What are your thoughts?

 

My opinion would be..neither.

Go with BTS (Brians Truck Shop); his upgraded Torqshift (far more thorough component upbuild than the others) is almost ready too...

But simply between the two, I would probably go with Suncoast...however that should be taken with a grain of salt, as I have had no expierence with either of them.

 

With respect to ATS I know Clint and Ranee (owners) and they are good people and build a good product! Last Christmas after adding a few hundred hp to my 03 Duramax I had to do something because the clutches and TQ were toast. I drove up to Denver and had the Triple Lok and clutches replaced in 1 day as he promised and furthermore, he had several of his folks to stay late because he (Clint) was not happy with the way the TQ balanced at Idle—hell I did not even notice it—took the whole thing out rebalanced it and put it back together (I drove back to DFW that night). It would really put the power to the ground by that I mean break the tires loose at 60mph and I never had a Ford even come close to me and the tranny was a large part of it!
<O> </O>

That being said I got sick of putting front ends in my 03 Duramax 4x4 and have a 05 F250 KR 4x4 that when Clint gets the electronic controller (hardware is ready now) ready right before Christmas I will be driving up to his shop in Denver again this year to have mine modded. Clint advised last week that the weak part of the Ford tranny is the TQ and the #3 drum. I have toured their manufacturing area extensively( I do this as part of my job in Aerospace), observed actual manufacturing operations including machining testing, fabrication, and even talked to the R&D people even the purchasing folks and can say that the operation is solid. That is important to me because if there ever is an issue I want someone who knows what the devil they are doing and they will be seeing me after Christmas to have the same thing done albeit less hp for my new Ford! <O></O>

My .02

 

I would be very interested with the specifics of you mentioned about “(far more thorough component upbuild than the others) ? Being that I am somewhat familiar with the different materials ATS uses(100k warranty as well) I would really appreciate a analysis of your statement because I want to have the best tranny that I can get because if it don’t get to the ground you are not moving!<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>

 

Matt can you get more specific with BTS and how his prices compare to the two that I mentioned. I talked with Mike @ ATS and he knew what was going on, but from what he described there cannot be much more to be done to the torque shift because it is all computer controlled. He also told me about the computer they have coming as an option by december.

 

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Matt if you dont mind I will answer for you but if you can please follow up and clarify. My writing skills along with explanation skills arn't that good. Brian of BTS is the E40d/4R100 transmission Guru. When I talked to Brian he not oly explained the weakness of these tranmission, He showed me with transmissions he had been working on. Ford stepped back 10 years and grabbed an old sprag clutch off the shelf one that has been prone to failure. He will be replacing those with upgraded sprags. Other weak points include ford programing. Brian is in the process of developing his own stand alone computer to control the shifting process. The biggest weak link in the Torque shift is when it engages the overdrive gear with another gear (ie 1st and over drive to make third and overdrive + another gear to make overdrive). This gear stacking means the transmission has to make 2 shifts at the same time, hence the pause when going into these gears. This pause which is especially noteable with power adders, it causes the clutch packs slip and burn resulting in premature transmission failure. Brian is going to take a gear pack out to alleviate the double shift. This will make the transmission a 4 speed. Brian claims that at the race track this results in 7 tenths of a second drop in 1/4 mile times. He also claims this will enable the transmisson to handle high HP application, and do it more efficiently. I probably got the gear combos wrong, but I am trying to give you a vague Idea. I have rebuilt transmissions before, so Brian actually showed me, But Im sure he would show anybody that asked, that is the kinda guy brian is.

 

Good explanation

Now let me ask and clarify..
From what I understood BTS's tranny would be reduced from 6 to 5 speeds- keeping the original first and second, removing the intermediate, replacing the old 4th for with a new 3rd gear ratio, keeping the old 5th gear as primary drive and 6th as overdrive. I also understood that the electronics problems they have been having lies in this; eliminating the function of the Tow/Haul function by removal of the intermediate gears; As I understood this has been the holdup...

Am I wrong?

 

I'm not exactly 100% sure. Your explanation sounds more accurate than mine. Thats why I asked for your input. I can picture it in my mind, but I cant translate into words. I do know that Brian said Ford would never be able to get thier programing right for this transmission to work properly with higher HP applications. That is why his modified tranmission is not ready yet, he is still working on the programing, along with doing his normal job of rebuilding transmissions all day. I'm saving up to have him do mine, because I've seen his work, and I know that brian does the work himself right in front of you. He will even challenge you to go break it. If you can break it within the 2 year warranty period he will fix it for free.He will even install any mods or upgrade that have come out since the rebuild, if you break it.

 

That sounds like MY kind of warranty right there

Any idea how much the exchange will run price-wise, and if he will have them ready by Christmas?

 

That sounds like MY kind of warranty right there

Any idea how much the exchange will run price-wise, and if he will have them ready by Christmas?

He told me the price would be about $4000. Should be ready by the beginning of the new year.

 

Ok--proceed at your own risk here! When you start adding TQ one of the Weak points is the TQ Converter. If you are using the Banks like me(got it put on along with the 4in Magnaflow and the AFE)you should be ok because of the built in protections . Some of the other systems and I will be putting propane on after I get the new TQ Converter installed do not give this protection and a single disk TQ Converter can only do so much. I learned this with my other vehicle so make sure the engineering is behind the rebuild and you know what you are doing or you will be using the "warranty" frequently!!

 

The torque converter is only one of MANY parts that need replacing; the clutches in this transmission will be destroyed before the torque converter.

 

That is true but the TQ as well as the clutches will glaze before the are destroyed completely and that means slipping and heat so the process is can be gradual. The TQ Converter to take the big HP which the Ford really does not do well needs to be not just replaced but a different part completely. Do you have first hand experience with the big HP diesel engines and transmissions or is your information second hand? If so I would like to be enlightend with you experience.

 

Check my gallery for the engine

I will have some pictures of the destroyed transmission components in there soon