My truck started making a terrible sound that has been diagnosed as a cracked fly wheel in the transmission. What sounds like the right price for parts and labor?

What about for replacing a leaking pinion seal?

Just trying to avoid being taken. Thanks

 

I think if it were me I would get a new rebuilt one shipped from JW or somebody. and send yours back as a core.

but then again I dont know how to rebuild them and would have to pay some one to do it.
and with that cost I think you would be close to a JW one or BTS. but everybody raves about them, that own them.

 

Are you looking to just replace the flywheel, right? Not sure what the price of that would be. But I can guess that labor will be your biggest expense since you have to drop the tranny. You might want to replace the front pump seal with the upgraded one while you are in there.

 

Thanks for the tip on replacing the front pump seal. On the up side, the labor cost will be less for the pinion seal by replacing it at the same time

 

My tranny went out at 140k miles and I had it rebuilt by a local transmission shop. I checked around and received favorable recommendations so I let them rebuild my original unit. They replaced my torque converter with a stronger unit, rebuilt the transmission with heavier duty parts and installed something called a "Tugger Kit". They also installed a supplemental fluid cooler (MaxCool). The cost was $4000 almost exactly. I have over 100k miles on the rebuilt unit and have been very happy with it. Far, far better than my original unit. Still shifts hard, stays cool and pulls well...especially with my 5th wheel attached.

The pinion seal cost me $189 (rear diff) but it was done at a later time. Single tire rear axles are pretty easy. Duallies are much harder, requires a special tool for the higher torque on the nut.

Not sure how much a flywheel costs.

Hope this helps.
Good luck.

 

I had this transmission rebuilt back at just over 50,000 miles due to a failed torque convertor that went through it and tore everything up. I was told then that it would never fail again with the better quality parts that were used. Now a little better than 100,000 miles later, this has greeted me. Trans temps have always stayed cool and fluid gets changed regularly. A year ago I heard/felt a small vibration that I thought was coming from the transmission. I brought it to the local Aamco and they dropped the pan to look for the cause. They said they couldn't find anything wrong, but would be happy to put in a new torque convertor for close to $700. I declined.

I guess I should be happy I found this mechanic. I first brought the truck to a local shop that was recommended to me. That shop owner was crawling all over the engine and said he thought "it may be an injector, but he doesn't really work on diesels." He sent me to another shop where the owner also thought it may be an injector issue. He wanted a couple of days to tear into it, but he wasn't sure what the problem was and would just be looking around.

When I pulled into the shop that has it now, the mechanic heard it, walked over (he was expecting me) and said "it sounds like you have a cracked flywheel in the transmission." The next day he opened it up and confirmed it, or so he has told me.

He's quoted me $200 for the part, which is Ford MSRP and $300 labor. He said if he does the pinion seal at the same time it will be an additional $85. Sounds fair, to me anyway.

With what I have been running for fuel for the past almost 4 years, there is always a little voice in the back of my head telling me that the fuel choice may come back and bite me at some point, so the injector theory was plausable. I have also had an issue with low fuel pressure that I believe to be due to a weak return spring in the FPR from what members here have diagnosed for me. I just got the parts for that, so that, too, should soon be remedied. I feared that having allowed that to not be addressed for a couple of years may have also damaged the injectors, but as far as I know, they're still fine.

 

Sounds like a very fair price. Sounds like your flexplate was stressed when the original transmission failed and it took a long time to deteriorate. Makes sense based on what you describe. Hopefully you caught it in time before any damage was done to your pump or front seal.

How are you and others monitoring the fuel pressure? Did you install a gauge somewhere? Sounds like the fuel pressure is important, I better read up on this and educate myself.

I've been worried off an on about my injectors failing some day but so far everything has been ok (knock on wood....). I have been using Diesel Kleen and Stanadyne ever since I bought my truck (63k miles) and hope that my injectors have appreciated it.

Glad to hear that you found a mechanic that knows his stuff. We all need a little help from time to time.

 

I did mount a guage that is attached to the fuel bowl. I copied what BDEDMUNDS (I hope I remembered that screen name correctly) did. This allows me to see the pressure while driving. If you search my screen name you will see a recent thread I started about FPR shimming. Two diesel mechanics had told me not to worry about the fuel pressure if there were no drivability issues, but in that thread you'll read why I became concerned.

There was a lubricity study that said good things about Stanadyne, but not so good about DK. After reading the study, plus some other research I have done, I would not use DK.

The mechanic I found is a one man show called Power Stroke Pro. He specializes in the 7.3.

 

Like the name.

 

I will be able to give you an opinion on John Woods tranny in about a week. He shipped mine this Afternoon!!!!!!!!!! Should be to me on monday.

 

Can I get the name,for future reference?
Thanks

 

Can we buy some of the heavy duty parTs that JW and BTS use in their rebuilds. Do they list that stuff for sale.

 

Riffraff Diesel: John Wood 4R100 Valve Body

 

Absolutely. Ask for Greg.
Trail Transmission 480-986-7367
Trail Transmissions

 

Some of the stuff is custom-made by or for the top builders, which are part of their "trade secrets". As far as I know, both these rebuilders do not provide these parts over-the-counter (other than the part mentioned above, but that isn't really what you're asking about).

However, the common weak points, prone to failure, are well-known by most in the rebuilding business, and their parts suppliers provide them all the time to the trade.

A few on here that have gone through their own trannys have replaced some parts with their heavy-duty equivalents.

You just have to know where to look for them, and since it's rare that Joe Average goes looking, the places are not well-publicized.

I've stumbled across stuff while Googling for small stuff, so it's out there for those who go looking.

The real fancy, trick-metellurgy stuff, may not be, but it likely won't make much difference unless you're a competitive sled-puller.

And if you are, you'll already be in close contact with someone who can get the stuff.

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