Trannies are fun....for the most part anyway....

[Jcmichalik2]

So I started my new position Monday of this week at John Elway Dodge as an apprentice Automatic Tranny guy.

So far it's been going really well...and I must say the guy I'm working with is a very patient person...with all the questions that I ask and all, I'm surprised I haven't driven him nuts yet.

It's going to be a LONG time until I get up to my "master's" caliber (he could put together ANY Chrysler Tranny with his eyes closed) but I think I'll manage since they are not as bad as they seem...still bad yes, but not THAT bad.

Too bad I didn't get in at a Ford dealer to do this work, but doesn't mean I can't try my hand at a Ford tranny sometime down the the road, since MOST autos trannys are the same in one way or another...Heck, I'll probably do mine sometime, since I'm sure I'm going to have to rebuild it sooner or later, being that my mileage is closing in on 140K.

OH, and I got some new headlights on the way as well...click here (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7949401282/)

[Warrlord]

:thumbup: Congrats! Trannys might seem overwhelming at first but they're a piece of cake after you get several under your belt. That happens to be my specialty, been doing GM trannys since '88. Of course I do other stuff too like diffs, driveability, electrical. I do trannys & heavy work mainly but when I get an ro, I'll clean the ticket so I can suck up all the gravy.

You'll like trannys. If there's not many techs there that like doing them.........You got it made 'cause I don't care what brand it is, NOBODY makes a great auto tranny............You'll should always have work.

Speaking of Dodge trannys, are the trannys that come behind the 2001-2002 model year Cummins in the 2500's pieces of crap? I'm asking cause my brother is looking at those year of trucks & he wants a Cummins. Do you see a lot of hard part failures or electrical (solenoid) failures or valve body related failures on those trucks? Just curious. I'd almost rather have him buy a Duramax with an extended warranty so when it breaks, I get paid to fix it & it won't cost him anything.

[Jcmichalik2]

We really don't see a lot of the 01-02 trucks in for tranny work to be honest. The trannys seem to hold up well to the torque output of the engine (at least from what I can tell).

I have asked that question to Gene (the tech whos training me) and he says that when something does fail on a Cummins tranny, its commonly the torque converter that fails. Heck from my perspective, I've noticed that torque converters on MOST Dodge/Chrysler vehicles go out before anything else on the tranny does.

As far as electrical (solenoids, sensors) and valve bodies go, I haven't seen a thing related to those go out on 01 and 02s

On the 03s though, there was a problem with Governor Pressure Sensors always shorting out and causing the trucks to start out in second gear, which led to a few trannys burning up, but that was just the 03s as far as I could tell.

All and all, I think the trannys on the 01-02 Cummins are fairly decent...just so long as maintainence is kept up, and it isn't abused TOO much...which can go for MOST auto trannys in general.

If anything, just make your brother get a Duramax like you said, so you get paid to fix it, and he doesn't pay a thing (as long as their is some kind of warranty)...A win-win situation there if you ask me :D

[Jcmichalik2]

OH and one more thing....where did you get your front and rear differential gears for your Ranger from?

[Warrlord]

OH and one more thing....where did you get your front and rear differential gears for your Ranger from?

Thanks for the info on the Dodges.

I got the gears from a place here in town, The Diff Shop. However, I won't deal with him again. He dicked me around on the front gears. It took him over four weeks to get me the correct ones. He got me standard rotation D35 gears at first, then when he got me the correct rotation, then it was the wrong ratio, and then..........Nah, I won't get into that. If you have a debit or credit card, it's just better to buy online anymore for that kinda stuff. 4Wheel Parts carries only "Genuine Gear" brand. I swore off ever installing another genuine gear set. They are inferior gears. Maybe check with "Reliable" if it's still there in Denver, they can get almost any brand you want but I don't know about their prices anymore. They used to give great discounts if you are an employee of a dealership.

[Mind_Boggler]

Hey, if you feel you need some practice, my shifter is pretty sloppy, lol. Ok, ok, so when I go for reverse I have to warn passengers to "watch their knees!"