LegendaryKing

I have now driven the truck a few thousand miles, towed a large percentage of those miles, some of those towing miles were on 6% mountain grades, and the transmission just gets better and better. In the begining it was on the stiff side to shift and it took quite a bit of time to shift. Make no mistake, it wasn't difficult, and didn't feel bad, just stiff and slow. Now, the transmission is MUCH less stiff and I would say is 30% faster to shift. It's no race transmission, but I would say things are actually better than when stock. I'm very happy with how everything feels and functions.

Finally got the truck back from trusted installer. The owner of the trusted installer shop took a class and got trained on manual transmission rebuilding just to fix my truck. Turns out the only thing wrong with the transmission this time was the input shaft wasn't shimmed properly. Transmission now shifts great. I'm letting the truck sit for a few days and then I'm going to go fire it up and drive it cold to see if it still shifts great. Owner of the trusted installer shop says it shifts great cold or warm. This is the happiest he has been with the transmission. Trusted installer's opinion: transmission would shift a whole lot better with a factory clutch over the dual disc, but acknowledges the dual disc will outlast and out perform holding power of a factory style clutch. Since this isn't a "race truck" or a "street toy" where super fast shifts matter the whole package will probably serve me well for years and miles to come. While it was there the list of items repaired was: All ball joints Control arm Hub & bearing Allignment Thermostat Front/rear diff and transfer case fluid And I know I'm forgetting something but I'll update this thread in a few days. Truck drives straight as an arrow. It almost feels like the newer modern trucks ... 80% of the way there. There is a little bit of play in the steering box but that is to be expected on these trucks. I have a steering box brace to help with the box deflection, but the box itself is on the worn side. It's not too bad yet and I'm still recovering from this bill maybe at a later date I'll think about a box, but right now the truck drives so good it's not worth it to me.

Brutal is the fact that I haven't had a working truck since August 2018 with what should have been a SIMPLE clutch replacement.

Update: I still do not have the truck back. Report from Trusted Installer: Transmission still isn't right. It comes out of gear when you come off throttle and back on throttle. Transmission re-builder Trusted Installer subbed out to is now out of business. There is a dumpster out in-front of the building and the owner is nowhere to be found. Trusted installer is planning on tearing down transmission and rebuilding from the ground up. I was given an estimate of approx 8 additional weeks until complete.

Thanks for the advice. Anxiously waiting on tips to conceal carry a 30cal rifle and a 12g shotgun at the same time.

I want to safely lock up two long guns in the cab of my truck. The storage solution must be lockable with a high security keyed lock or a pad lock option so I can use my preferred lock. Bicycle cable solutions are not acceptable and while not 100% necessary concealment is preferred. What is out there? Everything I have personally seen is either pistol related or specifically for third gen trucks.

Update: Report from Trusted Installer: Rebuilder decided transmission on first rebuild was so clean and complete only 1st and reverse syncro needed replacement so that is all that was replaced. This is contradictory to what Trusted Installed requested, which was to replace all the syncros and bearings. When the trusted installer took the truck out for a test drive the 4th gear syncro shredded. All other internals look perfect. This time new bearings (again), and ALL syncros were replaced. Hoping for truck delivery sometime next week.

Update: The rebuilder finished with the transmission and returned it to the trusted installer. Report from rebuilder: Transmission looked brand new. No unusual wear patterns on the gear teeth, everything looked almost perfect … except for the syncros. New syncros and bearings were installed; the transmission was re-assembled with new input shaft and sent to trusted installer. Report from trusted installer: Installed transmission and took for test drive. Transmission shifted like butter. One of the nicest direct shift truck transmissions he had the pleasure of driving. HOWEVER, on the test drive when he released the gas pedal at 1,500 rpm in 4th gear there was a whirring noise under reverse torque (deceleration) followed by grinding. The transmission would no longer go into 4th or 5th. After a few applications of the clutch pedal, the transmission would go into 4th and 5th gear but not without “grinding”. Transmission rebuilder inspected trans while in truck and said it had to come back out. When the trusted installer drained the fluid it had LOTS of “glitter” in it. Truck is still waiting on the rebuilder to finish the transmission. I have not hear anything since this past Friday. We are at the beginning of week 3 since trusted installer removed transmission and sent it off to rebuilder. Tags just came due for the truck and that is a kick in the wallet, as I have not had a working truck for a year.

The insurance company of the driver that rear-ended me just informed me they are not responsible for my personal injury medical bills. When you're going through hell ... keep going, that's no place to stop.

The installer is pulling and re-installing the transmission. We have a good relationship as I have known them for 25+ years. This is not their fault; this is all due to the original installer royally screwing up a clutch replacement job. The original installer who caused all of these issues from the beginning is unavailable for comment. The installer sent the trans out to a local guy that apparently knows this transmission inside and out. It comes with a 2 year unlimited mileage warranty. As I said, I trust THIS installer as I have known them for years, if they say the re-builder is good I believe them. I'll update once I get my truck back. Hopefully my shoulder/arm/back will be healed up shortly so I can drive a stick shift. I was rear-ended in the wife's crossover suv and my arm is in a sling. The good news just keeps rolling in doesn't it?

Update: Transmission is out getting rebuilt. Here is the lowdown: Apparently the input shaft was damaged on the initial install and that damaged the pilot bearing and the throw out bearing. Everything was so galled up it was difficult to get the bearings off the input shaft. I'm told the Dual Disc looks clean and should be problem free. The pilot bearing, throw out bearing (TOB), and input shaft are trashed. Ordered all new parts from DAP. When the transmission came down, there were TONS of brass shavings around the shifter, in the fluid, etc. Apparently the TOB wasn't releasing causing the input shaft to continue rotating and destroyed the syncros. I hope this helps someone in the future because it has been an expensive HUGE pain in the ***.

Hydraulics passed the tests and the clutch is coming out of the truck.

Spoke with the good people at South bend and they gave me some diagnostics to run on the hydraulic system. The test is found on their website. If the link breaks it is under resources and is called Hydraulic Testing. According to South bend I'm running the exact fluid I should be (Redline MTL) and it is apparently normal for the dual disc to have issues going into reverse. It is recommended to shift the transmission into 4th first, then reverse. Seems hokey but at least it's expected. South bend recommends AGAINST running thicker fluid as it has a high probability of pushing/blowing out transmission seals. In addition they believe my cold shifting problems in forward gears could stem from the hydraulics and I have one or a few problems. 1. installed wrong, 2. adjusted incorrectly, 3. bad and require warranty replacement. The shop that installed the clutch correctly will be looking into the hydraulics (South bend hydraulics and installed by previous shop) in the next few days when they have time in the schedule. I'll update this thread when I hear more, but I wouldn't be surprised if the hydraulics were installed incorrectly by the previous shop.

So putting thicker oil in my transmission isn't going to improve my shifting problems, there is more than likely a mechanical problem with the transmission that needs to be diagnosed? Thinner transmission fluid would make the transmission shift better, but will reduce the life expectancy and since I'm already running Redline MTL I'm at the thinnest I can go so time to start looking at hard parts and stop swapping fluids around?

Shop thought the same thing (thin fluid) and wanted to do a drain and refil to make sure the trans fluid was ok. Did a drain a refil with Redline MTL. The truck had Redline MTL in it before the drain and refil. No change. After a mile or two of driving all forward gears shift like butter. Is Redline MTL too thin? If so what is the recommended fluid for a trans with dual disc? Doing a fluid drain and refil is a lot easier than pulling the trans out again.