RedWhiteDiesel

Hey yall,
Just purchased a 1998.5 2500 Short bed extended cab 4x4, because my 1989 W350 was,(or nearly is, insurance still hasnt decided) totalled when I got rear ended. Lookin at transmissions and chips. Ive been told to go with the Edge Comp box, and doing a little searching it seems everyone likes it. Wondering what brand aftermarket trans builder everyone is having luck with. I am not too impressed with suncoast, cause ive put 3 in a Ford and 2 in a chevy. ATS?? Who has good pricing and an even better warranty? Thanks in advance.
Brian

RowJ

You need to do a search - will find hours of good reading.

ATS and DTT are the big two. I love my DTT and know you can't go wrong there...and I know many happy ATS owners. Your call...but do your homework.

Check out Forum at http://www.dieseltrans.com/

Good Luck, Rowland

RATTLINRAM

Myself and some other members have been real happy with Goerend Brothers Transmission. You might want to give Dave a call and talk with him. He's a heck of a good guy.

RowJ

Rattlinram
Sorry...Didn't mean to leave them out - have heard nothing but good things about them also.
And Brian, Georend Bros is closer to you than the others, unless the others have installers in your area. Call all three and pick the one you like best!

HOHN

For transmissions and chips:

Trannies, I like DTT and ATS, though I think the DTT approach is a little more comprehensive. I wish there was a DTT tranny with an ATS converter-- that would be the best in the opinion of this six-speed owner.

For chips, the Comp is really popular. If you pull super heavy or plan on torturing your truck a bit, stay away from anything that advances timing (like all Edge products do). In that case, look towards TST or Blue chip. Personally, i also prefer the TST on HO trucks. In your case, the Comp, or better yet, the Diesel Dynamics version would be fine.

Keep in mind that the bigger hp chips will require you to tap the VP injection pump wire, which voids warranty. Since you have a 1998, this isn't a big concern I suppose. 60hp is about all you can expect from a box that doesn't tap the pump wire-- with the tap, you can expect 120 or more-- up to 150hp for some of the hotter boxes.

i like the 9 level adjustability of the TST boxes, and they're available with a competition program that will make it the wickedest box on the market-- complete with pump shudder when set on kill. But it's about the highest hp box for the 24V, and it's plenty smooth when not set on kill.

Justin

DRD

Sometimes the wire tap boxes are so smooth you can't even tell it's running, mostly because it's already killed your injection pump. Just be aware that the wire tap boxes may fry you pump on the 98-99 trucks fairly quicky. If it has a reman or new pump you should be okay.

Hired Gun

Yep my 99 got fried due to the TST. Well thats what most people say, but I do see tons of people running them with no problems. As far as trannys, just read and do your homework, and you decide on what you like.

AlpineRAM

RedWhite: I think that you should first of all decide on a plan on where you want to get hp wise- and what you want to use the truck for. The bandwidth of this decision IMHO is now from some 40hp over stock to a good 500 hp over stock still street driveable (more or less)
When you know what you want and what kind of budget you have, what you want to do with the truck (towing, offroading, drag racing, street racing,yadda,yadda) you'll have to make a package. A: To get the engine to put out th power- and B: the powertrain and brake mods to get the power to the ground. As for B: You'll have to be honest with the manufacturer of your tranny mods-only then he'll be able to make what you need. Even a good tranny set up for something else than you do with the truck will be a bad tranny.
I'm using a DTT tranny and I really like it. (And I have no experience with other vendors)

AlpineRAM

bama

all the big 4 are great trannys..........all the big 4 have and will have some problems every once in a while.....i , myself have a goerends set up,,convertor and valve body-lifetime warranty-..............also a consideration,when your tranny does go out,as they all will no matter who built them,you`ll need your convertor gone through to clear out all contaminates,most of the tranny companies charge upwards to 250 bucks for this service,goerends will send you another,free of charge,and you just ship him back yours when you get it pulled out...but,,IMHO,you really cant go wrong with any of them........bama

RedWhiteDiesel

Thanks for all the responses....I obviously have alot of homework to do! A whole lot of reading is in store for these eyes!