Lost OD in 2004 Screw FX4 with 65k miles. $1850.00 to rebuild. I have a contact that recommended not to rebuild. He does lots on work on Ford trucks for company fleet trucks. Told me He would get me a remanufactured tranny (basically new) from Ford that carries a 100,000 mile warranty from Ford at his cost of $1650. He would install for $450. What should I consider? Any problems with this? Need advice, not an expert. Thanks.

 

Well I'm no expert but I have had tranny work done.
Tranny shops are soooo unreliable! I honestly think you'll be much better off with the remanufactured one!
Never heard of 100,000 mile warranty!!!! You would be crazy to pass that up.

Phil

 

It honestly depends on who does the rebuild. And honestly, a reman is nothing but a fancy name for a rebuild. A good rebuilder does exactly the same things and some even do much more. Some can give you a rebuild that will hold up to a supercharger, turbo or nitrous for about what you are being quoted for a stock rebuild.

It's all about the homework and talking to the right people.

Darrin

 

I was in the same situation in August...I also had a buddy that could get me right about the same pricing on the FORD reman tranny. While the guys are right that it is still a rebuilt tranny, atleast it was done by ford and they have to stand behind it for 100K! I went ahead and spent the extra few hundred and got the Ford tranny. Unfortuneately it hasnt been perfect...I didnt like the feel of it at first but after I put a little mileage on it, its good to go. Also the pan gasket is leaking, the first time I took it back to the shop that put it in for me and they retorqued the pan bolts but it didnt fix it so I went back again...this time FORD wants the truck and they are going to replace the gasket under warranty. Hopefully they continue to stand behind it if anything goes wrong

 

Not quite the same. A rebuilt is bringing everything back within specifications. If it's within spec, it is not replaced. Remanufactured is basically a 'new' engine/transmission (or whatever). The thrust bearing on my rebuilt 4.2 gave out after 10,000 miles.

 

A Ford reman transmission is a transmission that is rebuilt by an outside company. It is rebuilt to 'Ford specifications', but it is rebuilt nonetheless. I think a lot of people get this confused and think that they are built on a Ford line or something. That isn't the case. This company is basically a transmission assembly line staffed by 'trained' workers. It's up to you to decide whether you will get the same care that you might get from someone who specializes in these specific transmissions.

Also, a reman doesn't get any more 'new' parts than a quality rebuilt unit does and isn't truthfully any more new than a quality rebuild. Here is a quote directly from the Ford product literature on their remanufactured transmissions

"Have all critical components either replaced with new or tested to OE-specifications to help ensure performance and durability"

Remanufactured is a word that was coined to give the perception of higher quality. In a lot of cases that is indeed very true. But, like I said, it's all about doing the homework and finding the right people. By doing that you can definitely get a higher quality transmission than one of the Ford reman pieces. I have dealt with a lot of them and have seen the 'quality'

Darrin

 

if i recall correctly, the main perk of a ford reman is the 3 year warranty?

you must be VERY selective when your looking for someone to rebuild your trans or building one in general. i learned the hard way when choosing a local shop and im paying for a non functioning "race built" transmission that reused almost all of the parts from his "donor" 95 trans.

this time around, im going with Darrin ( www.BC-Automotive.com ) because his knowledge and reputation. hope to see that trans soon!

for a better understanding of why im saying this, look at my thread's link in my sig.

 

Thanks so much for the info, guys. I am still leaning towards the remanufactured for the warranty. I trust the tranny shop that offered the rebuild. They have been around a long time, but think I will spend a couple hundred bucks extra for piece of mind. This has been very helpful.

 

Their warranty is something that cannot be argued against. I will definitely give you that. If that is what you are shopping for then you are not making the wrong choice.

Darrin

 

Yup, 3yr/100k warranty was too good of a deal for me to pass up for my '97 last summer too. The best tranny warranty I could find locally was 12mo/12k and the pricetag was higher than the Motorcraft branded reman.
I was just looking for a stock tranny and was in a hurry to get the truck back on the road, but Darrin's stuff has been getting good reviews here.

 

well the thing that sucks about the ford reman is you get soft shifts again, and you cant do anything about it without voiding the warranty. theres too many dishonest businesses out there that find loopholes in their own warranty, found this problem with State Transmission of Pasco WA, and Rods Cars of Kennewick WA. and yet again with Engine World USA LLC of Emeryville CA.

 

if you can get that warranty for 2100, do it. I had a very reliable tranny shop rebuild mine for 1600, 12/12 warranty. I would have gotten the reman if I could have afforded it, it was 2800 everywhere around here. I got a rebuilt converter, and every part in the inside of my tranny was replaced for 1600 though, but its tough to find a shop as good as the one I got.

 

See, that is another of the popular things that get repeated that just simply isn't possible. I hear it all the time that someone got everything inside their transmission replaced for some incredible amount. The price varies, but the story is all the same. Just for the fun of it once I priced replacing all of the internals on one of these transmissions with all new parts and I came up with well more than what you paid for your transmission rebuild even when you get the best wholesale prices available from Ford. Many of the larger or more compluicated single parts were over $300, most were over $50 and a lot of the small stuff was under $10. You have to keep in mind that there are over 100 parts inside that case, so you would have to have an average cost of each part being somewhere around $10 to have $1000 in parts.

Honestly, a shop couldn't have replaced the complete gearset and then properly rebuilt the rest of the transmission for that price unless their labor was almost free.

I have no doubt that you got an incredible job done on your transmission and I am not trying to take anything away from that at all, but it simply isn't even possible for them to have replaced everything inside of your transmission for that price. It just cannot be done even with the best of the best prices and free labor.

I will try and dig up that file where I got prices for almost all of the internals and see what the total was. Not sure I can find it because that was almost 5 years ago, but I will try when I have some time.

My point is that people read stuff like that, believe it and then expect to be able to find it. That doesn't honestly help anyone.

But, if anyone can find a shop that actually claims to replace everything inside the transmission for that price and will put it in writing then I will gladly provide them with a transmission to rebuild and pay for the rebuild and all shipping. When I get it back I will take it apart and take a whole lot of pictures for everyones enjoyment. If they didn't replace everything they will find themselves meeting with the lawyers to take care of all the people that they have ever told that to. LOL

Darrin

 

Went to the Ford dealership and wrote the check for the tranny, $1675. Also did not have to pay sales tax so that saved some cash. Should be going in Tuesday. I will report back. Also Klitch commented on the soft shifts. I plan on going back to Troyer Excal when done. Does that void warranty. If I have an issue and return it to stock program, can a dealership know?

 

It would if they could tell you did that, but honestly there is no way that they could.

Darrin