My Gear Vendor Under/Overdrive finally decided it has had enough & protested by making strange grinding noises & vibrations. Unfortunately, I can not tell you how well this unit did since I purchased the truck used with 118,000 miles on the clock. I do know I wouldn’t drive without one, I like it that much! I put on another 14,000 miles before any symptoms showed up. The truck was still driveable but the vibration definitely was getting worse & needed some TLC. As it turns out, there is a silver lining to my expensive transmission repair. I ended up in the very professional hands of Automotive Transmission Specialists in Denver. ATS has been in business for almost 10 years in the Denver area & is also a Gear Vendors dealer. Clint Cannon of ATS diagnosed & rebuilt my Gear Vendors unit. Clint is extremely knowledgeable & has also designed & developed custom torque converters for automatic transmissions. I got to take a test drive in their shop vehicle, a 3500 automatic that I think was a 2000 model. Not only is it a superbly fast truck, the auto they designed is fantastic. ATS has incorporated, of their own design, an automatic torque lockup that self deactivates below 30mph. ATS uses 5 forward clutches instead of the OEM 4 clutches & uses 10 overrun clutches instead of the OEM 8 clutches. There are many more details regarding their automatic that I do not understand since I’m just not an automatic kind of guy. All I can say is, if you have an automatic transmission & you want to put some BIG Cummins power through it, you should, no I mean you need to talk to these guys. I didn’t get Clint’s entire professional background but I did get his associate, Don Ramer’s background. Don started out as a diesel mechanic in the Coast Guard. He then moved on to a company in Florida programming robotic equipment then spent 17 years with Caterpillar before coming together with Clint. There is a ton of diesel experience between these two guys & they are heavily involved in drag racing over at Bandimere. Racing is always a good test bed for products. As a matter of fact (this WILL BE of great interest to you 24 or overvalved guys) ATS is running Bosch experimental pumps that came right out of an 8 second dragster with great success. Here’s a couple of pictures of the BOSCH VR6 EXPERIMENTAL FUEL PUMP.
"Competition Only" designation
http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/manowicki...c=ph%26.view=t
Bosch VR6 EXPERIMENTAL PUMP!
http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/manowicki...c=ph%26.view=t
Bosch VR6 Plate ID
http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/manowicki...c=ph%26.view=t
BTW, for all you guys that don’t have an EGT gauge or don’t pay attention to it, check out these pictures of a MELTED CUMMINS! This Cummins was using the Stage III injectors.
Melted Cummins Head
http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/manowicki...c=ph%26.view=t
Melted Cummins Piston
http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/manowicki...c=ph%26.view=t
So, do you STILL don’t want to spend money on an EGT gauge?
Here’s a picture of my NV4500 after they split it open. While we were waiting for GV parts, we decided to take a look at the rest of my driveline for potential problems. As it turns out, my 1st & 4th gear syncros were approaching the end of their limits. There was substantial rocking on the 5th gear mating surfaces, but the 5th GEAR NUT WAS STILL TIGHT! Imagine that…
Split NV4500
http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/manowicki...c=ph%26.view=t
ATS also rebuilds NV4500’s to their own specifications to deal with the well-documented DESIGN FLAWS still being produced by NVG. ATS uses a heat treated & hardened head gear & pilot bearing. Of course a fully splined 5th gear main shaft & split locking nut is incorporated. They are confident enough in their rebuilt NV4500’s to offer a 2 year, 65,000 miles warranty on this unit! That impressed me, so I had them put one in with a new LUK Gold clutch. BTW, the clutch is super smooth & has the OEM light pedal pressure. MY CTD still puts out stock power & I have no plans of going over 700 ft-lbs when I do decide to let the power out, so I’m very happy with the LUK. ATS also installs the dual McCleod clutches for you guys running the big torque numbers.
So what else does ATS have? They are currently experimenting with a DUAL TURBO setup that puts in 100PSI! I was told that EGT’s for this setup never exceded 1100 degF NO MATTER HOW MUCH FUEL WAS USED! Looking for custom Power Trak Lockers? How about 2000degF marine coated manifolds? Or Stainless Steel exhaust systems? Or custom built valve springs, converters & valve bodies? Again for you overvalved boys, do you want to get BIG POWER by stacking the TST Competion Level 3 box with an EZ module?
Anyways, the ATS name they are using does not in anyway indicate what these guys are doing. Even so, the biggest problem these guys have indicates that hasn’t been problem, they are SWAMPED WITH BUSINESS. But, this is a GREAT BUNCH OF GUYS & will bend over backwards to get you back on the road quickly. As an example, we needed to get out of town on a high country llama trip to the mountains. Normal shop hours close around 5:30 but ATS seldom closes on time. They stayed until my truck was completed which worked out to be 9:30pm! The biggest delay on my truck was waiting for the GV parts to arrive. (GV snafu'ed the delivery method) However, Everything performed as advertised. We & the llamas had a great trip over the 13,000 foot Jones pass. So, if you need some advice on high performance modifications for your Cummins & or its driveline, I can wholeheartedly give these guys the two thumbs up! The only thing ATS did not have was some of that, TDR member Mike Nowicki endorsed, Redline MT90 for my NV4500!!!
Don Ramer or Clint Cannon can be reached at ATS in Denver at 303-431-7973
Clint’s Email address is
clintcannon@yahoo.com
ATS Crew
http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/manowicki...c=ph%26.view=t
Happy motoring!
Mike
Damages were as follows:
LUK Clutch Kit w/o labor= 263.90
GV rebuild kit including labor= $548.15
NV4500HD w/ updated main shaft, input & 5th= $2300-TDR Discount=$2,150
I also had the transfer case resealed, etc.. With everything like resurfacing the flywheel & all labor to do the entire job ran me just under $4,000 & a small heart malfunction! But, I will be relying on my truck heavily in my future line of work & needed everything done professionally. Its one thing using the TDR guy's advice to correct a KDP issue but to tackle that kind of tranny work, by myself, for the 1st time would have been foolish.
I need absolute rock reliability or at least a good warranty!.
Rocky Mtn Transmission Trouble
Linear Mode
