Stupid tow pig, Tranny issues

617_Racing · Jun 30, 2016

Well, my fancy transmission from Garmon Diesel has gone on permanent vacation. Driving up 75 north and it just quit pulling. Reverse works just fine, only the forward gears are a no go. I can slightly feel the trans doing something while shifting it from D to 1 so I'm confident the linkage is fine.
I guess when you drive the pig like a race car its bound to take a dump a few times.

So my question is what is everyone's experience with aftermarket trans? Are they worth the money? Can a local shop not do the same?
In my very little research I'm currently eyeballing the ATS, mainly for the warranty.

oh and the pig is a 2001 F250 7.3L. Few little mods: intake, exhaust, single shot injectors and tunes.

Craig_c · Jun 30, 2016

Firepunk Diesel hands down.

The valve body is where the magic happens. Garmons transmissions shift way too hard and damage themselfs.

617_Racing · Jun 30, 2016

Craig_c said:
Firepunk Diesel hands down.

The valve body is where the magic happens. Garmons transmissions shift way too hard and damage themselfs.

Their website is only showing Dodge junk though??

Zjman · Jun 30, 2016

Bts is suppose to be the best on ford trannys, not cheap but stand behind their work and theyre down south too, and bts is brians truck shop

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617_Racing · Jun 30, 2016

Zjman said:
Bts is suppose to be the best on ford trannys, not cheap but stand behind their work and theyre down south too, and bts is brians truck shop

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I saw a little about him. I'll look him up, thought he was in Ohio or Arkansas? I'm in Georgia.

I did just get off the phone with Jeff Garmon, he said if I bring it to him he can probably just rebuild the clutch packs for a couple grand since the trans is already built. They put the fancy input shaft and a triple billet disc dooohickie in there. Not sure if I'll go back there again just to have to have it rebuilt in another 5 years.

wizzo · Jun 30, 2016

Sucks about the trans, anything can happen unfortunately, with ANYONE's trans. Jeff has been in the game for a long time and one of the best. My thing would be, you are in GA, I would use him unless he just tells you to pound sand or something. Fact of the matter is, warranty isn't gonna get you off the side of the road. Pick your trans builder, you have an issue, they are gonna want you to foot the bill to get them the trans to check out. Unless said builder has a certified installer in the area you are or you can get towed to one of their locations and really only ATS offers that if I'm not mistaken.

Trans problems suck, I would know, my trans is out of my dodge right now!!! Gotta love it!

BTS is in Arkansas. What part of GA are you in?

617_Racing · Jun 30, 2016

wizzo said:
Sucks about the trans, anything can happen unfortunately, with ANYONE's trans. Jeff has been in the game for a long time and one of the best. My thing would be, you are in GA, I would use him unless he just tells you to pound sand or something. Fact of the matter is, warranty isn't gonna get you off the side of the road. Pick your trans builder, you have an issue, they are gonna want you to foot the bill to get them the trans to check out. Unless said builder has a certified installer in the area you are or you can get towed to one of their locations and really only ATS offers that if I'm not mistaken.

Trans problems suck, I would know, my trans is out of my dodge right now!!! Gotta love it!

BTS is in Arkansas. What part of GA are you in?

Yeah I know I can do all the work myself, hell I could probably rebuild it just wouldn't feel confident in it, but the point of having the builder close by is nice.

I'll probably take it back to him when ever I get a chance.

I am in Stockbridge, so just south of Atlanta. Garmon's shop is down in Griffin about 45 mins from me.

But my day hasn't been completely bad. Brown Santa just showed up with 4 new coil overs

gottagofast · Jun 30, 2016

BTS is the ONLY way to go!

I did a ZF-6 swap on my 99.5 but hands down, had I stayed with an auto, I would have had Brian build me a trans...

His warranty is unbeatable... You break it he'll fix it... You build more power and blow it up hooked to a pulling sled, no problem... Send it back and he'll build it stronger.

lowbudgetjunk · Jun 30, 2016

Re:

5 years, how many miles, and miles towing? I am rough on everything I own and have 20k or so on a rebuild on my 00 7.3 auto. I won't say I treat it like a race car, but it is the donut and black fog machine when my little ones see fit.

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617_Racing · Jun 30, 2016

gottagofast said:
BTS is the ONLY way to go!

I did a ZF-6 swap on my 99.5 but hands down, had I stayed with an auto, I would have had Brian build me a trans...

His warranty is unbeatable... You break it he'll fix it... You build more power and blow it up hooked to a pulling sled, no problem... Send it back and he'll build it stronger.

I keep hearing and reading about this guy. Just thinking it would be way smarter financially to take it back to Garmon for a small rebuild instead of an entire trans. Got some thinking to do.

lowbudgetjunk said:
5 years, how many miles, and miles towing? I am rough on everything I own and have 20k or so on a rebuild on my 00 7.3 auto. I won't say I treat it like a race car, but it is the donut and black fog machine when my little ones see fit.

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Eh, just found the receipt and it is dated 6-4-10. So it's been 6 years. Miles are a good question. I would guesstimate that I've put 80,000 or so on this trans. My last job was literally 4 miles each way so for a few years I didn't put many miles on her.

I've only been towing with it the last couple years since building my toyota up, but I would say 10-15K of the miles were towing maybe.

I really am just incredibly hard on stuff I guess. Adding the bigger single shot injectors last month was probably what pushed it over the breaking point. The only time I've really been mean to it was the other morning headed to work. Some dirtymax wanted to try and be cool and puff smoke at me. So I clicked the switch up to race and laughed as he was swallowed in a cloud.
Can't have nothing nice, I'm always breaking something. My old man has always called me Captain Distructo...

Mattman347 · Jun 30, 2016

Brian builds a nice trans but his lead time is MONTHS out! ATS has a warranty but it sucks in real life. I use a guy out of Ohio and I recommend another guy in the Missouri area. They can all have trouble, he'll I have a BTS and broke it 4 times already but I may be making a little more power...having him fix it the last couple times was a non-option because of how long it takes to get it back although he does "warranty" almost anything.

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1tfrot · Jun 30, 2016

probably a little too far, but Fleece Performance (Indiana) is one of the best with Allisons. not sure how versed they are with ford stuff. they built my SCIV Allison that was in my d-max and it never skipped a beat. it made good power, I drove it like a racecar and it was perfect for 100,000 miles. I traded the truck this year for a 2016 d-max. previous was a 2007 lbz.

Zjman · Jul 1, 2016

Mattman347 said:
Brian builds a nice trans but his lead time is MONTHS out! ATS has a warranty but it sucks in real life. I use a guy out of Ohio and I recommend another guy in the Missouri area. They can all have trouble, he'll I have a BTS and broke it 4 times already but I may be making a little more power...having him fix it the last couple times was a non-option because of how long it takes to get it back although he does "warranty" almost anything.

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Who are you using in ohio, mines got 170,000 on stock trans and i get worried sometimes on long tows

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617_Racing · Jul 1, 2016

Zjman said:
Who are you using in ohio, mines got 170,000 on stock trans and i get worried sometimes on long tows

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Is your engine stock too? I have a buddy with a 2003 and everything is stock except the air filter and exhaust. He is right at 240K on the stock trans (at least as far as he knows).

Zjman · Jul 1, 2016

Yeah pretty stock except chip and filter and exhaust, never gotten hot but it's gotten about 220 a few times

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617_Racing · Jul 13, 2016

Well, this would be a prime example of why I don't like to take my junk to a shop.

At first he was all, oh sounds like a simple fix and will cost a couple grand. Once they pull the transmission out he calls and proceeds to tell me that it's going to cost $4,000-$4,500 to fix. At this point I'm pissed, but he explains it all and basically I'm the fool who didn't take care of it. Oh well I'll be pissed but I'll eat it.

Then today he calls, starts off saying while the transmission is out blah blah blah. Basically went peeking around to see what else they could do and try to charge me for.
He explains the up pipes no longer have bolts in them and that it is causing a huge massive exhaust leak. Which is killing my power and fuel mileage, so he says. He tells me the cost to fix that issue, another $700...
And adds on that the turbo may be damaged but he will have to pull it off to tell.
At this point I stopped him and told him no matter what condition the turbo is in he will not replace it again ( he replaced it 7 years ago).

3 hours or so later he calls, "hey man your turbo is bad, I know you want to make power so want to throw an aftermarket turbo on there?". I all but lost it at this point. I kept my cool and told him now since he is charging so much for the trans to get fixed I can afford to pay for anything else. Then he asks what I did to my down pipe. I told him not sure what he meant since his shop was the last hands on it. He said it was cracked and he wanted to weld it up. This is when I think I snapped a little and got rude. I told him no, to put it back on and I will weld it myself. He basically said ok and that was the end of the phone call.

Feel bad for being a jerk, but damn I took it in for the trans.

gottagofast · Jul 13, 2016

Do NOT NOT NOT put it back together with stock up pipes... They WILL leak again soon...

Get dorman bellowed up pipes... They are cheaper and way better than oem.

gottagofast · Jul 13, 2016

Also, 10-1 this prick is both incompetent and dishonest.... It takes about 30 seconds to determine what condition the turbo is in without removing it.

617_Racing · Jul 13, 2016

gottagofast said:
Also, 10-1 this prick is both incompetent and dishonest.... It takes about 30 seconds to determine what condition the turbo is in without removing it.

I have no clue what he is planning on using. After I got off the phone I looked up prices and did some looking and was shocked that he was charging $700 for a $130 parts kit, while the labor of removing the trans to make it easy is already being paid for in the trans work.

I forgot to ask when he called back because I lost my cool and wanted to get off phone before I said something stupid.

I'm going to call him tomorrow and check what up pipes he plans on using and may just tell him to throw the old "damaged" ones back on.