Transmission help

Bongiardina · Sep 19, 2015

My truck is a 08 cclb tuned and ******d 14" lift 40" tires and 411 gears it has trashed the trans and/or torque converter over 10 times I have had 2 separate reputable trans shops work on it. I have ran *******, Kem, H&S, and gear head tunes and all have been loaded when a trans was trashed. Im running gear head tunes now that are written for my trans build and I blew something yesterday the wrench came on the dash I pulled over and all of my trans fluid was under truck

What are some opinions on:

tunes for a built trans in a 6.4

what torque converter

how easy would it be to swap in a ZF6 and how well will it hold up

Bongiardina · Sep 20, 2015

Also My stock trans made it to 146K before going and the truck now has 257k on it

Any help would be greatly appreciated this is so frustrating I love the truck it drives great but it destroys transmissions :/

Mark Kovalsky · Sep 20, 2015

If the trans is built correctly, including replacing the torque converter and BOTH coolers, there is no reason it shouldn't run as long as the original did, or even longer.

But since it isn't working like that, someone didn't do something I listed above. I can't tell which from here.

tbsimmons · Sep 20, 2015

Its the builder. Many of us have built trans with with the tuners you listed.
I have actually been working with GH on my tunes for a built trans. None have done anything to break it though.
What is the trans doing when it breaks? Slipping, slamming gears, shifting hard. Also if the builder is not doing the same mods that the normal builders from this site do to the internals to increase line pressure then you put a tune for a built trans it will slip.

Bongiardina · Sep 20, 2015

The most common problems have been snapping shafts, and destroying torque converters generally its large bang, this time it hasn't been taken apart yet but there wasn't any bang or snap truck was driving fine the wrench came on the dash it unlocked the converter I pulled over looked under the truck and all over the back was covered in trans fluid, my current trans shop thinks it was just the front seal blew out.

current trans build has: 5 Raybestoes red clutches and kolene steels in od and intermediate, 7 raybestos red clutches and kolene steels in direct, stock epc and direct solenoid, trans go regular shift kit, and billet converter.

Rubenk · Sep 20, 2015

Did they reuse parts? I'd guess bad solenoids, dirty coolers, or some reused part being out of spec, warped case?

tbsimmons · Sep 21, 2015

What gear was it changing too when it went bang? Also what TC you running. Unless you have more done to the truck you dont have enough power to snap the shafts with good tuning or trans.
A bad case has been known to spew fluid everywhere.
If its snapping a shaft it is usually tuning but as long as the tuner knows you have a built trans (VERY IMPORTANT) and you discuss with them how it shifts on revisions then that should be good.

Bongiardina · Sep 22, 2015

Yeah I think I do finally have the tuning right with the truck now that its running gh tunes. Nothing banged this time all that happened was the wrench came on while I was on the highway in od converter locked I pulled over when the wrench came on and smelt trans fluid right away then saw what was left of the fluid pouring out of the trans. its apart now and the reason it lost all the fluid was a cracked weld on the hub of the converter and that's just my luck......... but at least nothing cooked or snapped this time

sootie · Sep 22, 2015

tbsimmons said:
What gear was it changing too when it went bang? Also what TC you running. Unless you have more done to the truck you dont have enough power to snap the shafts with good tuning or trans.
A bad case has been known to spew fluid everywhere.
If its snapping a shaft it is usually tuning but as long as the tuner knows you have a built trans (VERY IMPORTANT) and you discuss with them how it shifts on revisions then that should be good.

one thing i will add to that is...it is specific to each builder whether or not it matters if the truck has a built trans. For example-with a Midwest Diesel transmission, it requires the REGULAR GH trans file. it will also work with the canned H&S tunes. As far as elite , suncoast etc., the same does not apply.

Bongiardina · Sep 22, 2015

when GH wrote my tunes I gave them all the info on how my trans is built and the truck does shift good now this issue was a faulty/cracked weld on the converter.