Background: I installed my own Transgo kit at around 40K, let the 1-2 shutter shift happen for about 40,000 miles before installing the GM conversion, replaced the front band once and then ordered a Goerend trans. The wait was 6 weeks from order to install.

Disclaimer: I am a fussy guy, but reasonable (I think so anyway).

I contacted Goerend several times during the process of ordering a trans. I talked mostly with Denise, she is very knowledgeable and patient. I had a dozen questions, and really didn't know what I wanted. I know I tow about 10K often (twice a week) and tow up to 16K occasionally. Denise talked me through all the finer points of what I should consider, then let me think about things for a few weeks. I had my trans on order, changes could be made almost anytime (more on this later).

Goerend's website has a lot of fantastic information about torque converters and transmissions, so really if I would have just read that about 10 times I wouldn't have had to ask Denise the same questions over and over. Did I mention how patient she is?

When it came time to discuss which TC to get for my application, I was referred to Craig. Now Craig is at least as patient as Denise, maybe even more so. Craig KNOWS transmissions, because he builds them, tears them apart, tests them, and designs them. In fact, through this whole process I never talked to Dave himself, and with Denise and Craig in the shop, I think Dave could take a long vacation and not worry about the business....

Every stupid question I could come up with was answered considerately. I felt like I was their only customer, the most important part of their day. Let's get to the actual install.....

I called Denise a couple days before I was to drive down. Everything was set on their end, I still had to decide on which TC I wanted and if I wanted a Goerend pan. I passed on the pan (more on that later) and Craig said we will discuss the TC more when I arrived.

I arrived a bit late (20 minutes or so) to a shop pretty much in the middle of nowhere. From the outside it looks like an old warehouse with several overhead doors. Very low-key and humble. Craig was on the phone and I got a cup of coffee while he finished up his call. From that point on I was Craig's main concern (at least he made me feel that way). He patiently explained TC's again, and let me decide which I thought was the best, but he did recommend their 15 blade slightly lower stall speed one. I took his advice after he spent a good 30 minutes with me again. Everything was set, I could change my mind right up to the second they bolted parts on if I wanted to. I confirmed I would keep my old pan, then I saw a Goerend pan sitting on the counter... Wow, it was beautiful! It slopes to a magnetized drain plug, has a probe port and is really heavy duty.... I just HAD to have it. But it costs more than I wanted to pay. No problem at all for Craig, he was so accommodating.... If I want it later just let him know... I eventually bought the pan and took it home separately and will install it at the first filter change. (By the way, Craig gave me two filters to start me out right).

I mentioned I had the GM conversion and a brand new sensor in the old transmission. When I got my truck back, Craig had the shop pull those parts out and return them to me.... he said they were worth money, maybe I could sell them. How nice is that???

So after a hour of finalizing what I wanted, Craig took me on a shop tour. Wow, what a busy place. They make their own parts on some very impressive CNC machines, and they have a lot of testing equipment. Everything is very orderly. They sell so much to dealers and wholesalers now I don't know how long they will keep working with individual customers like me.

My truck was taken away to the shop and I was handed the keys to the shop Suburban. I got Craig's number and a promise he would call around 1pm to give me an update and let me know how things look. He said oftentimes the trans cooler lines are bad, and if mine were he would call before proceeding. Mine ended up not being bad. What I did have was a leaking from pinion seal, and while the truck was in the shop they replaced the seal, no charge. Can you believe that?

Let me tell you, the shop Suburban is a beast. But it is a free service Goerend provided me, and I really enjoyed being able to use it! I found a great lunch place, then wandered around Decorah, Iowa for a while, just shopping. I didn't want to get a hotel just yet, Craig said if the shop got the trans installed by 5pm, he would start testing and possibly get me out of town that night. I happened that he called at 4pm and let me know things were going well and the trans should be done. At 5pm he called and said they were done, and he was going to begin testing and that would take a few hours, then I could get the truck. I told him to take the night off, I'll get a hotel and have dinner, and meet up with him in the morning. (What I didn't mention is I found the brewery in Decorah and planned to have a couple of their fresh brews! ).

In the morning I called and confirmed all was well and headed back to St. Lucas. Craig went over proper maintenance and fluids, gave me a full check-out sheet with pressure readings, and went over the fine details. I paid my bill and that's when I added in the new pan that I really wanted. Denise offered more coffee and gave me a couple of calendars, some TDR magazines, Craig gave me some pens, offered more calendars, and even a t-shirt.

In the end, my transmission was on schedule or even a bit ahead, cost a bit less than I was quoted, I walked out with a lot of free stuff, and the most important thing, the transmission is amazing....

Shifts are positive but not harsh at all. There is no hunting, I can feel more power getting to the ground because the trans isn't slipping like my old one. Very smooth and solid. I tried tow/haul mode and the trans shifts fine there also. When I am on the throttle shifts come a bit later but never harsh like they were with my Transgo. Overdrive used to hit pretty hard, now it just locks in like a manual shift would. Downshifts don't flare, the tranny just drops a gear, pulls and then upshifts. It's hard to explain, it just seems like it does what it should do, like what I would be doing if it was a manual!

All considered, this was a very pleasurable experience for me. I highly recommend Goerend based on the entire package. The care and concern, the details, the service, everything was top notch. And now I have one of most highly regarded transmissions in the business.

 

Been saying this since begining. Goerend is the way to go. Had a buddy that went to goerend to learn to build trannys and dave payed for the whole trip all expenses minus food.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk while not driving

 

EXCELLENT write up!!

Sounds like one heck of a great shop and employees. Thanks for sharing and congrats on the great trans!

 

Sounds like you got the TC I got. I love mine. Wait till you tow with it. Just a light touch on the throttle and the load is moving. No more gouging the throttle to get her rolling.

 

I'm glad to hear your a very happy Goerend trans owner, like I an many others have said many times David's transmissions are well worth the time it takes to have it built and now you know why it take time to get one built.

 

Great show. I have about 20k on my tranny built by the boys from Iowa. They are first rate and it is well worth the $$$

 

Would you mind pm me how much the cost was. I'm taking a trip from the nw to the east coast in march. Might stop by and have him do the install as well.

 

The prices are on the website so they aren't a secret. I paid $6250 for everything.

 

Having a beast of a transmission is a great feeling isn't it?

The one thing I would recommend is to keep putting money toward your transmission fund for any problems. When I got my Goerend, I spent right at 8k having a tranny built, shipped to one of their installers and installed. 48k miles later the billet intermediate twisted and took the tranny out with it. Granted the warranty covered the parts, but it did not cover the $700 shipping for new tranny or the $1100 labor to remove and install the old and new tranny.

I kind of feel cheated by Goerend because when I ordered mine, Dave told me several times I was over building the transmission for what I am doing (My truck is pretty much stock, minus a smarty on the lower settings, and I tow a fifth wheel trailer). I told Dave I would rather over build it then and not have problems down the road. They no longer use the intermediate shafts that they sold me due to a lot of problems with them, but I'm still on the hook for the damage the sub-par materials they sold and installed caused.

Sorry, I don't mean to hijack the thread or anything, sometimes I just feel like venting a little and adding a word of warning to those that may be looking for a transmission. I purchased my Goerend based on the fact I couldn't find anything negative about them, and now I try to tell people that while they might be as good as other installers (I've only had a Goerend so I don't know) I don't think they are any better, especially when it comes to standing behind their work.

Enjoy your new transmission, but don't expect it to be bullet proof and don't assume you won't have to invest another dime into it, because you just might have to down the road.

 

When you play you pay, that's just the way it goes. Goerend stood behind his transmission. They say that they cover the transmission, nothing about the shipping or install. Just chaulk it up as crappy luck. Don't worry, I have the same crappy luck....LOL

 

Well for better or worse, I trust Goerend and I trust my new trans. I shopped around, I toured the factory and I talked to everyone I could. Sometimes things fail for no good reason, and sometimes people can get bad parts. At that point I would hope the builder would stand behind it and it sounds like Goerend did stand behind yours, but you are out the install and shipping.

THAT said, I wouldn't feel too bad paying what you had to pay for essentially a new transmission again. I would have been able to cut some of that price out, as I would have towed the truck to Dave and just had him make the swap, which he may have done at a lower cost than your local guy did. Dave charged me $600 to make the complete swap, I think $1,100 is kind of high!

Either way, I have to believe in something and I see your point. I wonder what a big builder would have done??? Goerend is proud of their reputation and they want to keep it great. A big manufacturer would probably say, "Not our part that failed, you're on your own".

Goerend is making a LOT of their own parts now, and from what I saw they have excellent quality control. They are not just throwing parts out the door, they really have a good system going to design, test, prove and build.

Good luck with your new trans, I hope you get a million miles on it!

 

With the trucks I have had over the years, I am very familiar that you pay to play. My problem is that this truck is not for play, it's for work. The only reason I got a new transmission was to avoid exactly the situation I was in where I was down and unable to work. The old stock transmission was perfectly fine when replaced.

I suppose I may just have a different view of standing behind a product than other people. If I had gotten the intermediate somewhere else, or if I had went back with a stock intermediate I could understand, but I just feel like when you pay $700 for an "upgraded" intermediate shaft, they should take responsibility for not only the shaft breakage, but also the problems resulting from it, up to and including shipping and labor.

I bought the transmission in the first place because I did not want to have to buy a new one again. I didn't even include the cost of my rental car. All totaled up this transmission just cost me 3 grand. If I'm going to spend 3 grand every 2 years/48 thousand miles, I would have been better off staying with a stock transmission.

The shop that I used was one that Goerend referred me to, because I was on the road in Gillette Wyoming working, and this shop happened to be a member of ATRA (Automatic transmission re-builders association) The cost associated with that simply is what it is, I suppose.

This could be true. As I said, Goerend is the only aftermarket trans dealer I have dealt with. I'm not really complaining about the situation, or not trying to at least, I am simply trying to let people understand that there are limits to their warranty, and those limits seem to be about on par with some of the other major builders as far as I have seen.

I hope that the parts now are much better and they have fewer problems. I suppose my major beef is that they sold me a billet intermediate on the pretense that it was better. They no longer sell that intermediate because they know they had problems with them due to the failure rate from them, yet they do not fully stand behind those failures.

A parts only warranty is only as good as, or as worthless as, the parts warrantied, obviously. I would have been happy if they would have even made an attempt at taking partial responsibility for selling me a faulty product by paying shipping, or at least half of the shipping. As it stands, I paid to have the new trans shipped to me and the old one shipped back to them. 99% of my transmission will I'm sure end up in somebody else's transmission, and they are out almost nothing while I eat the cost relating to the inferior product they sold me.

 

^^^^ sounds like you got one of the old sonnax billet intermediates. They had a bad run of stock and wasn't caught until there were a bunch of failures. That is one of the reasons why Dave started to make his own. Before that and even now, Sonnax has a good reputation for their parts... a slip up in the QC at the time.

I have had my Goerends for several years now. He built it originally for 550 hp... LOL

I have had zero issues with my tranny... well, other than a broken output that was totally my fault.

 

Yes it was a sonnax billet intermediate. I'm glad to hear they have that problem sorted out. That is my only issue with Goerend. They knew they had a bad run of intermediates, yet nobody contacted me about replacement, they simply waited for it to fail and then let me eat the cost of having it replaced.

Lets say I buy a new set of brakes and it turns out the manufacturer had a bad run of brakes. My brakes fail and I crash my truck, only to find out the brakes I received were known to come from a bad batch. In my scenario, the end result would be the same as the brake company saying sorry, here is a new set of brakes to replace the bad ones, but you have to pay for all damage resulting from the bad brakes, but hey, we will refer you to a mechanic that you can pay out of your own pocket to install them.

 

Excellent report Lost Lake! My Goerend gets installed on Monday and I can't wait. I have read numerous posts about the great products/customer service that they turn out, thus the main factor why I decided to go with them.

Trey - sorry to hear about your bad luck. I had the same happen to my '02 Ford F350 when I installed a ATS a few years ago. The replacement trans that they sent has been in ever since without an issue. I had to eat the shipping and labor, but as with all mechanical items they are subject to fail.

I was thinking about trading my truck in a couple of months ago and even went down and drove a couple of the new '11's. The new trucks are really nice, but wow they are proud of them. I must be getting cheap in my old age, so I decided to "freshen up" my '05 and drive it for a couple more years. I only have 65k on the truck and other than the transmission the truck has been flawless.

Hopefully next week I can post to let everyone know how the Goerend install went. I am looking forward to it to say the least. This probably should have been one of the first upgrades that I made and not the last.