Why is ATS stuff SO expensive? I am in the market for a built tranny and pretty much have my mind made up on going DTT (Full billet minus intermediate shaft, 2 year unlimited mile warranty for $5200) but I was looking at the ATS stuff and it is just VERY costly! The only difference between the assembly 5 for 4wd and assembly 6 for 4wd is billet output shaft and the price difference is $1200!!! How do they justify charging $1200 for an output shaft?! It's the easiest of the three to install and does the least amount of damage to outlying equipment if it breaks...Geez...sorry to rant fellas, but how do they justify those prices?

 

Ats is just very proud of their equipment. That is the reason that I dont run it. The same (if not better) parts can be found elsewhere for a much lower $. Just look around bud.

 

overhead has to be made up somewhere. ATS has a large one !

 

an ats trans is not impressive to me. guys on here post good things about dtt. they push the single lock converters on ppl, which I dont understand. I would say you made a good choice. I put alot in my trans and it was a good move. I could have bought whatever I wanted. Ive heard too many poor things about ats transmissions. I have an hts trans-built by dusty hawk. after I saw a bunch of his customers with 6-800 hp I was sold on buying one. He was closer to me and has an awesome deal on the shipping.

 

they justify high prices because ppl pay it. just like banks, ppl pay high prices for a name. thats all banks is to me a name. I think ats has a few nice porducts, like their turbos, but they are way to high on their parts.

 

Well said jwb600. I could not agree more, and not to many years ago didn't ats have LOT'S of problems with their turbos?

 

Well when you buy a billet output shaft from most people you get the output shaft that goes into the transfer case which isn't billet. So you have a billet shaft replacing a $100 stock shaft that will cause the next weakest part in the link....the input of the transfer case to shrapnel which will cause you to incurr a complete rebuild if possible of the transfer case. With ATS you send in your transfer case input to have the billet input of the transfer case machined to match the billet output shaft. One billet output destined to kill your expensive transfer case or a two piece billet assembly to ensure the output shaft and transfer case input last. I don't have a billet output as it is my "fuse" in my driveline to protect the more expensive pieces. Something has gotta give in an extreme tranny overload and the the output shaft is the easiest and cheapest part to replace between the engine adapter plate/bellhousing and the output of the transfer case.

Ask Haisley's and Scheid's who's auto trannies stand up for sledpulling...
Percentage of sledpullers running ATS 90%, maybe HTS,DTT, Suncoast 10%

If you are drag racing where the tires will slip and never dig in hard I'd probably get an HTS with a Suncoast converter unless I lived anywhere near a good DTT builder such as Timinva or Mass Diesel or.....

If you have a local tranny builder that has the necessary experience and diesel performance parts and is willing to provide the warranty and customer service required to keep you on the road ... that is where you want to go.

If I wanted to tow heavy, Sledpull and sometimes drag race.....Then it would be ATS all the way. Just my Opinion and my ATS experience. I have mostly an ATS parts tranny with a few DTT parts for good measure. ks

 

call me crazy, but tires sure do seem to slip more on dirt than on concrete coated with sticky rubber

 

Yep....I was thinking about the towing part not the sledpulling part but I think sledpulling puts alot more strain on the tranny than dragracing other than those long boosted staging times. When the sled loads the back of the truck enough to flatten the springs ...hopefully the tires are still spinning when you end the pull. I've had a hard time spinning the tires when towing my 48' foot enclosed trailer loaded to 38k combined....I guess I need more power to handle the 10000# rear axle loading. ks

 

This makes sense to me...very good breakdown, I appreciate it. If the output shaft on the DTT tranny that I end up buying ends up breaking the input shaft connected to the transfercase, I would assume that to be something that is NOT covered under the tranny's warranty, but either way, I don't really plan on doing any sled pulling (maybe once in a blue moon and NOT competitively like lots of folks are doing these days) but will be wanting to race the truck. Towing heavy won't be TOO much of an issue for me either, as the heaviest load I would be pulling would be a 13k gooseneck loaded with cattle...I think that for $3000, there is nothing that could possibly make that ATS THAT much better though, especially for my needs. Thanks again.

 

Haisley builds trannies using parts from many different companies including their own.
They use an ATS converter but the rest is stuff they are sourcing and putting together.

I know one of the Haisley associated 12V auto's that won one of the major diesel truck pulls this year only has a BD VB, Triplelok converter, stock rebuild and stock shafts!!