Level 10 or John Wood Transmission?

[warmblood58]

Time to choose a builder for my e40d transmission for my '94 7.3 IDI van. I have talked with both and impressed with both. Has anyone on this site had their transmissions rebuilt/replaced by either builder? Good experience? Thanks!

 

[93f250idi]

i would recomend bts. heard lots of good things about them

 

[warmblood58]

i would recomend bts. heard lots of good things about them

BTS??? Not sure who they are -will google

 

[warmblood58]

Ah, Brian's Truck Stop . . . . sounds like I could wait months for a trans -

 

[FordGuy100]

BTS has the E4OD dialed in, but I wouldn't discount a local rebuilder. I mean a local builder should be able to build up a E4OD that should handle most IDI's thrown at it.

 

[icanfixall]

The BTS has a warranty... Any horse power... Any torque... No questions asked. They put it simply. They will fix what breaks no matter what. I have their E4OD trans. It has the triple disc torque converter. A stock converter has 25 square inches of friction matrial and they do very well. The BTS triple disc has 150 square inches of friction material. We will never ruin one of those triple disc converters with our engines no matter what. Brian adds more clutch material to most of the gears too. The planetary gears are much better than stock too. Brian clearly has it all togehter. The most important thing you need to know about BTS. You will need a new flexplate if you have the old style heavey cast iron plate. If you have the heavey plate that looks like a standard trans plate he sells the new flexplate and the special crank spacer to make up the differance between the two flexplates. Another thing to remember. Nobody sells the crank spacer. I found this out 6 years ago the hard way when I got my BTS trans. Brians machine shop guy made the spacer about 3/8 inch tooo small. My crank flexplate bolts went thru the crank and bottomed out on the crank main bearing radius. That rounded over the first thread. The flexplate was not tight and the starter gear was touching the ring gear... Whole lotta trouble right there. I have two of the factory special crank spacers now.. Just in case items...

 

[gsfloor]

Sorry just saw this thread. Are you talking about Level10 in Nj? If so I had nightmares with them with a 340d I had built for a truck, transmission wasnt shifting into overdrive had them do overhaul all heavy duty parts,torque converter etc. quoted me a price went to pick up and cost 1100. more.total bill was like 5400. paid bill drove off pissed went alittle ways and wouldnt shift into overdrive,took back twice had truck for weeks finally found out it was the switch that was bad. I would never recommend them!

 

[warmblood58]

Just decided today after meeting a honest local builder with a good rep that I am going to have him build me a beefed up e40d trans. When you think about it, IF you have a problem, how easy is it to deal with someone a thousand miles away? Local guy has been in business for 30 years and carefully explained to me the desirable upgrades that make the e40d much more reliable and offers a three year with unlimited mileage warranty. van will get TC tugger, aux cooler, larger lines, steel planetary cages, billet TC, updated bearings, etc. - should be out the door installed for about 3.500 -

 

['94IDITurbo7.3]

sounds good. is that how far John Wood is away from you? i have read good stuff about his builds. i guess he is the go to guy for the 7.3L psd guys on the west coast.

 

[Hydro-idi]

Just decided today after meeting a honest local builder with a good rep that I am going to have him build me a beefed up e40d trans. When you think about it, IF you have a problem, how easy is it to deal with someone a thousand miles away? Local guy has been in business for 30 years and carefully explained to me the desirable upgrades that make the e40d much more reliable and offers a three year with unlimited mileage warranty. van will get TC tugger, aux cooler, larger lines, steel planetary cages, billet TC, updated bearings, etc. - should be out the door installed for about 3.500 -

3,500 ? Sure does seem like alot of gold bullion for a transmission rebuild. But if he is a reputable guy and is going to beef up your transmission, it should be the last rebuild you do to that trans. Transmissions, in general, are very expensive to rebuild....not because they require lots of expensive parts, its because only a few people know how the hell they work lol. I do not think I would attempt to rebuild my transmission. With my luck, I would try and rebuild it, put it in drive and the transmission would shatter into a million pieces.
There's a very reputable guy in Lodi, California by the name of Larry Gilman. He is the owner of Lodi Transmissions and he gave me an estimate of $1k to rebuild my c6 when the time comes. Not a bad price especially with his warranty (I think its a 3 year/100k warranty). Lots of diesel truck owners go to see him because he knows how to rebuild exceptional performance transmissions as well.

 

['94IDITurbo7.3]

once yous start going billet and steel stuff inside the trans the price goes up. i have never been into an E4OD but i have been into a couple GM trans in school and there is not a whole lot to them. for the most part trans' are the same and once you understand powerflow(what clutches are applied/holding when) then you can for the most part know exactly what is wrong with the trans before your even pull it into your shop.

personally it sounds to me like he is getting a decent price on a rebuild if he is getting all new and upgraded internals, TQ, shift kit, cooler. not to mention the warranty.

 

[warmblood58]

once yous start going billet and steel stuff inside the trans the price goes up. i have never been into an E4OD but i have been into a couple GM trans in school and there is not a whole lot to them. for the most part trans' are the same and once you understand powerflow(what clutches are applied/holding when) then you can for the most part know exactly what is wrong with the trans before your even pull it into your shop.

personally it sounds to me like he is getting a decent price on a rebuild if he is getting all new and upgraded internals, TQ, shift kit, cooler. not to mention the warranty.

And installed for that price too!

 

[warmblood58]

I will report total installed price and with what parts etc. for comparison-thanks all!

 

[itsacrazyasian]

I think you're going overboard with the E4OD transmission behind the IDI in your van. I've built my fair share of E4OD's back when i worked for Universal for their shuttle buses which got worked to death in low speed heavy people movers. I could build a trans in my garage that would last a very long time and hold double what an IDI could throw at it.

Biggest thing is do all the updates, new HD converter. redrill the case and upgrade the transmission cooler and cooler lines to 3/8's.

my transmission guy charges 1850 to do this and replace all the lines and install a 4R100 cooler. 3 year unlimited mileage commercial warrenty.

 

[trackspeeder]

$3500 with all the updates, installed is a very good price.