Daily Driver - Transmission Upgrade?
09-05-2012, 07:35 AM
#1
Daily Driver - Transmission Upgrade?
Hey guys, long time since I've been active on here. Hoping to change that soon and get back on the ball with my project.
However I'm hoping you can help me out with a current situation I'm having with my daily driver. 1999 Reg. Cab Short Bed 2wd, 4.8. Bone stock.
I don't drive this thing like half the man I pretended to be in the black truck, however I do drive alot. In and out of the city, and a ton of highway driving. My biggest concern is that I tow an enclosed 6x10 trailer loaded with my carpentry tools when I do my side work.
I replaced my transmission around 200k, with a trans that I beleive had somewhere around 50k on it. I now have 240k and this one popped on my ride home last night.
I did find a trans for $350, with 100k on it. My issue however, is I don't want to waste my time by installing another used transmission which is on its last leg. So I stand here wondering, should I upgrade? flt or pb, with low level upgrades... Or do I get a stocker and slap a shift kit in it... or just toss another used stocker and go with it.
I know most of you guys are going to tell me to swap to a 4l80, but the thing is I don't have the time... nor do I feel it's financially worth it, being that the truck is barely worth $2000. That may be contradictory to what I said about upgrading to a flt/pb... but I'm looking for your opinions.
In my opinion this transmission shouldn't have went, I'm not hard on it and I have a 30k cooler in which I installed specifically for trailering. Any opinions will be appreciated. Thanks guys.
However I'm hoping you can help me out with a current situation I'm having with my daily driver. 1999 Reg. Cab Short Bed 2wd, 4.8. Bone stock.
I don't drive this thing like half the man I pretended to be in the black truck, however I do drive alot. In and out of the city, and a ton of highway driving. My biggest concern is that I tow an enclosed 6x10 trailer loaded with my carpentry tools when I do my side work.
I replaced my transmission around 200k, with a trans that I beleive had somewhere around 50k on it. I now have 240k and this one popped on my ride home last night.
I did find a trans for $350, with 100k on it. My issue however, is I don't want to waste my time by installing another used transmission which is on its last leg. So I stand here wondering, should I upgrade? flt or pb, with low level upgrades... Or do I get a stocker and slap a shift kit in it... or just toss another used stocker and go with it.
I know most of you guys are going to tell me to swap to a 4l80, but the thing is I don't have the time... nor do I feel it's financially worth it, being that the truck is barely worth $2000. That may be contradictory to what I said about upgrading to a flt/pb... but I'm looking for your opinions.
In my opinion this transmission shouldn't have went, I'm not hard on it and I have a 30k cooler in which I installed specifically for trailering. Any opinions will be appreciated. Thanks guys.
09-05-2012, 09:57 AM
#4
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Honestly, id go with the 80E,, it would be alot cheaper than the PB or FLT built 60E and alot stronger.
but if you dont wanna do that, then your just gonna have to spend a pretty penny to get the 60E to live.
what went out? just slipping?
you can get a $100 rebuild kit and do it yourself if its just burnt clutchs.
but if you dont wanna do that, then your just gonna have to spend a pretty penny to get the 60E to live.
what went out? just slipping?
you can get a $100 rebuild kit and do it yourself if its just burnt clutchs.
09-05-2012, 10:00 AM
#5
Not sure what went out, dropped the pan last night and metal chunks if the bottom. It was more of a clunking and slamming gear real hard from 1-2. Then it clunked bad and had a hard time moving forward. Rolled in neutral and towed it home.
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09-05-2012, 02:05 PM
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It would depend on your future plans/goals. Any plans to modify truck down road or just drive til engine goes/body rots off....?
If Plans are to to modify for more performance, then definitely get a good quality trans like FLT. For stock type performance/usage, any "Quality" rebuild will suffice. Problem is there are a lot of so called professionals out there (not able to fix a sandwich properly much less a transmission).......good example is the shops that can make one of these trans hold up quite well vs. the other sea of shops that can't! My .02.
If ur planning on running that thing as a work truck until it dies, I would consider the good used trans. Pull the pan and see what the fluid looks like and if there is any debris. Look for excessive clutch/band material too. Usually looks like black sediment in bottom of pan. You can use a magnet to help distinguish what is what if u find a lot of debris but at point I would pass on trying to run that unit. If its in good shape and fluid doesn't smell burnt, put a shift kit in there and call it a day.
FWIW, back in the day when I worked at GM we were getting a whole bunch of these engines back (for analysis) that had 300+ thousand miles on them and had never had so much as the valve covers off! Great engine family!!! Good luck.
If Plans are to to modify for more performance, then definitely get a good quality trans like FLT. For stock type performance/usage, any "Quality" rebuild will suffice. Problem is there are a lot of so called professionals out there (not able to fix a sandwich properly much less a transmission).......good example is the shops that can make one of these trans hold up quite well vs. the other sea of shops that can't! My .02.
If ur planning on running that thing as a work truck until it dies, I would consider the good used trans. Pull the pan and see what the fluid looks like and if there is any debris. Look for excessive clutch/band material too. Usually looks like black sediment in bottom of pan. You can use a magnet to help distinguish what is what if u find a lot of debris but at point I would pass on trying to run that unit. If its in good shape and fluid doesn't smell burnt, put a shift kit in there and call it a day.
FWIW, back in the day when I worked at GM we were getting a whole bunch of these engines back (for analysis) that had 300+ thousand miles on them and had never had so much as the valve covers off! Great engine family!!! Good luck.
09-05-2012, 02:58 PM
#10
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nick,its rick cooks brother that had the bagged s10,finally have a silvy now,what do you mean it just popped,does it move at all,the weakest spot is the sunshell,you may have stripped it ,id get a beast sunshell which is unbreakable and cost 50 bucks for good measure and a transgo hd2,if you already have a cooler with the about stuff you should be good,im upgrading my forward,1-2,3-4 accumulaters aswell for good measure