Bad idea to change trans fluid on older truck?

[4x4RangerGuy]

how much i think i know? I work for John Deere, and have rebuilt MANY powershift tranys. If you know what a powershit it, then you should be able to relate an automotive type trany to them. they use the same principals. But un like in the auto world, if one of our rebuilds goes bad then there is hell to pay. The customer is pissed cuz hes got a 300 000 doller paper weight out on the job that wont move. so hes losing money. then he calls the owner os the shop, then it just rolls down hill from there. I dont like or dislike your explination of how said trany acted befor failure, odds are, you were paying close enough attention. Its not rocket science, what did the pump its self look like? after all the work was done on it, was anything checked to make sure it was actualy good to go? by the sounds of it, no or your little "trany went bang and no worky no more" wouldnt have happened. As far as liability goes, when it comes to customers, i dont give an opinion, thats not my job, thats what the service managet does. When it comes to this, there is no liability. People anything read on the internet needs to be taken with a grane of salt, and have some common sense applied to it. Its basic hydraulic principals. if any pump starves for oil, it will over heat, and sieze up. That being said, at the same time, if its supposed to be pumping out 10gmp but has a restruction on the intake side, then it will never meet the flow required to properly operate other functions within the trany. That means, transoperation would suffer. WHAT did the pump drive shaft look like?

No work was done on it. I just decided to flush the fluid at around 75k miles, and 100 miles later it went bang and that was it. I really don't know how else to explain it; it never shifted funny, slipped, or made noises until it failed 100 miles after the flush. I dropped the pan to check to make sure the filter was installed correctly, and it was. Proper amount and correct type of ATF as well. There really isn't a reason, other than maybe the pump was faulty from the factory (if that was the case I think it would have gone far before 75k), that the transmission blew up.

Now, it was rebuilt ($2500 later, a lot for a student) and only lasted another 40k before it started slipping. I said forget it, and just swapped over to a manual. I'm sick of dealing with components that can't handle what a pickup truck is designed to do. I've learned since I started wrenching at my shop that the more complicated and complex things get, the more tendency and possibility there is for something to break. That's why I have manual windows, locks, and now a transmission. Less stuff to break, and easier and cheaper to fix.

 

[Ranger5.0]

Ya, I hate to say it but auto's arnt complicated, you say "your shop" and your a student, so does this mean your learning about this kinda stuff, and work on it day to day? What are you doing with youe truck to cause the trany to fail, and again, if it was rebuilt once then they know what failed, and must have told you, or did you ask? Also, If it failed that soon after the rebuilt, i would be taking it to the rebuilders house and droping it in his living room because he obviously over looked somthing or took a shortcut, not to mention it wasnt tested for proper operation BEFOR being givin bac kto you. Human error is the cause of more failures then i can think of. Even the best of us miss thing.

 

[Ranger5.0]

Ranger5.0...

I wish the guys in the shop at my JD dealer thought that way. They always just try to sell us a new tractor everytime the old stuff breaks down and I am in for parts. Problem around here is that we used to be a small farm area. Now, we are lucky to break even. and forget the 300K machine, we are lucky to be able to run a used, very worn out 40 Year old machine.
.

Well, its not the service's department to sell things. Customer satisfaction is everyones priority tho, so if we thing somthing has gone past its prime then we mention trading up. Its funy you mention thouse veary worn out 40 yr old machine's....They juss dont die, a new clutch and flywheel every once in a while and they juss keep on going.

 

[thegoat4]

Also, I'm not going to stop listening to the guy that rebuilds all my transmissions for my customers. I have not had a single customer come back and complain about my rebuilder's work. He does excellent work, and he knows what he's talking about, no matter how much you think you know.

later....

Now, it was rebuilt ($2500 later, a lot for a student) and only lasted another 40k before it started slipping. I said forget it, and just swapped over to a manual.

This seems inconsistent to me. Perhaps your customers have done like you and simply given up on those transmissions rather than get them reworked and your rebuilder actually sucks. I know if I had a transmission rebuilt and it failed again that quickly I'd be nervous about giving it back to the same rebuilder. Peace of mind is worth quite a lot.

 

[4x4RangerGuy]

I'm working on cars throughout the school year, and constantly on breaks. I've been doing this since freshman year in high school (I'm a senior in college now), and I've been with the same shop the whole time.

I do mostly highway driving, with the occasional off road adventure. I don't drive fast, and I try to keep the TC locked up as much as possible. Maybe taking it off road once in a while is too much to ask? Also, my rebuilder did test it, and I even brought it back to him 2 weeks later for him to do a test drive. Everything was fine. When it started slipping I didn't even bother to rebuild it, or even get it looked at, because it's just throwing money at a large paperweight. A manual was a much cheaper, more reliable option for me. Also, automatics are complicated to the average person, much more so than a manual transmission. The entire process you described when talking about an automatic shifting is far more complicated than explaining a shift for a manual transmission. That's more of what I was getting at.

As for thegoat4, I see the very same customers I sent over for rebuilds come into my shops for oil changes with plenty of mileage since their last rebuild. Like 5.0 said, it's possible he missed something with mine. However, he is an excellent rebuilder and has been doing it for about 20 years (my shop owner has been using the guy for a while). I was considering the cost of getting it diagnosed, rebuilding/repairing, etc., I didn't even bother thinking twice about swapping to the manual after reading the experiences my fellow TRSers have had with the A4LD and its later electronically controlled brethren.

On tuesday I shipped a 95 Taurus job to him for what ended up needing full rebuild (I believe it's the AXOD?), and I will continue to send him more work.