cannesdo wrote:
Yeah, they mentioned that HD tranny one over in the Diesel forum. I'm guessing that does not include labor? And you can only have that installed by Ford?
So keep the transmission as cool as possible -- like travel during hot weather (very hot day coming into Colorado in July, had a 2000 ft climb and was really worried. Shifting issue started after that. Pulled over before the climb for 30 min to try to cool it off. It's not as much about weight? So almost better to do harder routes in the evening rather than mid-day?
Does your truck have a transmission temp gauge on the dash? If not get one installed when you have the new transmission installed. You want to keep the fluid temp below 225, if the gauge says it's getting hotter than that, that's when you pull over and let it cool. Not sure if the Banks unit has a gauge built in or not.
If you install the upgraded cooler as recommended here along with the Banks kit that Brian recommends, you shouldn't ever have a condition where the transmission is overheating, regardless of grade or outside temps.
If you can secure an HD unit from Ford, that would be the way to go, but dealers are not inexpensive for this type of work. I know when Jasper re-manufactures a unit, they will upgrade underdesigned internal parts that are common failure points, here is what they do for the 4R100.
Jasper also has several thousand dealers across the country, any of whom will honor any warranty issues. Essentially, if you have an issue with a Jasper unit, they pull it and put in another one, there's no field repairs done (unless it's very simple). Only caution on a Jasper unit is that you need to change the fluid/filter after 5k miles or the warranty is voided.
One forum member had a good experience recently having Aamco rebuild the 4L80E on their Suburban.
Whatever you choose, be sure you get a nationwide warranty, as an RVer you can't always count on being home when you have problems.
