone to school to learn about transmissions.

He's got my truck now. Hope to have it back Wednesday or Thursday. I did go with a few more upgraded parts so the final price is 3700. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[HBarlow]

Your builder does sound like a man who understands the challenge and will probably do a good job for you.

The reason for the big difference in price may be simply because he doesn't get into the expensive billet steel parts like DTT, Goerend, etc. do.

I hope it works out well for you.

 

[Wertles]

I am getting a billet input shaft and some other billet parts but only an upgraded heavy duty flex plate. The billet flex plate was much more expensive and with stock power is probably not needed. He showed me the list prices which are pretty close to Goerend, but he also showed me his price which is what he is charging me. Simply stated, if he charged me list, the cost would be close to the big name transmission guys and he would not get any business. Makes perfect sense to me because if he was only a thousand away from the other guys, I'd be going with the other guys.

 

[Wertles]

So I got the truck back this evening and my initial impressions are nice. I have much firmer and positive shifts without being harsh. The tow/haul mode is very nice. I have an adjustable solonoid and he has everything on the softest setting right now. The stall on the converter seems to be just slightly lower than stock which is fine for me since I don't mind keeping the rpm's up a little for towing. After pulling the truck in the shop, he called me and let me know that he would not be replacing the cooler as he realized it was more than adequate. He did however say that the stock pressures and flow were very low and now are up to par. Today was 80 degrees and during their test drive of about 10 miles, the temperature only got to about 100 but I don't know where they were getting that temperature. He showed me my old parts. Most were just about junk. The band was very thin and you could see heat marks an a lot of the parts. He could tell that when the dealership fixed the transmission about 20K ago, they only replaced one clutch that was bad and reused everything else. He figured that I only had about 10K left before failure.

I showed up with cash (works well for budget, when gone, can't buy anything) and when he saw that, over 300 dollars came off the bill. He wants me to come back in a couple of days so he can retorque everything and see if I want to play with the shifting. He'll do that all for free. If anyone has done played with their pressures, please let me know what to expect. I'm definitely going to hook up the trailer and go for a test drive in the next couple days before I make any decisions.

Hopefully this lasts me till I am done with the truck and many miles more. I'll let ya know if it doesn't.