Ok I was going to not get online today because it was a bad night and I don't feel real good and Iknow it's going to irritate people even more but you know I can't completely let it go so lets explain some things here
First everyone claiming brian is your best friend, that don't disprove the con artist statement, and infact boosts it as the best con artist make you believe they are your best friend in the whole world but that being said it's not my point
Second no where did I say Brian builds crappy transmissions in fact I have stated several time he does a decent job.
But what I have said and continue to say is I don't give a hoot if your the best building in the world and your price is half that of everyone else, if you are hiding and being dishonest or deceitful I will not do business with you.
Does Brian build a good trans, yes he does, so does suncoast, Factory tech, John Wood, ats and several others whats the difference go ask John woods or factory tech what is in their transmissions and what they have done and you will get an honest truthful answer, go ask Brian and you get an answer that sounds like it's coming from a politician, double talk and BS about propriatory parts. if he truly has proprietory parts in them he should be proud of that and announcing what they are, since they are truly his only then you couldn't duplicate it without buying them from him so why hide that?? If he is truly machining parts for them he should be proud of those parts and how much better they are... so where is that bragging? I have seen more people talk about when he builds your trans he puts in all new parts and new pump etc. this is the lie, either everyone posting that is a liar or Brian is, or he is just dishonest enough to let that slide, because what he is doing is taking the hard parts from the trans just prior to your and inspecting them checking all the tolerences and making sure they are good and replacing any that aren't. This is standard practice in a trans shop, doesn't make him any better or any worse than anyone else. Is that wrong on his part? oh heck no thats great, but what is wrong is claiming they are new parts throughout. Next some of the "upgrades" like I have mentioned before the "upgraded planetary setup" if you go to BTS your getting an upgraded steel 6 pinion planetary set. this is dishonest unless your going in with a gasser cause our diesels come with that planetary setup from the factory.
The reason I came into this thread was the VB issue, ok how many times have I seen it posted you HAVE to go with the BTS valve body it's got Brians "special" calibrations done to it, no it doesn't it's not any different than doing your own or buying one from factory tech or any of the others that make them. what has me irritated is the hiding done to convince people they HAVE to buy the BTS when there is people that are sponsers of this website that are helping to keep it going that sell the factory tech at the same price, or sponsors of this site that you are using to get and give info for free because they paid for it that sell the shift kits to convert your VB if your confortable with it. Do I think Brian or any of the rest of them are wrong for doing that and making money? no not at all as long as your honest about it.
I am not pushing any one tranny builder, I am not trying to compete with any of them (don't have the time even if I wanted too) but I am tired of the cheer leading for a guy that isn't being truthful and forthcoming about what he is doing, and isn't actually any better than many others. Like I said earlier telling a guy that lives 20 miles from John Wood that has a basically slightly over stock truck (less than 300RWHP) that he needs to make the 2000 mile trip to get a BTS because it's SSSSOOOOOO much better is bogus and wasting peoples money and is also cheer leading and shouldn't be allowed and due to the fact that it's all based on deceitful info (go back and read if you are wondering I have posted it in this very post) and half truths that is called coning people and the person guilty of that is called what??? thats right a con artist.
I mean look at the front page of his website, this is the second time I have mentioned it so it will probably be gone soon but he puts up a customer quote stating and I will quote it for you
ok whats wrong with that? simple it's not a BTS TC it's a PI stallion, but for a long time until he was called to task about it on another board he claimed it was his personal TC, when it finally came out the next statements were well yeah it's bult by PI but to Brians specs (seen that posted on this very board in fact) and the factory reps from PI have come back adn stated categorically it is NOT built any different than the one you can buy from any other vendor they build what they feel is the best TC for our engines and won't put out a product built any differently. Now I happen to agree it's one of the best on the market, and appearently so does Brian so why not brag your using the best products you can get? cause you can go elsewhere and buy it cheaper (local friend called brian was $300 higher than several other people on the interet including site sponsors) and when questioned on that he fell back to "but it's built special to my specs"

So whats the conclusion? Simple if Brian is so honest and so great then he needs to get on here and post up what he is doing honestly without the BS, straight up what is actually being done. I mean why hide so much? It's not like we can't find out easily enough whats in them and what is special any competent trans builder can take one apart and tell you exactly what is in them and what has been done to it. A rep built on hiding is not much of a rep IMHO, but build a rep on honesty, integrety (and no I don't beleive he is showing that simply due to the hiding what is really going on) and customer service (which means returning phone calls when a customer has a question or problem, and not leaving them hanging) and having a good product, Brian has 1 out of 4. Hiding behind the mystery of automatics is not good, it's using fear to get people to buy from you and thats where my statements come from. People on here should not be constantly pushing for people to drive thousands of miles to buy a transmission from a guy that won't even be honest enough to admit what he is doing that makes it so great other then the prepetual "proprietory parts" BS I see posted. And yes I have been into one of his trannies and have a pretty good idea of exactly what is in them.

edit to add: people come on this web site to find honest truthful answer to questions they have, thats what has made this board great and continues to make it great. If people just wanted cheer leading on a certian vendor they can go to that vendors web site and get it all day long. What is wrong here is Brian is not a god, he is being dishonest or the people cheerleading on here about him are so which is it are you all liars? I really can't believe that some of you I know pretty well and some are really smart until it comes to Brian than whatever he says must be the truth. If a person comes on here and has a trans problem don't push BTS just cause he has "proprietory" parts or the other BS that is posted about why you should buy his stuff you help the person out with what would be the best option for them and most times it's not going to be BTS, sometimes it will but due to teh lies and BS as stated in this post I will never ever recommend him for that very reason alone and feel he shouldn't be recommended due to the dishonesty, if someone lies on one thing like the "new" pumps or the "upgraded" planetary sets, what else is being lied about?

 

Monster, interesting details you're sharing. One thing about the "proprietary parts" though is that if he hasn't filed for patents, I wouldn't think that he would be likely to share those details from simply a competitive marketing standpoint.

It will be very interesting indeed to see if Brian posts a response to this.

 

Pete if he hasn't filed for patents it would be real simple for someone wanting to compete to buy a trans tear it apart and do the measurements and figure it out by reverse engineering. And if he hasn't filed for patents and it's something that could be patented he is nuts honestly.

 

I would agree on both points, Monster.

 

I have been following this thread and am Glad you posted that MB. I know with a lot of people on here that the PnP, just swap out the vb, is a big deal. A lot just have the truck as a daily driver, and mainly as a toy. That is a good selling point. Just have to trust who you are talking too if you don't know.

With all the "intellectual property" legal issues these days, Brain would be walking on thin ice to be rebranding someone else's product.

I remain neutral on this, but requiring a core for a vb tells me the vb I am getting is not new. That is everywhere! AutoZoo, oh-rye-lees, etc.... Anything you buy new does not require a core.

If someone with more time and money than a lot of us wanted this settled in the proper way, they could buy a tranny from BTS and send out parts to the original manufacturers for verification. That would end all arguments, and probably BTS if they got sued.

Reminds me of that chinese place in NJ that was serving rats as chicken. They got rave reviews and everyone loved the food- until they found out it wasn't chicken.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/food/rats.asp

Again, I take no side as I am still considering trading off the sonnax kit I have now for a BTS VB or something else. I am not in too big of a hurry though.

 

Monster,
You sound alot like racerX used to sound. You dont have a Clue what you are talking about so you really Should shut up. Your making yourself look like an Idiot.

 

my .02.....when questioning vb's and trannies, I received rave reviews from everyone about only getting a bts vb......Then I got a pm fom someone here that recommended john wood but didnt want to get flamed on the forum. Like the others I dont have a dog in the fight but it does sound like sometimes you'll get flame broiled if you dont recommend bts......

 

You will NEVER see Brian, or anyone from his shop, post on an internet forum. You know why? Because he is smarter than that. He knows that it is not worth his time and he does not have the time to anyway, even if he wanted to.
The fact that you, MonsterBaby, have the time to come on here and post so much tells me that maybe you aren't such a great and busy mechanic.....hmmmm.
My life is spent on the computer, my work revolves around it. I find time during breaks and lunch to post. Brian is working on trucks all day, many times late into the night. In his spare time, he is on the lake and spending time with his family (yes, that's right. He has a family to support.) Much better than sitting on a computer, putting other people down.

Don't even go there about BTS and PI. Terry and Vicki Hendrick at PI and Brian and Patti Thompson at BTS are pretty much family. Brian was instrumental in designing the convertor that he puts in his trannys, plain and simple truth. Brian and Terry continue to this day to work very closely on these convertors, constantly improving them.
As for what Brian does and doesn't do with trannys, yes some of it is kept to himself. I've seen what he does, and some of it is things that other builders (not all), would not even think to do. You have not been to the BTS shop, I have. You do not know, I do. If I were him I wouldn't be blabbing everywhere about the finds and fixes I have spent my hard earned time and money discovering. He does tell a select few some of these things, but Brian is a good judge of character and doesn't share these things with many.

Yes, the Thompsons are personal friends of mine. As I said before, because of the way they do business and the way they treat people. Do I purchase every part that is on my truck from BTS? No. I have other shops I do business with.
I purchase from David Lott at Diesel Innovations and he is also a personal friend. Does that mean that I have no crediability when talking about him either? No.
I purchase from Rocky Horn at Rockin S Performance and he's about as family as you can get without actually being related. But, I guess I can't say anything good about him either.

I'm telling you what MB, you are taking this website down. As I said before, you can bash BTS products all you want. That's fine. I will not say that somebody should not go to JW or any other builder. And I will never put any of them down personally. Just won't do it. Many of these other tranny builders I have met and get along with great. Yes, I have my preferences as far as performance shops, and no it isn't just one shop as I said above. Competition between shops is great.
But what you have done is attacked somebody's PERSONAL integrity and that just should not be tolerated. The fact that the Admin here has let this go on this far tells me that they really don't care about their site.

You DO NOT know Brian Thompson personally and have no right to talk about him that way. No right whatsoever. It's business and truck parts, inanimate objects. You have made it into a personal vendetta. That is wrong. Trust me, you will come out on the losing end. You have unwisely chosen to single out one of the most trusted, honest, giving person out there, not only in the diesel performance world, but in the world in general.

I could come on here and call you all kinds of names, but I don't know you personally, so I won't. That would not be right. I'm a better person than that. Plus I would have my club members to answer to for not acting accordingly. I should think you have some members of this site and admin people to answer to as well.

Admins, this is in your court now........I'm curious to see how you all handle it.

ShayB
Colorado Power Stroke Club

 

No one that I have seen will flame anyone here for an honest recommendation. I have seen many recommendations here for many things and I have seen contradictions but not too many people get their panties in a bunch about someone recommending a different product than the one they recommended. Not on the 7.3 diesel forum anyway. I can't speak for any of the others as I don't frequent them.

 

 

In fact I have seen many people speak as highly of John Wood as they do about BTS so I don't know why someone would be "afraid" of posting about John Wood on here.

 

Wow! This is a strange thread, hopefully it will die soon, but before it does, my .02. NO ONE, and I repeat NO ONE knows the personal, financial and family sacrifice a small business owner must endure in order to start and make a business grow and survive unless you have been there. Has anyone here put their house on the line with personal guarantee's to a bank in order to get some financial backing. Most small business owners don't know what a vacation is, or sitting down and eating dinner with their family. They don't know what supplemental health benefits or matching contributions to 401K's are. They are bombarded with worker's compensation insurance, business risk insurance, state federal and county taxes, business property tax, gross receipts tax, etc. etc. etc. I take my hat off to anyone who has chosen this lifestyle. I have tried it and it was not for me. I couldn't handle the stress, the money wasn't worth it to me. So for all this comes the possible reward of financial success and the personal satisfaction of doing something you love to do.

I've seen business after business close its doors for more reasons than I can think of. If Brian has been in business this long and has established the amount of happy customers he has, he must be doing something right.

I can definitely see how knowledgable individuals would disagree with certain aspects of how to build a transmission, which parts are absolutely necessary and how much it should cost. For those of us who do not have that knowledge, we look to a reputable source in order to make our best decision. I know that FTE is a reputable source. If there is information we should know, by all means share it, but please don't bash people personally especially if you have never met them.

If I shop around and can buy a HD Ford remanufactured tranny for a certain amount of money or I can buy a BTS tranny that I have heard a ton of good stuff about I would buy the BTS Tranny. If Brian quotes me a price and he lives up to that quote and he is there to back his product, do I care if I spent a couple hundred bucks more for a pump that he rebuit, or a new pan that he suggests I use, no.... Because when I am out on the road pulling my boat and making memories with my family I'll be thinking about all the good times we are going to have and not about my tranny giving me problems. That, in my mind, is worth a lot more then a few hundred dollars. Peace

 

Wonder why the site **'s out the "leader" part of my title?


This thread reminds me of one of the nicer "debates" over at TheDramaStop... and those particular debates is why i don't ever go there anymore...

 

indebt i fully agree with you on that. this board is for talking about who has what in their truck, and how they like it. people should not be privately emailing others about things because they are afraid of getting flamed on the open board. thats not what FTE is about, and it never has so why start now.

 

imagine if something like this starts with a debate about the 6637 vs AIS vs AFE......holy moly, so only one heated debate in 1 yr Ive been here not too bad.