Huge multi quote here so bear with me.
Yeah after reading the ATS shiny website and talking with what seemed like a knowledgeable salesman I felt OK with them, but I kept thinking about something he said. I told em about the, tc clutch not engaging properly, that obviously pointed to the tc itself. The other issue I mentioned was the delayed p-r and p-d engagement. He told me this could also be the tc, but the more I think about it the less I think that's true...especially after talking to PI finally, who said that's BS. To top that off...I called back and spoke with someone else at ATS who was a waste of time...told me how the tc was a huge weak point of the 5r100...which isn't correct its 5r110, but anyway everyone I've spoken with says the stock unit is OK when maintained well. That was 20 minutes I'll never get back speaking with ATS. Now my PI conversation went great. I'll go with them for sure.
He had problems almost from the beginning and they didn't want to do anything to fix the problem. Here's a post from 2007 (his name is Brett and he went by AMMO22). Last I heard, he ended up getting a 12V Cummins and (I think) sold his SD.
LINK
Wow, that sucks.
I had may transmission built by Paul's transmission in Altanta, he used a DPC converter, so far I love the tranny and the converter. All DPC converter are custom built by Phill, and are known to handle the biggest powe on the 6.0 powerstroke. Pricing is right in line if not less that the PI, ATS or Suncoast.:icon_ford:
I might look into them tomorrow, I feel pretty good with PI now. Ever get those heads installed? I'm eager to see how that works out for you. I think they'll work well for you.
PATC billet converter would be another consideration in my search. Phil reuses cases where PI is all new parts. I would lean towards PI. No way I'd put an ATS or Suncoast in my truck.
Yeah, no core charge, I asked em about that and that's what they said as well. Said they've got signs hanging in their shop all over that say better to do it right the first time than have to do it twice. He said they don't push their employees for quotas or anything, he stressed to me how important it is to make customers happy, even said you can get a free 'freshen up' in the first 2 years, like if something else happened to go wrong in the trans and you wanted the tc looked over.
oof! You didnt just recommend PATC did you!? Ouch Mitch!
Okay, i see info in here that says ATS is feeding you BS, and totally throws the saying they have a wealth of knowledge, out the window. Along with it completely is just trying to tell someone who doesn't know what is in their stuff just to sell a product. Them saying they have a 5 friction disc converter is a joke, that is not true. There are not 5 frictions in any of their converters, i've seen a few apart that were "tripple disc. After seeing what their converters looked like in the past (machined stock parts) I would never even think about using their parts. Tripple disc means they have 3 frictions, not just adding up the number of frictions and steels which seems like what ats is doing.
Stick with a bts/rcd (precision built) or an off the shelf precision that uses the stock stator. Depending what charger you are using i'd stick with a lower stall or a stock stall for vgt chargers.
Yeah, I get that impression from them now, the first salesman I spoke with almost had me, except for what I mentioned earlier about the delayed reverse engagement being caused by the tc. He just wanted to sell me a converter.
I'm actually glad you chimmed in Greg, you got any insight on the delayed reverse engagement situation? I just changed direct drive solenoid and tcc solenoid.
Also, you said a bts (who uses precision) or off the shelf precision...I kinda take that to mean that bts specs the precision industries Tc to their own specs? I still need to talk with brian, but I had a very good conv with the dude at PI. Im kinda pissed at ATS now, even more so at the fact they almost had me won over. I'm glad I called back to talk with a different guy...cuz he told me way different stuff than the first guy. Kinda gave me the impression of telling me what he thought I wanted to hear.
And yeah I'm looking for stock or slightly lower stall. I'm not making a drag truck...honestly it'll see the beach and mountain trails more than the track, way more. Not to mention towing and just general street use.
Thanks so much for everyone's input. That's why these forums are great, gathering a good consensus on what has and hasn't worked out...almost like I've read that somewhere...