carringb wrote:
Those charts are made by transmissions cooler MFGs to scare you into buying their products!
They may have been accurate at one time, but transmissions and fluids have come a LONG ways since the 60s
As for 5R110 upgrades... IMO they aren't really necessary. That transmission is used in applications up to 30,000 and the only difference is the cooler size. Most of the failures seem to be caused by freak electronics issues, such as valves opening out of synch or getting stuck, etc. The Achilles of of the 5R110 is the way it shifts. Certain shifts can lockup the output shaft if the timing isn't exactly right, because it performs a swap-shift during one of the changes. So... failures can happen, albeit rarely, but I'm not convinced more expensive parts would prevent most of those failures.
Bryan ... thanks for the encouraging words!
Both my chassis mechanic and the transmission shop owner were very surprised at our early 5-speed transmission failure. I hope our tranny failure was indeed just a freak thing. I of course don't want this to ever happen out in the middle of nowhere ... although we were able to limp along and get into town after it failed.
I'm debating whether or not to spend the money for a ScanGuage merely to keep an eye on transmission fluid temperature in a vehicle situation where long transmission life should normally be a "given" under just about any conditions - assuming normal maintenance.
FWIW, the remanufactured transmission seems to be smoother and better behaved than the original 5-speed transmission ever was. Especially when in Tow Mode mode ... it does better in hilly terrain with smoother down-shifts and up-shifts. Maybe the original 5R110 was not quite right from Day One ... or maybe the heavy duty reman of the replacement has something to do with it. :h
