thinking abouy buying an ats trans and have ?'s

Ok first off I know BTS and Suncoast are better as I've had both and ive heard the horror stories. The deal is I've found a new stage 2 with billet input and the 5 star converter. He's askin 2500 for it. This trans would go in my newest dually which is my dd and farm truck, i plan on leaving it pretty stock prolly stage 2's and a 38r. My questions are even being an ats is this a good deal or should I pass it up? Also being an ats would it hold 400hp? Thanks guys

I would save the 2500 and add whatever you need for a BTS. Anything else is a compromise and a gamble.

I've also thought about that but im not sure how much longer the Suncoast in my white truck will last and it would kill me buying 10 thousand worth of transmissions.

i havent really seen much of ats transmissions, and getting warranty is next to impossible, i say pass man. you would be better off putting a good converter and a valve body in a stock trans

Thanks guys I appreciate it. I was leaning more towards passing on it and yall helped me make my decision. Also dustin who do I need to talk to about some stickers?

1badpsd said:

Thanks guys I appreciate it. I was leaning more towards passing on it and yall helped me make my decision. Also dustin who do I need to talk to about some stickers?

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me, when they are ready everyone should know it, gunna be a little longer but they are going to be cool

lott ran one for 7 years. ask him

blackbetty13 said:

lott ran one for 7 years. ask him

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You need a few more years of experience reading up on ATS. Or come here to Colorado and listen up.

Tom S said:

You need a few more years of experience reading up on ATS. Or come here to Colorado and listen up.

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what?? im not saying i new anything about it i said lott would know because he ran one. seriously if ur going to spend the money just go with a bts

If you want to buy your last trans BTS..we have the best droped shiped price. PM me if I can help

save your money man, bts east coast, jw west coast, nothing compares to these two.... or do what dzchey21 said, valve body and good tq converter would be better, bts has just those too..

blackbetty13 said:

what?? im not saying i new anything about it i said lott would know because he ran one. seriously if ur going to spend the money just go with a bts

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What he is saying is ATS had a loooooonnnngggg history of dissatisfied customers locally long before Lott ever put one in his truck. When I say long I mean years before they bought ATS turbo, when they were just a local Denver tranny shop. In fact it's nothing short of a miracle that they hold up to Lotts motors IMO, considering one local who went by Sugar Bear or something on TDS went through several, like every time he hooked up his 5th wheel and a basically stock motor. In fact he went through so many he finally threw away the warranty and bought a BTS because he was tired of his truck spending more time in the ATS shop for warranty repairs, after stranding him, than it did on the road. Additionally they call their converter a 5 disk, well it's only 4. I've seen it at Bandimere on display and I can count. Using their method of counting, a stock manual trans clutch would be a 3 disk.

Add to that the couple times I called them to ask about their turbo systems after they merged with ATS turbo's, they were pretty arrogant and condescending and simply expected you to accept their advertising without question.

I was going to avoid going this far into it, but Tom can tell you the same story, with his own personal experiences. I would build my own tranny and have more confidence in it before I would install even a free ATS.

I will say that I have not seen the ugly posts about the customer service on the boards the last couple of years. I actually like and know some of the guys there and enjoy talking to them at events or hanging out. There was just a point there where there were a number of people just could not get to the point to where they were happy with their purchase. I think they are doing better then they were several years ago. I was in the shop a few years ago and watched them do a build for Diesel Tech. The guy that did that build I think knew exactly what he was doing and was the kind of guy you want working on your truck. I am not sure why they had the problems that they were back then.


David had decent luck with him but he was a dealer at the time. I am not sure if he still has any connections there.

Tom S said:

I will say that I have not seen the ugly posts about the customer service on the boards the last couple of years. I actually like and know some of the guys there and enjoy talking to them at events or hanging out. There was just a point there where there were a number of people just could not get to the point to where they were happy with their purchase. I think they are doing better then they were several years ago. I was in the shop a few years ago and watched them do a build for Diesel Tech. The guy that did that build I think knew exactly what he was doing and was the kind of guy you want working on your truck. I am not sure why they had the problems that they were back then.


David had decent luck with him but he was a dealer at the time. I am not sure if he still has any connections there.

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I still sell their units (as well as Suncoast) and have had real good luck with them, Here lately things have changed alot for the better.

No such thing as an unbreakable tranny NO ONES is Bullet proof!!!

They couldnt get one to live behind a pretty high hp 6.4 here locally, but they did refund the guy his money after many failed attempts so i will give them credit on that, and honestly i do see some changes for the better out of the place, hopefully it continues to get better.

I just got my BTS in a few weeks ago and i love it. its ALOT of money but i think its well spent for piece of mind.

I am glad to her some more positive comments in reference to the purple palace.

My buddy spent 4200 bucks on one of their transmissions and it lasted all of 18 months behind a tuned 7.3.

Austin said:

My buddy spent 4200 bucks on one of their transmissions and it lasted all of 18 months behind a tuned 7.3.

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How long ago was that? Was it still under warranty?

Thanks for all the replies guys. I know BTS are great transmissions...I had one in my 97 brian and his family even asked me to stay an extra day and go racing with them(which I did of course)lol. Brian is good people I hung out at the shop til 2am with em. My white dually with the built motor and had a Suncoast when I bought it and will without a doubt be going to leadhill when it goes out. Trust me id love to put one in my new dually but I can't afford two BTS's right now. The ats is pretty local to me and for the money I figured would be a decent trans for 2's and a 38r.