John_P

Alpine:

For every story of good treatment by an aftermarket diesel performance company, we all know there are "other sides to the story." You and DTR Member "13FOX" say you have had great dealings with DTT, and for that I am happy for you guys. But my dealings with DTT were terrible back in 2000 when I was seriously looking to upgrade the unit I had in my 96'. I will leave it at that. At least you have in come in here (as you always do), given your opinion and left the "negative" remarks/comments out of the discussion. My thanks to you for that.

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John_P

Mike D

I think most all of the diesel performance transmissions companies build a good product. If you go to enough DHRA diesel drag races you'll see failures. You might not hear about it on the internet, but things break. The biggest thing to look for is a dealer who will stand behind the unit when something fails.

Mcmopar

I like my Dave G stuff, his customer service is great. There are a bunch of Dave G trannies running around here and are holding up very well, I pound the "tar" out of mine all the time. I have pulled apart an ATS tranny with over 80K miles on it at over 450ish hp and it looked great. So on those fronts both trannies are good in my book.

Probably the most important thing is to find a dealer that is "relatively" close to you that has a rep. for good customer service. The tranny brand doesn't mattter if the local dealer doesn't support you!!

Dinner

I just gave Dave a call this morning to order some parts for my truck...well i'm assuming it was Dave that answered the phone,lol. However, he is a real nice guy to talk to...basically our conversation was only about ordering parts and shipping, addresses all that jazz since we already talked through email. He will be calling back to tell me how much freight will be and then shipping the parts (valve body, apply lever, apply strap and anchor)...can't wait to get those parts and see if i notice a difference in shifting. I'm doing it mainly because i need new solenoids (tranny doesnt shift right) and for the performance part so I dont have to do it later.

Sunir

I'm really surprised that nobody is mentioning Dunrite Converters (in fact I really don't hear much about Dunrite on DTR??)...Tony was a pioneer when it comes to TC and VB's ...he cofounded Sun Coast and has since been doing his own transmissions, TC's and VB's....in fact a lot of folks like Dave G use his parts and kits when they do things like valve bodies etc...

I agree with the local shop commentsabove ...I am going with a reputable fairly local shop that strongly recommends Dunrite and have a very good relationship with them from everything from their pull trucks to customer trucks...I talked to them repeatedly about Goerends and others and although they agree that the other companies make good products they really like the Dunrite products best for their engineering, durability, and performance.

cumminsdriver635

Ill be ordering a built goerend for my truck really soon. Dave has awesome prices, customer service, and his tranny's are great from my experience. I wont slam any company, but I know of a few guys around here who have had problems with ATS trannies. Basically, i just couldnt beat goerend's products for the money when i bought my stuff. Plus I am more into supporting the small shops and businesses instead of the big businesses if it is worth my time and money to do so. One way or the other mine will be getting a built goerend soon, and i cant wait

Eric

Russ Roth

All of that is true although I don't think he is doing a lot of trans work right now. He sure knows how it is done though. Worth trying to get ahold of him which can be a bit tough sometimes. He's pretty busy.

AlpineRAM

I think that it's really nice to see that there is a tranny thread without bashing and name calling etc!

I think that with the performance diesels there will always be a lot of carnage because we dieselheads will want to see smoke and will always have the "more equals better" mentality regarding hp and tq.

I do also think that there is something to the "chemistry" between people that makes "pairing" easy or not. Combine this with a bad hair day on one of the sides and you will see a certain percentage of deals going wrong.

Just my 2c

AlpineRAM

John_P

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Good points Alpine! IMHO, I initially thought we may end up having to lock this one down, but it seems like everyone has calmed down. Like you pointed out, "to each his own", but the problem on the tranny and some of the other "hot diesel issues" is people posting based upon "what happened to a friend/relative etc." and NOT what happened to the actual Member. As some of the Members pointed out the leading aftermarket transmission companies all seem to build a great product now, I think it gets down to "who is closest to you that can service the tranny should problems arise" and " who do you feel the most comfortable dealing with."

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John_P

powermad

the guy closest to me doesnt know anything about ATS BD georend or any of the other high end trany guys. but he does recomend going with his own rebuild with a sonic torque converter, blue kolliens? and a billet input shaft. ive never heard of sonic, does any one know anything about them?

Deezel Nate

It's Sonnax... I run some of their parts in my trans.

strokethisgoat

I just got off the phone with the local trans shop. They said that they would rebuild my tranny with the parts list i gave them (red frictions, billit imput, valve body) for 1200. The thriple lock converter they suggested is 1100. I told them i would be doing some pulling and some racing and they said they would stand behind the transmission. So its pretty much 2300 for a transmission built like i want plus its local and all i have to do is take them the transmission from out of the truck.

I know a guy who used this group before. he has an 03 dodge and he pulled a loaded 50' car trailer every day. He also runs the juice/attitude, and he has been running this tranny for almost 50,000 with no problems.

I don't think its necissary to have an out of state group rebuild a transmission, not if there is a local shop that can do it just as well and will stand behind their product.

AlpineRAM

With the local groups it's like that IMO- first of all they won't be known and won't be of interest to the general public on forums like this- for geographic reasons. The big outfits have the logistics to ship the parts etc and the small ones don't. This doesn't say anything about the quality.
I think that going local means that you must research a lot yourself and maybe you find someone who builds a tranny as good or even better than the well known big players. I think it's interesting to read reports about the result of each venue of modification- be it good or bad.

Just my 2c

AlpineRAM

powermad

so does any one know anything about the sonic parts from personal experiance

psd tuner

what about suncoast i hear alot of good things on the duramax forums. my tranny doesnt like my smarty too well, i dont think its gonna last long. so i am gonna be in the market for a trans rebuild kit. i want to get my local tranny builder to build mine, he is great he has built a e40d for my mod. powerstroke and and another e40d for my bronco with a built 351 and 35" tires both of em should of went out by now cause they are abused