Some of you old timers on the forum may recall that I lost reverse on the 4L80E transmission almost 3 years ago, Sept of 2013, backing the TT into a campsite. Being stuck in rural KY and with no transmission rebuilder anyone would recommend, I went with a Jasper reman unit with 36 month 100k warranty.
Fast forward to today, coming back from PA and climbing the grades in NJ on eastbound I-80 coming out of the Delaware water gap. I kicked it down into 3rd and about halfway up one grade the tach jumped up from 3k to 4500 and we started losing speed. Coasted over to the shoulder and that was where we stayed. No loud noise, no loss of fluid at all, just no forward motion.
After 40 mins on hold with Good Sam, they said they would call me back. I decided on a whim to shift into L1 and lo and behold we had movement. L2 and still moving. So I eased back into the right lane with the flashers on and was able to hold 40 mph in 2nd gear until the next exit. At the exit we see a sign for a CG and decide to go for it. Made it about 1 mi from the CG and one hill on the country road we were on wiped out what was left of the tranny.
Good Sam finally called and they came with a flatbed for the Suburban and a pickup to tow the trailer and took both to Great Divide CG in Newton, NJ.
I know a few folks said Jasper was junk when I put this unit in 3 yrs ago, and now it's toast with less than 30k miles on it. I did the required fluid/filter change at 5k miles, have been running Dex IV synthetic, and the trans never ever got hotter than 200*. Hopefully Jasper will stand behind their warranty since there are 4 months left and put a new unit in.
I need to get on this ASAP tomorrow morning, if anyone knows a good shop that's a Jasper dealer, lemme know. Fortunately DD and her fiance live over in Parsippany and they were able to come and get us. Now to get the truck fixed.
