Aftermarket Vendor ReviewProvide questions and comments about aftermarket part vendors for the Third Gen F-Body.
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My first one arrived with no forward gears.
Second one arrived with no overdrive
When I called him on the first one he wanted me to drop the valve body. I told him no way! After the second one he tried to say I was blowing them up but they were installed the day they arrived. He also claims I didnt have the TV cable adjusted properly.
Then he says "you have to trust me. if you open that tranny up you will find all the parts in that tranny i list. i am an honest man."
His trannies are junk and I was running a slightly modified 350TPI motor that wasnt making more than 300 horse.
Mine lasted 3 months just after the warranty went out. The tranny Was grinding from second to third. They thought it was funny, i missed they warranty period. I had it pulled apart by a local builder and it was full of wornout used parts. Not even good used parts, they tech couldnt beleive it.
I made this post because i keep hearing these same stories. And at one time i gave them the thumbs up. I dont want others to suffer because of something i might have said.
My first one arrived with no forward gears.
Second one arrived with no overdrive
Third one arrived only because he wouldnt give me my money back so I sent AMEX after him and I got my money back and they never came to get the tranny.
When I called him on the first one he wanted me to drop the valve body. I told him no way! After the second one he tried to say I was blowing them up but they were installed the day they arrived.
Then he says "you have to trust me. if you open that tranny up you will find all the parts in that tranny i list. i am an honest man."
His trannies are junk and I was running a slightly modified 350TPI motor that wasnt making more than 300 horse.
Yeah he told me i must have the tv cable adjusted wrong.
The other thing that i never noticed was on ebay. the warranty was for one year. But when i went looking for my bill of sale. it stated 3 months...
Dana at Pro-Built is very good for those that are looking for a good trans. If you do a "Pro-Built" search you will find a LOT of positive experiences. And, yes, I do have a Pro-Built 700R4 and would/will purchase another from him.
Dana at Pro-Built is very good for those that are looking for a good trans. If you do a "Pro-Built" search you will find a LOT of positive experiences. And, yes, I do have a Pro-Built 700R4 and would/will purchase another from him.
HTH
yes...i wouldnt hesitate to buy one from Dana. He is one of the best from what ive been told.
I have a GMPP 4L60 bought from a fellow member that im very happy with now.
damn my friend just purchased one from them. he put it in and frove the car back to his home and its been sitting for about 3 months with out being driven. i wonder how long his is going to last
a friend of mine bought one for his 99Z, i showed him all of these threads... now he is regretting it. the transmission is enroute now, too late to turn back.
a friend of mine bought one for his 99Z, i showed him all of these threads... now he is regretting it. the transmission is enroute now, too late to turn back.
Well just beware of his famous lines which I posted in my thread above here. If he calls him saying there is a problem with it, he will tell you the TV cable is misadjusted.
Hopefully he paid for it with a credit card. They offer the best buyer protection there is.
sorry to hear about that mike.
i was looking at these kind of companies as well. i just sucked it up and paid for one with a warranty ( a rebuild, not a rebuilt unit). it took a little while and cost more than a probuilt (before shipping) for a pretty much stock tranny with beast sunshell and transgo shift kit. and the thing is, he installed it and rebuilt it, if anything happens, its his fault, and he would have no problem redoing it. going local is the way to go if you can even if it costs alot and isnt your ideal tranny. i would also look into probuilt, heard nothing but good about them. he should hook up with some shops and offer install/product warranties.
AND BY THE WAY< YOU CAN PAY LIKE 10 BUCKS OR SOMETHING TO CHANGE YOR FEEDBACK. WRITE SOMETHING LIKE DO NOT BUY FROM THIS GUY, EMAIL FOR DETAILS. and show everyone this thread and tell them your experiences. its hard to look past something like that when you are about to drop over a g on the internet.
Well just beware of his famous lines which I posted in my thread above here. If he calls him saying there is a problem with it, he will tell you the TV cable is misadjusted.
Hopefully he paid for it with a credit card. They offer the best buyer protection there is.
if something does go wrong, i HOPE he says its the tv cable... because 99's dont have a tv cable. that would be pretty funny.
but he had a shop do it, they installed it flushed his cooler and torque convertor. he has receits for it all, so hopefully he is covered.
I sure hope you guys aren't talking about Maddog Lou transmissions in Florida. I purchased one for my hot Rod I'm building on ebay.
I had trouble with the torque converter (came with stripped bolt threads) They sent me another one for free, despite it being past my warranty (still building the car nad needed it for placement) and now it's in my car.
I hope I don't have to drop the trans/ replace it. Took me 4 times to get my engine successfully in without hassles/ setbacks stopping me from the job completion. The LAST THING I want to do is take the trans out because of a faulty/ cheap rebuild.
We are talking about the guy from eBay. He builds JUNK!!!
Do yourself a favor and toss it in the trash or use it to hold a door open. That's all it will be worth in 3 months, actually on the 91st day of the warranty.
In the ads he(lou)always talks about how great they are because he builds them himelf. Well...When i bought mine i was told by the manager at the time. He(lou)didnt build them any more. That they had someone else doing them.
sorry to hear about that mike.
i was looking at these kind of companies as well. i just sucked it up and paid for one with a warranty ( a rebuild, not a rebuilt unit). it took a little while and cost more than a probuilt (before shipping) for a pretty much stock tranny with beast sunshell and transgo shift kit. and the thing is, he installed it and rebuilt it, if anything happens, its his fault, and he would have no problem redoing it. going local is the way to go if you can even if it costs alot and isnt your ideal tranny. i would also look into probuilt, heard nothing but good about them. he should hook up with some shops and offer install/product warranties.
AND BY THE WAY< YOU CAN PAY LIKE 10 BUCKS OR SOMETHING TO CHANGE YOR FEEDBACK. WRITE SOMETHING LIKE DO NOT BUY FROM THIS GUY, EMAIL FOR DETAILS. and show everyone this thread and tell them your experiences. its hard to look past something like that when you are about to drop over a g on the internet.
I didnt know you could change your feedback. I will have to look into that.
It worked out i guess the one i got from josh turned out to be a good one.
I have 10k miles on mine and about 18 months, and it is awsome. I bought the godfather. Maybe if you buy the more expensive ones, they actually rebuild it. Shifts harder than any other trans. Just dyno'd the car, and they did a full gear run. The car shifted all over the place. Looked a lot more powerful the it actually is....
I have 10k miles on mine and about 18 months, and it is awsome. I bought the godfather. Maybe if you buy the more expensive ones, they actually rebuild it. Shifts harder than any other trans. Just dyno'd the car, and they did a full gear run. The car shifted all over the place. Looked a lot more powerful the it actually is....
my boss has been running one in his ls1 for nearly 2 years now. was a nitrous car, now it's got a magnuson blower on it... not sure what the difference is but his has worked flawlessly.
My mad dog transmission lasted 6 months and blew again 3 months later and it wasnt even a 65e like he said it was. His transmissions are garbage garbage garbage. Here is a link to my story about my experience with them.
Man this is a horrible story...I thought of buying one as well....I am glad I didnt now....I heard a lot of good things about Transmission Physicians in Tampa....they are doing alot of LT1 and LS1 cars and have heard no negative feedback..They are also reasonable on price. May want to check them out.
He wouldnt stall my transmission up to 3000 because he said that I had a 65E and his vendor didnt carry converters that high for a 65E The 60 and 65E will accept the same converter so that was bull. Then when it blew the 2nd time I looked at the pieces and it had a 60E in it because it had a 4 pinion planetary. He is a thief, a liar, and has no integrity what so ever.
He wouldnt stall my transmission up to 3000 because he said that I had a 65E and his vendor didnt carry converters that high for a 65E The 60 and 65E will accept the same converter so that was bull. Then when it blew the 2nd time I looked at the pieces and it had a 60E in it because it had a 4 pinion planetary. He is a thief, a liar, and has no integrity what so ever.
The only real difference in the two is that the 65 has one more tooth on the planetary gear sets, or the sun gear. im not 100% on which one. that extra tooth allows it to be used up to 6500 gvw, instead of 6000 gvw.
well it happened, his trans went. he said it had something to do with the 4th gear drum or overdrive shell, i didnt get the full story.
although maddog is going to repair it under warrenty, his car will just be down for 2 weeks. sucks when you race and modify your daily driver.
i made sure he had it done by a shop and everything was documented. propably save him alot of grief.
wow that trans was in his car about a month.
I had the same thing happen to my friend after I warned him but he installed it himself so he is screwed!
__________________ The facts expressed here belong to everybody, the opinions to me. The distinction is yours to draw...
A rcent sudty funod taht it deosnt meattr waht odrer the lerttes of a wrod are in, the olny imopraotnt tihng is taht the fsirt and lsat lerttes are in corrcet poistiosn. Unfaertontely, tahts not the csae for evryhtieng in lfie………………
Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish, and he will sit on a boat drinking beer for a life time
A friend of mine has a 97 Vortec truck. The mods are Headers, small cam, Hyper tech programmer. Nitrous. He has only used one bottle ever though. Mostly for looks.
He bought one when his trans went out. He bought the "good" one. With a 2,300 stall. got it all in. The dang thing would stall 3,000 before it would move and 5,000 with some throttle. They swapped that out for stock converter. Trans did good. for about a month. Then it went south. had it replaced under warranty. The next one lasted about 6 month and left him 200 miles from home. Big tow bill. There was more trouble than this. Since I can't remember all the details that is a summary.
He spent enough he could have had a 400th and gear venders OD.
*jaw drops* unbelievable. i was really looking into this guy to get a trans from because it was lower price and pretty close to where i am. but these stories are rediculous. I'm going with a local to do my transmission instead.
just for everyone that doesnt know a 700r4 and 4l60e only has one band and it's for the 2 and 4 gears only and kevlar bands came stock in the 4l60e most people just put them in 700r4's and as far as price goes most upgrades for a 700r4 are cheap I built mine and it cost me $700 in parts but it has the same parts as the $2,400 raptor trans. has most of the money goes to labor just look at the price of rebuild kits and stuff like servos cost $10, a kevlar band $13, .500 bost valve $9,13 vaine pump kit $20, z pack that uprages the 3 and 4 gear clutches from 6 to 9 cost $49 so you see most of the parts are cheap and most of the time free tricks are done that make the trans. shift hard not even the parts.
hate to say it but yea mad dog tanny's are garbage, me and my buddy both bought the "Godfather" tranny, one for his 94 caprice, and one for my 91 camaro, both did arrive promptly, but they were both gone in 4 months.... and it wasnt even like we had Big horsepower motors, we both had about 300-375 at the fly
well it happened, his trans went. he said it had something to do with the 4th gear drum or overdrive shell, i didnt get the full story.
although maddog is going to repair it under warrenty, his car will just be down for 2 weeks. sucks when you race and modify your daily driver.
i made sure he had it done by a shop and everything was documented. propably save him alot of grief.
wow that trans was in his car about a month.
just for everyone to know, im going to be tearing one of these transmissions down and taking a look at mr mad dogs work. Probably sometime in february. ill post up details when i do. (its the one that ladyinred is refering to.)
My dad owns a tranny shop and they do everything but front end alignments so i got mine done for the ''cost'' not retail of the parts and all i had to do was pull it and push it myself which is super easy with all the lifts and tools and if i ever have a problem one of the guys is always willing to help,one problem that i have noticed is that just like a new motor you have to let them break in and alot of people dont do that then wonder why there unit messed up....
just for everyone to know, im going to be tearing one of these transmissions down and taking a look at mr mad dogs work. Probably sometime in february. ill post up details when i do. (its the one that ladyinred is refering to.)
I would be interested to know the out come of this.
I am not promoting this guy because I had my own issues with him, he sold me a Vette tranny when he knew it was going in a Trans Am (I don't know who "he" was, but it was not Mad Dog). I could not tell the difference until I had it in the car and noticed there was nowhere to bolt the crossmember to. So I had to take it out and take it back to him to get another one, which was a 3 hour drive.
...Besides that, the tranny has been in the car for over a year with over 10,000 miles and many drag strip passes on slicks. When it goes into 2nd gear it will yank the fillings out of your teeth, I love it. Hopefully I got lucky *crosses fingers*.
i have a god father from mad dog and its great. from the sound of alot of these posts it is installer error. i use a pressure gauge to set my TV cable. my trans also came with the tailshaft housing missing so i guess i could see where the issue with the crossmember would be, but installing it on the new trans was easy. all the reviews ive read on here sound like people who have set up a 700 before have no problems and people who havent say the trans sucks.
i have a god father from mad dog and its great. from the sound of alot of these posts it is installer error. i use a pressure gauge to set my TV cable. my trans also came with the tailshaft housing missing so i guess i could see where the issue with the crossmember would be, but installing it on the new trans was easy. all the reviews ive read on here sound like people who have set up a 700 before have no problems and people who havent say the trans sucks.
just my opinion
Interesting point, but playing Devil's Advocate, why aren't there as many posts about Pro-Built tranny's being trash if it's inexperienced people doing the installs and setting them up? You rarely if ever see complaints about Pro-Builts, which I happen to be an advocate of, as they have an EXCELLENT reputation and mine has been perfect.
Not arguing with you or dismissing your point, just a counter point.
Interesting point, but playing Devil's Advocate, why aren't there as many posts about Pro-Built tranny's being trash if it's inexperienced people doing the installs and setting them up? You rarely if ever see complaints about Pro-Builts, which I happen to be an advocate of, as they have an EXCELLENT reputation and mine has been perfect.
Not arguing with you or dismissing your point, just a counter point.
the answer to that is...... he blames installer error or improper TV cable setup for EVERYTHING.
Interesting point, but playing Devil's Advocate, why aren't there as many posts about Pro-Built tranny's being trash if it's inexperienced people doing the installs and setting them up? You rarely if ever see complaints about Pro-Builts, which I happen to be an advocate of, as they have an EXCELLENT reputation and mine has been perfect.
Not arguing with you or dismissing your point, just a counter point.
thats a good question, and i have done little research on pro-built, if any at all. all i know from my own experiences, is that the 700 is very easy to misadjust.
its just very easy to point fingers to someone else....be it the installer or the rebuilder
thats a good question, and i have done little research on pro-built, if any at all. all i know from my own experiences, is that the 700 is very easy to misadjust.
its just very easy to point fingers to someone else....be it the installer or the rebuilder
so how do you install a 4l60e wrong? stock tune on a 99z, cooler flushed, everything installed by a professional shop, new torqure converter, NO TV CABLE to misadjust.
trans still takes a dump 3 months down the road.
when you start getting more complaints then compliments, there is something wrong with the product.
Not even good used parts, they tech couldnt beleive it.
Ive mellowed out in my old age. twenty years ago i would have done just that. 
The 60 and 65E will accept the same converter so that was bull. Then when it blew the 2nd time I looked at the pieces and it had a 60E in it because it had a 4 pinion planetary. He is a thief, a liar, and has no integrity what so ever. 
