I've been thinking lately about getting a new trans but live in the middle of nowhere and my local shops just sells OEM. But they did say they would install an aftermarket one if I had it shipped to them. I have 155,000 miles on her and although I'm not having problems right now, I know they're coming. I plan on buying a bigger 5'er (GVR 11900) and don't think the tranny would be able to handle it with my mods. So, my question is, if I bought some kind of rebuild kit from Dave or whoever, how hard is it to rebuild one of these and can you get the trans out from under the truck with it being on jack stands? Also, I looked at Dave's site and it says a new one that would handle up to 400hp is $3250 plus shipping charges. I found a rebuild kit called a Viper or something like that and it was a little over $1800 and came with everything you would need but I'm a little apprehensive about what you find during a "google search".

I guess what I really need to know is how hard are these things to rebuild because by the time I pay $3250+shipping+install, I'm out @$4100. At that price I"m just as well to drive to Dave's and have him do it. And if I'm going to do it myself, I plan on doing a full rebuild because I'm not yanking this thing out more than I have to.

 

Completely rebuilding a transmission isn't somthing I'd recommend for the average Joe.
There is a reason that most people take their Transmission to a shop to be worked on.

With that being said, I too have saw that Viper I can't remember what all it came with tho..

Dave is a stright forward guy, I spoke w/ him numerious times concerning my seal popping out, and talking converters.

With rebuilding a transmission it is more than just pulling the internals and replacing them w/ whats in the kit. It is inspecting each hard part for hairline cracks, checking the clearences, pressures, replacing ALL seals, ect ect.
I personally think where the big builders are really throwing the money into the transmission is the billet shafts. If you subtract all the billet shafts from the transmission you'll get a hefty lower price.

If I where you I'd contact one of the builders, tell them what you plan on doing with the truck and how you plan to work it and I'm sure they won't sell you what you don't need.
From my experince I'd purchase a HP-Deluxe Overhaul kit. See if you can get any planetary upgrades, and get somone to do VB work on it to get your line pressure up. And most deffintly a converter!

Hope that helps