Well AAMCO says $1,800 plus to rebuild auto trans in 1996 F150 SC 4wd. I tried the SEAFOAM trans shudder stuff but no good. They will have it pulled tonight and call me with more info.

 

All I can say is that if you let Aamco get within 10 feet of your truck, you deserve to get ripped off. There's a good chance it doesn't even need to be rebuilt. Take it to a real transmission shop.

 

you could trade the old one as a core and get a rebuilt for under $700. $1800 sounds very high

 

well bottom line you are getting screwed. but thats your choice. i would never let them near my stuff. there is plenty of good tranny shops that will do it for way less.

 

Yup, I agree.

 

Don't lose hope jcs1966. I've never used any transmission shop, but AAMCO rebuilt a friend's Dodge about 6 or 7 years ago. He still has the truck and the transmission works great. Maybe you'll get a good one too.

 

How do you know the tranny didn't need to be rebuilt to begin with? Half the time they recommend a tranny rebuild when you don't need one. So even IF your buddy really needed a new tranny, why take a chance and take it there when they have so many unhappy customers already? It's like rolling the dice with your money.

 

I can't verify that my buddy's Dodge needed a tranny rebuild. He thought it did, though, and I can verify that it works well now. I'm not trying to defend AAMCO...I've had good luck with the three transmission rebuilds that I have done for myself on my older Fords. All I'm saying is, if I can do it surely there is at least one AAMCO mechanic somewhere who can too.

 

I have used AAMCO Twice years ago. The results were mixed at first but in the long run it worked OK. They rebuilt the tranny in my wife's Nissan MAxima tranny. I knew it needed rebuilding and they were convenient. They rebuilt the tranny for about $2,000 back around 1990, many hard parts were replaced including the planetary, yeow. After a few days the tranny made metallic noises. I took it back to the shop and it turns out there were some loose parts(check ***** I think) in the pan. Not very encouraging if you ask me. Anyway, they fixed it and the car ran fine for 5 more years before we sold it.

I also had them replace the clutch in my 89 Taurus SHO. They did quote me something like $500 for the clutch disc alone. I called the dealer and Ford had them for $200 and I took it to the shop. They said "oh, OK". Hmmm. Later they called and had me look at the notorious 89 SHO tranny issues before they started work since they wanted me to be sure I knew what it looked like before starting the job. They replaced the clutch and it seemed like it had the average life for that model and year SHO. There was a class action law suit against Ford on that tranny so, AAMCO was not to blame here other than being a might high on the clutch disc.

I probably would not use them again since they made a mistake on one job and tried to overcharge on another.

I have had the tranny on my 94 F250 E4OD rebuilt at an independent for about $2,500, but that was to be bullet proof for towing with many upgraded parts. I also spent about the same for my 96 Impala SS 4L60 with uprated sun shell and other parts.

So, the price you are getting is relatively low in my opinion but it all depends on how many and what hard parts are getting replaced. Also most shops charge about $500 to remove and replace a tranny so you have to figure that in on a crate tranny.

From reading other people's comments, going cheap with a tranny is a roll of the dice. Most of the time it is OK, but you do get what you pay for.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson

 

Thanks Jim! I was feeling perty crappy before. There is a trans place a block from me but they have only been there a year or so. The dealership is always a ripoff and AAMCO has been in the same place for about 25 years.

 

Good luck jcs1966. Let us know how it turns out.

 

$1,807.13 with 12 month 12,000 mile warranty. I need to take back in 2 weeks for checkup. I plan to pull in garage tonight to check bolts and wires. Extended warranty was another $350.00 but I decided not to bite.