Transmission Input

08 stroker · Jul 27, 2015

So it looks like my trans finally went today. Its at my dealer now they're tearing into it today. Torque converter started slipping in 4th and 5th and wouldn't stay locked. By the time i was at the dealer it wouldn't go into 5th at all and i had no reverse. Not sure whats up hopefully ill have answers later today. My question is what Should i do now? My dealer will rebuild it under warranty. But i was thinking maybe its time to Beef up the trans. At the moment the truck is stock air and fuel. Just dpf/egr delete and a tune from KEM and an intake. The Plan is over the summer to put a MPD single on it and dual fuelers so im thinking i might as well do the trans now. What should i do to beef it up? Torgue converter? Flex plate? Input shaft? What brands? Anything else?

Also i'm up in the air cause i've been contemplating doing a ZF6 swap in it and maybe nows the time to actually go ahead and do it?

RSK · Jul 30, 2015

suncoast triple disk converter, tcs billet flex plate or suncoast, aermet input shaft, that's a good starting point, how much power do you plan to have and what do you plan to do with it. oh obviously raybestos gpz hd rebuild kit too, suncoast sells those or you can buy them on tcs website.

Oil Field Trash · Jul 30, 2015

Yes upgrade now or you will have to do it later. No point in doing it twice.

08 stroker · Jul 31, 2015

So a little update. Torque converter took a ****. Causing clutch material to be pumped around the trans. Got a whole new trans and converter from ford under warranty. Trucks back together and im gonna run it on a low tune till i get everything together, then have my shop pull it and beef it up.

I tow regularly 16-20,000 lbs so it has to be able to handle that. I dont need it letting me down half way across the country. And my power goal is a reliable 750hp.

So talking with the trans guy at the shop this is what he recommended

DPC or RCD converter
Elite flex plate
Elite aermet Input shaft
suncoast transgo kit
Mag hytech pan
Suncoast iron pac clutch pack
And high pressure solenoids

Anything else? If im doing it i wanna do it right!

f350guy · Jul 31, 2015

I had mine done in '12 or '13 I guess, no major internal failure... just a user error by my SO driving it. :-/ Extension housing cracked and walked the transfer case off the output shaft tearing up the output shaft. Awesome!

Here is what all I had done I can recall:

-Reused solenoids along with most internals and bought a new case (PTO replacement case was a prick to find)
-Medium level billet input shaft
-Billet ring gear hub
-Billet OD planet
-Stock intermediate. There was an issue with the early, billet intermediate shafts I seem to recall. Something about the neck down area on them was the same as stock so the upgrade was worthless. As the 3->5 upshift is largest factor that breaks this part, make sure you have a great tuner.
-Suncoast kit with Alto clutches
-RCD converter
-Transgo small kit. Snap ring and valve change
-Most updated pump from Ford
-Mag Hytec pan
-Diesel Site external filter

Only other mods I want are bigger snails (still on stock head bolts so just rocking a Hot Street tune from Gearhead) and larger intercooler. Anything else would just be reliability mods. Aside from a tune, best mod to increase 'driving pleasure' was the converter.

Oh and make sure you install the updated, white transmission temp sender. The earlier, black ones are prone to failure and cause all sorts of odd issues. Cheap part, but a PITA to do with that Maghytec pan installed.

08 stroker · Jul 31, 2015

f350guy said:
I had mine done in '12 or '13 I guess, no major internal failure... just a user error by my SO driving it. :-/ Extension housing cracked and walked the transfer case off the output shaft tearing up the output shaft. Awesome!

Here is what all I had done I can recall:

-Reused solenoids along with most internals and bought a new case (PTO replacement case was a prick to find)
-Medium level billet input shaft
-Billet ring gear hub
-Billet OD planet
-Stock intermediate. There was an issue with the early, billet intermediate shafts I seem to recall. Something about the neck down area on them was the same as stock so the upgrade was worthless. As the 3->5 upshift is largest factor that breaks this part, make sure you have a great tuner.
-Suncoast kit with Alto clutches
-RCD converter
-Transgo small kit. Snap ring and valve change
-Most updated pump from Ford
-Mag Hytec pan
-Diesel Site external filter

Only other mods I want are bigger snails (still on stock head bolts so just rocking a Hot Street tune from Gearhead) and larger intercooler. Anything else would just be reliability mods. Aside from a tune, best mod to increase 'driving pleasure' was the converter.

Oh and make sure you install the updated, white transmission temp sender. The earlier, black ones are prone to failure and cause all sorts of odd issues. Cheap part, but a PITA to do with that Maghytec pan installed.

Awesome thats pretty close to the route im gonna go! Good to know on the intermediate shaft. And i have a good tuner so once i get it built ill have him make up a new tune.

On the RCD converter did you go with a stock stall speed?

f350guy · Jul 31, 2015

Remember, this was around four years ago. So I am sure some things have changed for internals regarding what is needed and what is not for specific power levels. No clue what mine will hold and have no desire to test the limits. Stock will hold over 500rwhp for a while and it seems the converter craps the bed first, followed by the direct (5th gear) clutches.

I know Raybestos recently released their 'GPZ' line of clutch plates for these units. So now you can choose between the Alto Red Eagles or the Raybestos GPZ. How they compare to the Alto, I do not know. Either are better than the OE. I have used Alto's Red Eagles for years in my AOD vehicles and they work great. I am having a set done for a ZF 4HP24 in one of my cars.

Here is TCS' current offerings for the 5R110W -

http://www.tcsproducts.com/products/subcategory/5r110/

You can visually see the upgraded neck area on the splined end compared to stock. I ordered my parts from Rudy's and Aaron himself told me to skip the shaft for my plans as it was not proven, plus he was running a stock shaft early on in his race truck. I cannot recall the exact issues with the ones that were available, but the dead site (powerstroke.org) would have the information on a search.

When I need a refresh in the future, I will be upgrading the intermediate shaft at that point.

Here is a good picture of the two shafts, I think this is a build from a member's truck here - http://image.trucktrend.com/f/tech/...reat-part-1-intermediate-shaft-comparison.jpg

My truck is a Job 2, 2009 (May 27, 2009 to be exact) ... so I already had the five pinion OD planet and intermediate shaft. So you will have to know when your 6.4 was actually built to hopefully narrow that down. I have seen a bunch of '08 MY trucks built in 2007 and I swear I saw one from 12/06. There were other internal hard part updates between the early and late 5R110s, yet I am pretty sure aside from the 94T and 99T bits, the rest was all updated by the time the 6.4 rolled out as mid production 6.0 upgrades. A guy that builds these for a living will be able to answer cutoff dates more exactly.

I run a stock stall speed RCD converter. Chose it as I plan to keep compounds similar to stock. No more blowing through the converter, even on mild tunes.

Hope it helps.

sootie · Aug 6, 2015

08 stroker said:
So a little update. Torque converter took a ****. Causing clutch material to be pumped around the trans. Got a whole new trans and converter from ford under warranty. Trucks back together and im gonna run it on a low tune till i get everything together, then have my shop pull it and beef it up.

I tow regularly 16-20,000 lbs so it has to be able to handle that. I dont need it letting me down half way across the country. And my power goal is a reliable 750hp.

So talking with the trans guy at the shop this is what he recommended

DPC or RCD converter
Elite flex plate
Elite aermet Input shaft
suncoast transgo kit
Mag hytech pan
Suncoast iron pac clutch pack
And high pressure solenoids

Anything else? If im doing it i wanna do it right!

no need for anything other than factory solenoids, just put new ones in. flex plates arent usually needed until much higher power levels.

I think what you will find is a regular trans shop wont have the know how to build a 5r to take abuse. Why not call Morgan @ Midwest Diesel 217-691-1909 and get a trans you wont have to worry about again?

The other thing is tuning-it is half the battle. If you want your trans to live, i would suggest some ******** tunes...

tbsimmons · Aug 7, 2015

Call Morgan. He has a great warranty along with great service. I just bought a tranny and TC from him yesterday. I am doing the same with my truck, grossing in the 30K range. Stock lasted fine but on anything higher than a tow tune I would start pushing through the OD or TC clutch because it wouldnt downshift over steeper grades.