I was reading Trailer Life (07/04) today in library and there is a big add from GM and a picture that compares a shaft from Allison vs. one in Ford (my guess is Torqshift, but not sure). The shaft from Allison is about two times ticker and it has comment: “Do you have right truck?”
After that I did search this forum but I really could not find anything bad about Torqshift (as I expected). But, I thought this could be an interesting topic and that I can learn some things from more experienced users about Torqshift.

 

I know the torqueshift is supposed to be a beast of a tranny. I have had several people tell me that their Allison hunts for gears to much up and down the hiway with a trailer on. The people who have told me that only have the 8.1 GM though, I havent heard anything bad about it when connected to the Duramax.

 

I heard the first few years that they put the allison in that the tranny had some problems. Alot of people have been ranting and raveing about the torqueshift. I havnt heard any thing reliabilty wise about it yet.

 

A friend of mine has a 04' DMax/Alli combo. Turbo and tranny went out at 3,000 miles

 

People get all hyped up when they hear big names used in trucks they figure ooh wow its a Allison transmission they figure its gotta be good. The transmission used in Chev trucks is a POS I was told GM designed most of it.

I took a ride in a friends F-350 6.0 4x4 with the Torqueshift is one of the smoothest transmissions you can get. I have drove and rode in earlier PSD trucks with the old juicer transmissions they hammer into gears.

I think Ford has the best light truck automatic transmission out there now.

 

We have 3 Allison Tranny's.


2 of them are mated with the Duramax, and its an awesome transmission when combined with the diesel. It never hunts for gears, its alway's a nice smooth but quick shift. I have only rode in one truck with the torqueshift, and can tell no difference as a passenger between both trannys (but have never felt a load with the torqushift)

The other Allison, well, its the big boy. 6 speed auto mated to a 890lb tq Cat motor in a Freightliner FL-60. Now that thing is a transmission!!! It shifts effortless with all the weight behind it. I would never own a manual truck after driving the Allison 6 speed. (the Motorhome used to have the same allison also, and it was awesome as well.)


I feel as though both tranny's are about equal, how long they last compared to each other will be interesting. I know our old F550's tranny (in 2001) was starting to go after just 30k miles...

 

Did a 2001 F550 have a Torqshift in it

I thought it would have had a 4R100 (i.e. POS and not in the same leage as the Torqshift)

 

no, the 01 550 didn't have a torque shift, I was just saying the older tranny's did not hold up well under load...

 

I've driven both and can confirm that the Allison and Torqshift are both great transmissions. The Allison is noisier than the Torqshift though, but I wouldn't mind having either one. I really can't find an advantage of one over the other with the exception that the Torqshift actually has 2 shift sequences (for cold weather), each utilizing 5 of the 6 forward gear ratios.

 

John,
I didn't know that Torqshift has 6 forward gears. Where I can find more info?

 

More like an optional gear. It will only shift 4 times either way. Plus lockup. The torqueshift is a 3 speed with a dual planetary gearset. It can choose which planets to use with which gear. 2 times 3 is six. But it will only use 5 at a time. Its fourth I think. Like 1.09 instead of 1.00. I may be mistaken. My memory is leaking.

 

-17c the shift pattern is 1-2-3-4-6

Above 14c it is 1-2-3-5-6

The Ratios
3.090 to 1
2.200 to 1
1.538 to 1
1.096 to 1
1.000 to 1
.0712 to 1

 

the 2005 gear ratios are now slightly modified

 

John and Tim- where do you find that kind of info??? Is it on the Ford website or do you guys go out and tear apart a tranny and read through the whole manual?? I'd love to learn stuff like that about these trucks, but haven't a clue where to go about looking for it.

 

Thanks Tim.
I spent two hours searching Ford's web site and I could not find it! This forum is the best.