Anyone done a bts, racerx, or dieselsite valve body

[zilla68]

ONLY, in their truck?

Mine's mildly built, and would like to try a new valve body, I don't want the whole damn transmission, just the valve body?

Good bad and ugly please

what changes did you notice, did your tuning need to be changed any, was it something you'd do again?

 

[weekendwarriorfsw32]

I would do a John Wood VB, have his in my 7.3 and it was my favorite mod.

 

[zilla68]

I would do a John Wood VB, have his in my 7.3 and it was my favorite mod.

can you elaborate on the difference it made please?

i would think they are all basically the same, minor changes at best.

 

[7.3psd97444]

You cant go wrong with any BTS parts in a e4od.
Heard nothing but good about the John Wood too.

 

[zilla68]

yes I understand bts, john wood, racer x, and dieselsite parts are all top notch, but I've yet on 2 forums to get a WHY or what differences are seen, everyone says yes they are great or whatever, but no one explains the advantage or difference they saw. I'm getting one, just not sure who's to get and what is the difference I can expect.

 

[always-strokin]

In other words, why chose one over the other I think zilla is asking.

I've heard that the JW valve bodies can give not the greatest shifting... soft and delayed. But thats second-hand hearsay.

I was gonna go w/ a BTS vb but now you got me considering a racer x.

I know that BTS asks for mods, tire size, and hp/tq you have because they tune for those parameters. I think racer x does the same. I dunno about JW though.

 

[zilla68]

racerx said he has like 24 different varieties I think it was on valve bodies.

 

[zilla68]

In other words, why chose one over the other I think zilla is asking.

I've heard that the JW valve bodies can give not the greatest shifting... soft and delayed. But thats second-hand hearsay.

I was gonna go w/ a BTS vb but now you got me considering a racer x.

I know that BTS asks for mods, tire size, and hp/tq you have because they tune for those parameters. I think racer x does the same. I dunno about JW though.

your close, I'm asking why to choose one at all, what is different from a stocker vs. one of these, lets say shifting wise? is it softer, harder, snappier??? lol.

 

[always-strokin]

A good valvebody increases line pressure and decreases slippage. This in turn decreases wear, heat, and cuts down on lost time from the trans slipping... they shift much faster.

 

[Strictly Diesel]

JW generally doesn't do "mail order" VBs for the OBS like he does for the SD trucks. There is enough difference in the trans that the OBS shifts tend to get really harsh quite easily with the common VB mods, he prefers to setup the OBS trucks "in house" when doing the trans, so he can make them perfect. We have sent a few SD VBs to "late" OBS customers...after JW talked to them and was comfortable they wouldn't shift too harsh. Those were trucks with lifts and bigger tires (which tends to keep the shifts a bit tame) and specific issues that needed the VB. We won't ever have an "off the shelf" VB for the OBS trucks though.

I'm not at all sure why anyone would say that JWs VB shifts soft and slow, that's not even remotely the case UNLESS the person was wanting "barking tires" or some other nonsense like that. JW doesn't make overly aggressive VBs, neck snapping and tire barking are left for the kiddie gasser crowd.

There are lots of ways to go about accomplishing what the VB does. Some do it with TransGo kits (separator plate and springs), some do it with big accumulator valves and springs, some (like JW) use springs and mods to the internals of the VB. There are advantages and disadvantages to each, I personally would run away from ANY product that uses a big accumulator valve as the crux of how to make the trans shift firmer because this tends to make the light throttle shifting too harsh (especially the really big valves).

 

[Strictly Diesel]

Oh yeah, the purpose of the VB work is to make the shifts quicker (less slippage between shifts) and a bit firmer.

 

[always-strokin]

Why can Racer x or bts make mail order vb's for OBS and JW cannot?

 

[zilla68]

A good valvebody increases line pressure and decreases slippage. This in turn decreases wear, heat, and cuts down on lost time from the trans slipping... they shift much faster.

thank you that is what I was looking for, I've seen peope say oh they are great, but never tell what's so great about them.

JW generally doesn't do "mail order" VBs for the OBS like he does for the SD trucks. There is enough difference in the trans that the OBS shifts tend to get really harsh quite easily with the common VB mods, he prefers to setup the OBS trucks "in house" when doing the trans, so he can make them perfect. We have sent a few SD VBs to "late" OBS customers...after JW talked to them and was comfortable they wouldn't shift too harsh. Those were trucks with lifts and bigger tires (which tends to keep the shifts a bit tame) and specific issues that needed the VB. We won't ever have an "off the shelf" VB for the OBS trucks though.

I'm not at all sure why anyone would say that JWs VB shifts soft and slow, that's not even remotely the case UNLESS the person was wanting "barking tires" or some other nonsense like that. JW doesn't make overly aggressive VBs, neck snapping and tire barking are left for the kiddie gasser crowd.

There are lots of ways to go about accomplishing what the VB does. Some do it with TransGo kits (separator plate and springs), some do it with big accumulator valves and springs, some (like JW) use springs and mods to the internals of the VB. There are advantages and disadvantages to each, I personally would run away from ANY product that uses a big accumulator valve as the crux of how to make the trans shift firmer because this tends to make the light throttle shifting too harsh (especially the really big valves).

This is what mine has, a transgo kit, and I don't like it, and want to change, it was completely rebuilt and the guy I bought the truck from had his highschool buddy who is a ford heavy trans guy rebuild it (they are in their 50's so not like he is a recent highschool buddy), but I hate the way it shifts. I have gearhead tunes also, but I'd like a nice smooth shifting trans, not all this banging into gear (so it seems), but i do understand the different tunes can affect this. maybe i need to pull the chip and see what it shifts like without it, could be tuning, but I'd like to install a valve body when I pull the pan and replace the filter and install the new pan, since it will be right there anyways.

thank you for your post

 

[toddm715]

I had a Factory Tech valve body in mine and hated it. I bought another valve body called Punisher valve body and don't care for it much either. I'm doing some mods right now and I have a PHP programmer I'm going to install and then I'll see how it shifts. If the shifts don't change I'll be looking for a softer shifting valve body. Mine shifts like it is going to break something. Trans temps stays cool and fluid stays clean. I constantly check and it seems to either be the tuning or the vb.

 

[always-strokin]

FTVB and Punisher are both made by gasser people for the lightening crowd. They dont know how to make a diesel valve body. They would be at the far bottom of my list.

 

[dirk0]

I had a factory tech (POS. had .50 line pressure modulator. Seriously??), then moved to BTS. Now my trans has parts from DI, BTS, and JW.

All three guys will want to know how the truck is set up and will work with you. I've heard that JW doesn't like to just send out valve bodies all willy nilly as stated before, but I can't confirm.

 

[Jennifer@Dieselsite]

FTVB and Punisher are both made by gasser people for the lightening crowd. They dont know how to make a diesel valve body. They would be at the far bottom of my list.

We're totally gasser people!

On a note with the Factory Tech Valve Bodies - for the OP and anyone else in this thread who has/had one:

You can send us your VB back in to get fine-tuned and we will do everything we can to get it running the way YOU want it running. Tell us what you like. Tell us what you don't like. We will make those modifications for you.
If you order a FTVB, you can also express in the customer comments section what you do and do not like so we can adjust those things before you even receive it.

 

[dirk0]

We're totally gasser people!

On a note with the Factory Tech Valve Bodies - for the OP and anyone else in this thread who has/had one:

You can send us your VB back in to get fine-tuned and we will do everything we can to get it running the way YOU want it running. Tell us what you like. Tell us what you don't like. We will make those modifications for you.
If you order a FTVB, you can also express in the customer comments section what you do and do not like so we can adjust those things before you even receive it.

That's pretty cool. I was told that it was my tuning and the valve body was working correctly, but that was 5 years ago or so... :shrug:

 

[a_port93]

Fwiw John wood sold me a valve body (as well as a modified new trans pump,center support kit and a converter)for an obs and it works very well..much cleaner crisper shift and I feel like the throttle angle is matched much better with up shifts and down shifts...I'm excited to see how it helps with tuning as bill has my chip and the previous burn had no transmission tuning.ill be able to report someday if I ever get my chip back reburned
Bottom line is it was well worth it in my opinion

 

[Strictly Diesel]

Why can Racer x or bts make mail order vb's for OBS and JW cannot?

He can, he just prefers not to do them for "mail order" customers.

Part of the problem is that there are different VBs for different years of OBS. Part of it is how shift firmness adjustments are made.

Anyone that uses the TransGo separator plate (BTS does last I checked, not sure on any others) can just drill the holes on the small side and tell their customer to increase the hole sizes if they want firmer shifts. Since JW doesn't use the separator plate, he can't do that. Adjusting the firmness of his would require disassembly of the VB, and if someone takes it apart and doesn't put it back together correctly...you get into the argument of who caused whatever problem might occur.