I have a bone stock 06 5.9 with auto tranny. The pocket book just is not deep enough for a tranny upgrade anytime in the near future. I know you are your own warranty when doing performance upgrades. I only have 7000 miles on the truck and tow 6500 lbs. load about 4 or 5 times a year. Very conservative driver. My question is with the smarty jr set on level 1 or 2 all of the time how long should the stock tranny last? Thanks!!!!!!!

 

You can put smarty jr on level 3 with the conservative driving you describe and the weight you are towing (that is a relatively light load) and your tranny will have normal service life. Make sure you get gauges to monitor egts and tranny temps, keep them in normal range and you will be just fine!!

 

I've run mine on Level 3 a few times.
Just when somebody is with me so I can let them feel the power.
I can tell the tranny wouldn't like that very much.

Run it on Perf most of the time driving normal.
Doesn't shift any worse than it already does from the factory.

 

Can't say that I agree with that. 100hp will cause the TC to slip eventually. Depending on how you drive it, it may last a little while or a longer while, but eventually it will start slipping long before "normal service life." If you have any load behind the truck at all, it will just shorten the life a little more.

 

You sound just like me as far as driving and hauling. I think the easy driver shouldn't have any problems at all over the life of the tranny with settings 1 or 2. I would worry maybe a little about the 100HP setting over the long haul. I have confidence in Smarty Jr and Mads, they've done their homework. It's really up to the driver and their right foot more than anything.

 

I was thinking about this for a while. If the truck loses X amount of hp and torque threw the drivetrain from the stock transmission and you end up dynoing say 290 hp, 550 tq, in stock form(04.5 - 07). Then wouldn't it still be around stock form if you only put it on the 40 hp setting? Or no since the engine is still makeing about 325/610, it's just being lost through the drivetrain.

 

Right now I'm running my Smarty Jr on 100 h.p., and have run either the Quad Std. module or Bully Dog Triple Dog on their highest settings since 1000 miles on the truck, and my tranny is now starting to show signs of slippage at 27000 miles.

 

you should be fine as long as you keep up with scheduled maintenance and run a good synthetisc tranny fluid and maybe a deeper pan these two things will help with cooling. If you romp on any level from "stocky" to "smarty" and everything in between then yes you probably will have problems in the long run but just drive sensibly and have fun every now and then, and you should be alright. Maintenance is a big thing that helps extend the life of any vehicle. just my .02

 

I ran mine on the 70 hp setting for 2 weeks. I liked it but anytime I had it WOT it seemed like it wanted to hang at like 3300 rpms for a while before it would shift and it seemed to me that something had to have been happening in the tranny. I have a tranny gauge on my truck and have never seen over 200 degrees. I also have a deep pan. I set my Jr. back down to the 40hp setting. I just don't trust the tranny at all. I can't say I know what shutter feels like or what slipping feels like completely. I am used to a manual tranny. Hopefully this summer I can upgrade the tranny so that I can forget about it.

 

I've been using the quad standard on the 60hp setting for over two years just about daily. I tow about six times a year with a 12k fifth wheeler rack up tens of thousands of miles with out a hitch. I also on occassions will race away from a stop in traffic with the 100hp setting on. I believe it all in how maintain the trans and don't over do it. These transmissions are a little tougher than most believe. My 2cents anyway...