My torque is on the brink of blowing its seal. always wet with tranny oil under the bellhousing, and the other day the truck was going in and out of gear, revving up and going no were then banging into gear, added oil today (about 3 liters) and about a liter poured out of the bellhousing just as I finished adding.

So I want to upgrade my torque since I'm in there anyway. Dont do much towing now as I sold my trailer, but I'm sure the time will come. truck dyno'd a little over 300 horse and I'd like to go to 5-600 sometime in the future. Won;t ever do any tractor pulls or anything with it, but I do like to show hondas how its done from time to time.
What do you guys suggest for converters? Should I get a valve body to? My truck has 215000 and I beleive its the original transmission, would it be a good time to look at a replacement from goerend or ats? Or, alternatively, has anyone ever made the switch to a manual transmission? I wish I'd bought a manual but I've got to much into my truck with the engine rebuild awhile back to sell it.

Anyway, any thoughts or comments are appreciated. I'm going to have to decide soon as I'm off my shift and down in calgary from the 30th to the 6th and I dont know how much life is left on my torque...

 

i am currently going thru a full rebuild. i have chosen to go with excell transmisison in red deer. they are great guys and know what they are doing when it comes to dodge. i don't have any firsthand experience with a tranny built from them, but a few guys around here love them . . .

call them for some advice, they will not steer you wrong.

 

ya I saw your thread there, I'll give them a shout tommorrow hopefully. They supplied the goerend torque? Would you mind pming me some price info?

 

I don't think you can go wrong with any of the major names in the diesel auto tranny business. Goerend, Suncoast, ATS, NADP all seem to know what they're doing from what I can see. I guess it just depends on price, availability and shop support. Being at 215k though, its probably a good time to freshen the whole trans up with new and better parts. No sense in doing some upgrades, then having to pull it out again in the near future. I'd call a few a of those guys and explain to them what you plan to do with the truck and see what they suggest.

 

they did not supply the goerend converter. i decided to go with who they usually use for their converters because they know them well seem to have no issues with them. they are made in edmonton i think.

if i was sticking with a goerend converter it would be bought from armor inc in red deer.

the reason i didn't go with a goerend is not because of price. price will be very similar they route i am taking anyway. the reason i stayed away from them is because of warranty - i talked to both goerend and armor and both said shipping/freight charges are covered by ME if warranty work needs to be done. if i lived close to goerend or across the border, it would no question that i would have gone the goerend route. i just thought having no shipping costs and quick turnaround time with a local shop was a better route to take . . .

 

PM sent

 

I have had my Excell trans for about a year and it's been great. Way better than the stocker. They supplied everything, the converter is quicker than stock and is nice for in-town driving. Their service is awesome. Just had my first trans service and Mel pulled the valve body and tweaked it alitttle because it was still kinda slow making the 2-3 shift, while they had the pan off. I wouldn't hesitate to use them again of to recommend them.

 

ugh, this is going from 1000 bucks or so to 5000 or so in a hurry...I know if i don't do the tranny I'm gunna burn it out within the year. Excell looks good so far. and so does a goerend from armour. Just don't know if i want to spend the extra 1000 bucks for the goerend. This is not an easy decision to make..

 

I vote for Mells at Excell. Excellant product for a great price, not to mention great service.

I will also say Armour Inc has excellant service and great product.

But best bang for your buck would be Excell Transmission.

 

Kevin H.,

Perhaps come out to one of the Calgary GTG's to talk directly & take a test drive with some guys who already have an aftermarket auto trans.

Fred's 2nd Gen Cummins with a deluxe Goerend trans is a solid shifting rig. You can really notice the solid shifts when his truck is on a dyno.

Greg just got a full billet Suncoast auto in his 2nd Gen. He took me for a ride this passed Sunday.
It shifts nicely at part throttle but super solid when he has his foot in it. It held up much better than his front U-joint during some "testing".
At least we didn't have to walk home!


...Joe

 

Yup, epic u-joint failure for sure, definitely a good time, also found out I needed the drive shaft repaired as well, hurray for money spending, oh well, better here in town then out at the starting lights at mission lol. I enjoy my Suncoast thouroughly and would be more than willing to show you what its all aboot any time. I'm also the sales rep for sienna diesel so if you want a price on suncoast stuff just lmk lol.

 

I wish it were that easy, im up in fort mcmurray now. working 3 or 4 weeks here and then coming home to calgary for a week. I shoulda listened to you joe, you were trying to convince me to plop a torque in while I had the engine out. I would love a price from suncoast, they're the only major one i can think of that i havent had quoted. Billet input, multidisk torque, valve body and a beefed up flexplate please. I'll pm you as well. Thanks for all the input guys, really appreciate it. This alberta forum is the best on the web, no-one trying to look smarter then you or push there own product.

 

well i made my appt with excell for tuesday next week. i chatted with mel for a while about the torque converters out there. he said most of them are made of the same parts (sonnax) but just get put together by the various companies themselves. each is a little different - but the big parts are mostly the same . . .

and for flexplate - call source automotive and get there take on a laminated plate. i got talked into one by them and am now confident in my decision. it is only $250 (pay $350, get $100 core refund) + shipping. they have been running it in there 1000+ hp truck with over 500 passes on it!!! so i think i'll be ok with daily driver . . .

 

well i pulled the trigger today. full goerend tranny, torque and a billet flexplate and input. by the time it was said and done it came out even with excell's price. don't know what they were talking about before being under by $1000 bucks. I pick it up next saturday on my way home. Now I'm gunna have to talk to mike about turbos in a few months...

 

Monday - "Let's talk torque converters . . ."

Thursday - "Well i pulled the trigger on a FULL Goerend tranny!"

haha, the difference a couple days and a couple phone calls makes on the pocket book is pretty big huh!!

congrats, i'm sure it will do you well. i am anxious to get mine done too. we'll have to meet at a GTG and go for rides in each others trucks to see what each is like and compare . . .