I'm stuck on a topic that I see a lot on 2nd gens, especially moving up in horsepower.  Beef up the transmission, upgrade the tranny, etc.  What is the most practical option to do this? I'm looking to get to the 500hp range.  Suggestions?  Thanks in advance! 

33 minutes ago, trreed said:

Always moar powah

No , just 1/2" push rods for bling 

 Bling you can't see!

5 hours ago, Mopar1973Man said:

Well all I can say is call him up and have him jump in the forum pile and tell his side of the tale.

I told Jon at Dynamic his ears should be roasting as we were talking about him.  Entirely possible to get his built trans but got to get it 300 miles to my place.  Ok, so far sounds good.  Then I went to two local places asking about getting it installed.  Both places really didn't want the work (labor) only.  But more than happy to rebuild what I have.  IE there is no mark up on parts, and basically plenty of fish in the sea.  And they have plenty of cars parked at their shops awaiting work and I'm just another nameless face in the crowd.  No place for me to do it.

Thinking cap on, I know there is a way, just haven't thought about yet.  

1 hour ago, gipperkid said:

You think you might be around 450-475 at flywheel then?

 

I doubt it. Currently running what’s in my sig, so absolute max I’d be is 350 but not even sure I’m at that.

1 hour ago, trreed said:

 Bling you can't see!

For the right price vinegar taste sweet

1 hour ago, trreed said:

 Bling you can't see!

Even though I have a stick, it is what you dont see that is the most fun. No one ever expects my old beater to be capable of any thing, but it is even with my limited mods.

2 hours ago, 015point9 said:

I told Jon at Dynamic his ears should be roasting as we were talking about him.  Entirely possible to get his built trans but got to get it 300 miles to my place.  Ok, so far sounds good.  Then I went to two local places asking about getting it installed.  Both places really didn't want the work (labor) only.  But more than happy to rebuild what I have.  IE there is no mark up on parts, and basically plenty of fish in the sea.  And they have plenty of cars parked at their shops awaiting work and I'm just another nameless face in the crowd.  No place for me to do it.

Thinking cap on, I know there is a way, just haven't thought about yet.  

 

I haven't figured out why a lot of shops don't like to just perform labor. Labor is where a shop makes the green. You figure typical tech pay is $30 an hour but the shop labor rates are a $100 or more an hour which is a 333% mark up. It's a stretch to be able to mark up parts by 30% with out pissing a customer off and them thinking your ripping them off. 

 

I now see why most shops go bankrupt. They depend on selling parts which has a non-existent profit as opposed to labor which is where most of the shop revenue comes from.

 

My shop will install customer supplied parts all day long at a shop labor rate of $115 an hour and the shop paying the tech $30 an hour. Labor is what pays the bills. Of course the customer is disclosed that the parts they supply void any warranty we may have offered.

Edited August 11, 20186 yr by 04Mach1

58 minutes ago, 04Mach1 said:

 

I haven't figured out why a lot of shops don't like to just perform labor. Labor is where a shop makes the green. You figure typical tech pay is $30 an hour but the shop labor rates are a $100 or more an hour which is a 333% mark up. It's a stretch to be able to mark up parts by 30% with out pissing a customer off and them thinking your ripping them off. 

 

I now see why most shops go bankrupt. They depend on selling parts which has a non-existent profit as opposed to labor which is where most of the shop revenue comes from.

 

My shop will install customer supplied parts all day long at a shop labor rate of $115 an hour and the shop paying the tech $30 an hour. Labor is what pays the bills. Of course the customer is disclosed that the parts they supply void any warranty we may have offered.

 

Imo in my local area one reason shops won't do labor only is because there are more than enough people that need there services that the customer plays by their rules or dont get the service.  At the same time (pointed out by my kid, that runs a shop in a different populated area) if a service bays are not full making top dollar, he is losing money.  Or not making money to pay overhead.  His bookkeeper made him a pie chart one time of his overhead.  Keeping the doors open not an easy thing to do sometimes.  I see why places charge what that they do.  Also interesting to me (and sad) is just how much the gov't is a silent partner in his business, if he likes it or not.  

We've got more work than we can keep up with in my area too. We're right off one of busiest interstates in the US, I-40. Still doesn't change that labor pays and parts do not. It's simple to keep your shop loaded with work and that is every customer leaves happy and satisfied with what they paid the shop to do. The simple way of that is do what the customer asks you to do. One happy customer returns, one angry customer costs you 10 more by word of mouth. In a way the customer is your employer, if you don't do what your employer asks you to do then you get fired. Make enough employers mad and next thing you know is your out of a job, meaning the shop is bankrupt by the lack of service. I don't and will never agree on sending a potential customer to kick rocks because "we have enough work". The simplest thing to do with a heavy work load is first come, first served. I guess that's the reason almost every review on every review site is a 5 star review on a scale of 1-5 for my shop.

I thought about opening a shop more than once,  but to make good money you ether have to charge top dollar and work a lot of hours or do cash jobs which aren't to common especially latly. Big brother wants money period, and they make it hard for most hard working people to clime out a hole. Probably why a lot of shops just don't care, if you won't pay them someone else will. 

Local dealer had alignment advertised for $70 plus tax, I figured should be under $80 so I took my car in after getting new tires and came to pick it up it was like  $115 120 can't remember, I said WHAT, reply was well there were shop supplies and disposal fees and something else I forget. I had to argue for 20 minutes for him to take cost back to advertising price. And then it was pulling right which it didn't do before and steering wheel was off, man I was pist. Took it back, sorry were busy for next few days, so I drove like that back and forth for 300 some miles as my round trip to work is 150ml so by that time tires were starting to slightly cup. And another thing my door fabric had some dirt and grease on it from mechanic, and this is a big outfit too. What a bunch of crooks. I'm glad I can do alignment and everything else on my truck.

8 minutes ago, Dieselfuture said:

I thought about opening a shop more than once,  but to make good money you ether have to charge top dollar and work a lot of hours or do cash jobs which aren't to common especially latly. Big brother wants money period, and they make it hard for most hard working people to clime out a hole. Probably why a lot of shops just don't care, if you won't pay them someone else will. 

Local dealer had alignment advertised for $70 plus tax, I figured should be under $80 so I took my car in after getting new tires and came to pick it up it was like  $115 120 can't remember, I said WHAT, reply was well there were shop supplies and disposal fees and something else I forget. I had to argue for 20 minutes for him to take cost back to advertising price. And then it was pulling right which it didn't do before and steering wheel was off, man I was pist. Took it back, sorry were busy for next few days, so I drove like that back and forth for 300 some miles as my round trip to work is 150ml so by that time tires were starting to slightly cup. And another thing my door fabric had some dirt and grease on it from mechanic, and this is a big outfit too. What a bunch of crooks. I'm glad I can do alignment and everything else on my truck.

 

Small independent shops care more and give superior service compared to big chain shops. Independent shops are more about quality instead of quantity. I will never use or recommend a stealership or big chain shop because they don't have customers, they have victims.

 

Google: CM Mechanical in Milan,NM. It's the shop I'm in. The two bad reviews on Google are truck drivers that didn't want to wait their turn for a matter of a hour or 2 for one of our techs to finish a job they were on and then look at their truck. 

I for one really dont like working on my truck or know how.  But after a stripped oil pan bolt one time on wifes car  and when traveling one time, being stuck at a "mechanics" place that couldn't replace my fass and had to replace with airdog.  Why replace fass with airdog... because the "mechanic" could call his brother to translate.  I've started learning and doing all I can.  This site has been very helpful to me for learning stuff.  Even the computer stuff is beginning to get through my thick skull.

(NOT knocking fass.  Pumped work 9 or 10 years and no problems... well till there was a problem) ?

 

I've never had trouble light come on since we got it in 2005, other than ABS light, thanks to road debris.

 

Mechanics... when you find one that cares and knows his stuff, I have no problem paying what they think their job is worth. 

 

Edited August 11, 20186 yr by 015point9
Spelling

I absolutely agree that labor is where the largest profit lies. For the most part, I just R&R and build transmissions for diesel pickups (Dodge, Ford and GM). That keeps me busier than I want to be 99% of the time. But even at the fever-pitched pace that I'm always running at, I will still R&R a transmission for someone for just labor. I work quite a bit with Diesel Power Products here in Spokane, and they're a huge BD dealer. Every once in a while, they refer one of their retail customers to me for installation of a BD transmission. I'm always willing to do a job like that. I'm equipped for it, I do it all the time, it doesn't take me very long, and it's just "free" money from a business standpoint. Plus, and I've always said this...the greatest part of my job is the cool people that I get to meet in the process of doing it. There are many of you right here on this forum! Doing a quick R&R job for someone simply adds one more to that number...