I was on my 3rd transmission and about 7 hours ago lost it. I pull a 37' toy hauler, loaded it weighs in at 17K. Tranny temps have never exceeded 200 and I run schaffers oils. Do I buy an ATS or BTS or convert to a standard tranny???

 

Call John Wood in Cali or get a BTS. Either way you will have a bulletproof tranny. Planning a trip this summer myself to get a custom built John Wood tranny. Hopefully I can make it happen.

 

Not sure what happened but I can highly recommend John Woods over in Holtville, CA. IMO, he is your best bet and his won't leave you stranded. Call him early tomorrow morning and he will be more than happy to see what can be done.

 

Dang you got me I am hoping to make a trip myself.

 

When you planning the trip? I was thinking 2nd or 3rd week in July. Make a tiny vacation out of it. The wife can go shopping while I stay and watch the process. I think that is what excites me the most about the John Wood tranny. He actually shows you what he is doing.

 

Can he ship trannys???

 

No matter which way you go, do the following:

1.) Replace your transmission oil cooler. It has shrapnel in it for sure. Get a 6.0L cooler to keep your temperatures down. Cooler the better. Under 100* if possible!

2.) If you have a tranny cooler built into the radiator, replace the radiator or bypass it into a large enough stand-alone cooler. Don't expect to clean the old one out well enough to protect your new transmission.

3.) Flush out your transmission cooler lines completely. Don't short cut on this. You have to get all the shrapnel out of everything.

4.) Install a filter in the line between the right (passenger) side of the tranny and the cooler. This will protect both your tranny and cooler(s) from contamination in the future. Anyplace that sells good transmission coolers can set you up with a filter.

Be suspicous that your recurring problems have been due to contamination getting into the rebuilt transmissions. You can prevent this, but you have to clean or replace everything in the system.

Think back to everything that has happened with your transmissions. Is there anything that you can remember that might be connected to the failures? Backing a heavy trailer up hill or manuevering for a long time to position it in a parking spot can cause more heat and slippage than climbing a long hill.

Remember, you will be making a big investment in the new tranny, and you will want some "insurance" that it won't get toasted.

 

Hmmm, 3 trannys pullin 17,000 lbs. my first thought is you are over weight. I've been where you are. went through 3 MonsterBox autos in less than 2 yrs. I changed everything. Get a 40,000 lb capacity TruCool oil cooler from Dieselsite, change the oil cooler hoses from 5/16 to 3/8, get a remote tranny filter from diesel site also. get a Magtec or other brand deep pan. spend alot of money making it "perfect". finally, buy a big enough truck to do the job with a 6speed.

I know you don't want to hear that but its the truth. I tried it all and finally gave up and just bought a manual tranny truck. I just never trusted the auto truck after that 3rd tranny. driving down the road constantly waiting for that hammer to fall took all the fun out of going somewhere. save yourself alot of headache get a manual.

Barney

 

BTS can, no sure about John Woods. You'll have to call to find out.

 

Man Rhett, i,m just shocked that 3 tranny's went.

 

I too, own an F550 six speed.
It will pull your 17k trailer with no worries. And have the braking capacity to bring it all to a stop quickly if the need should ever come up.
This is how large a 550 rear axle is, just to give you an idea of what they can do.

 

If it were stock you would not be having tranny problems towing 17k, If you are not towing full time I would not worry about upgrading to a 450/550.

 

Hey Dan, what gearing does your rearend have? Mine is the Sterling 3.73. Should I change that? I pull this trailer every other weekend during the spring and summer at least 150 miles one way.

 

Anyone who pulls an RV should have at least a 4:10 gear or better.


__________________________________________________ _________

Ron
Early 1999 F350 dully used in summer only to pull 5th wheel RV
Only 29,000 miles.

 

Both mine and Dan's 550's have 4:88 gears. When I had my 1 ton before that it came with 4:10's and I changed them to 4:56's. you need a minimum 4:10s 4:30's would be better but I don't know if they are available. But the bottom line remains, you ain't got enough truck. I too tried to make a better 1 ton. better tranny,better brakes,better wheels,tires,etc. Your truck has GCVW rating of 20,000 or maybe 23,000. if the trailer does indeed weigh 17,000 lbs that doesn't leave much for the truck. I guarantee your truck full of fuel,folks and stuff weighs more than 3000-6000 lbs. save your money, buy a bigger truck.

Barney