Time for a new transmission...

[TowDawg]

Well, made it through this weekend without any contact with anything. Unfortunately, I didn't make it through without any incidents.
I ran all day Saturday and on the first run this morning, I got a few laps in before the transmission let go. I came out of 7 onto the back straight and right after I went to 3rd, it decided to go BANG!
I thought I might be able to limp to pit road, or at the very least get to the turn off down in 10A, but I knew I was losing speed to fast to be going that slow down the hill (which is blind) with people coming from behind at 150+, so I had to just get off the track and wait on the tow truck.
Dropping the car off at a fellow VCA member's shop in Knoxville tomorrow to pull it apart and see how bad it is. With the car off, you can row through the gears just fine and it's as smooth as normal, but if you start the car, put it in gear and let the clutch out, it makes a LOUD banging sound. Guess we'll see how bad it is soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HszPAqps150

 

[DrTaco]

Sorry to hear, and the vid was painful to watch after the BANG. Hope you're back on the track soon! Remember, there's no such thing as "accidents", just opportunities to upgrade

 

[BlackSnake99]

How appropriate that 'Must be The Money' was playing on the stereo.

 

[klamathpro]

Hey, Must be the Money! Dang, what mods do you have for it to go like that? Do you think the tranny cooler failed? I know racing is ******* stuff, but that's a TR-6060.

 

[MTGTS]

going into 3rd? You should be taking T7 in 3rd. Extra shifting and reving the crap outta the car won't make you faster. You'll learn to carry more speed and cut down on the total # of shifts per lap. This will lower your oil, coolant, and tranny temps. You have a Viper not a Porsche, you don't need rev's for power. You always have 500ft/lbs of TQ on tap.

 

[TowDawg]

That's the only place on the track I go to 2nd. I used to stay in 3rd there, but found I get through quicker in 2nd. Agree I would like to take it quick enough in 3rd, but not there yet.
I use 4th on the 3 straights, but the rest of the track is run in 3rd.
I'm not making huge power, so that shouldn't be the cause. Just decided to let go. I'm dropping at the shop today to open it up and see how bad it is inside.

 

[DrumrBoy]

Scott, sorry to hear about the bang. As the wrecker of no fewer than 4 transmissions in the past two years, its been my experience that 3rd and 5th are the gears that seem to be weakest (5th even moreso than 3rd). The Tremecs are decent but depending on power application they may ned a cooler (maybe Gen 3's have them from the factory?).

The good news is whether you've shattered most everything or just one gear, the repair bill doesn't change a whole lot. Southern Gear here in ATL builds that box for about $800.....I have two laying around in the garage but they have track miles on 'em so I wouldn't recommend using them for tough duty.

Good luck on getting it back together in time for the next event!

 

[TowDawg]

Thanks for the heads-up on Southern Gear. I'm running the car up to Brian in Knoxville today to take a look at it. Are you saying they will completely rebuild (geara and all internals for $800? I assume that's you pulling the tranny and taking just the tranny to them? Still seems like a good price.

 

[shooter_t1]

Hey, Must be the Money! Dang, what mods do you have for it to go like that? Do you think the tranny cooler failed? I know racing is ******* stuff, but that's a TR-6060.

Unless it was upgraded, Gen 3 doesn't have a TR6060. Only Gen 4's (and Gen 5's now)

 

[TowDawg]

Unless it was upgraded, Gen 3 doesn't have a TR6060. Only Gen 4's (and Gen 5's now)

Correct, I'm running the stock T56.

 

[JoelW]

My bet is a broken axle - or half shaft as they say.

Well, made it through this weekend without any contact with anything. Unfortunately, I didn't make it through without any incidents.
I ran all day Saturday and on the first run this morning, I got a few laps in before the transmission let go. I came out of 7 onto the back straight and right after I went to 3rd, it decided to go BANG!
I thought I might be able to limp to pit road, or at the very least get to the turn off down in 10A, but I knew I was losing speed to fast to be going that slow down the hill (which is blind) with people coming from behind at 150+, so I had to just get off the track and wait on the tow truck.
Dropping the car off at a fellow VCA member's shop in Knoxville tomorrow to pull it apart and see how bad it is. With the car off, you can row through the gears just fine and it's as smooth as normal, but if you start the car, put it in gear and let the clutch out, it makes a LOUD banging sound. Guess we'll see how bad it is soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HszPAqps150

 

[TowDawg]

Half-shafts and rear end are fine. 100% in the transmission somewhere. Now it's just a matter what went and what it destroyed when it went.

 

[TowDawg]

Well, this isn't what I hoped to find!

 

[TowDawg]

A few more...

 

[TowDawg]

Scott, sorry to hear about the bang. As the wrecker of no fewer than 4 transmissions in the past two years, its been my experience that 3rd and 5th are the gears that seem to be weakest (5th even moreso than 3rd). The Tremecs are decent but depending on power application they may ned a cooler (maybe Gen 3's have them from the factory?).

The good news is whether you've shattered most everything or just one gear, the repair bill doesn't change a whole lot. Southern Gear here in ATL builds that box for about $800.....I have two laying around in the garage but they have track miles on 'em so I wouldn't recommend using them for tough duty.

Good luck on getting it back together in time for the next event!

Bob, sent you a PM about this. Brian said it's a TR6060 in my car now that he has it apart. Maybe a previous owner upgraded it. I assume they work on these also and hopefully about the same price?

 

[99 R/T 10]

Make sure you guys re-fill the trans with Dex VI synthetic. So far, no failures on my old Gen II.......................................................

 

[TowDawg]

You mean there's supposed to be fluid in the transmission?

 

[klamathpro]

I told you it was a TR-6060

 

[treesnake]

I broke a "rebuilt by factory" TR6060 a month or so ago. The problem is that the gear sets etc. for repair come in clusters. You don't have a choice but to buy the whole set even though you may only need one part in that cluster....

Parts alone to fix mine are $1900.00. And I don't need half the parts....

 

[DrumrBoy]

Scott' I'll call you later and will dig up the last invoice I have for a T56 from SG. Have no idea how much different in price the 6060's are.

 

[TowDawg]

Thanks Bob.

I know Brian said the main, high cost items I need are the input shaft, countershaft and 2 syncro's. The other stuff is little items.
Unfortunately, the TR60 has some parts that can only be bought as "sets" as Treesnake said. For the T56, you can buy most of the pieces individually.

 

[345s-bspinnin]

Wow. Seems like major carnage for the power output. I had contemplated on upgrading to a 6060 for the better gearing and to better hold the power, but you guys are making me reconsider. The $1900 cost for the rebuild kit seems steep compared to other upgrades such as a Magnum or a Tranzilla.

 

[TowDawg]

I'll admit that I don't know much about the internals of the transmisison, but from what Brian said, the main input shaft is what 4th gear is, which interacts with the other gears. As you can see in the video, I was in 3rd when it blew, but my 3rd gear is perfectly fine. I busted 4th, which is on the input shaft. I'm more confused than ever. lol

 

[Grisoman]

Just dump some Trans-Medic in there and you'll be good to go.

 

[treesnake]

Just dump some Trans-Medic in there and you'll be good to go.

Yeah,....it should buff out.....









But seriously, good luck with your trans.
At $1900.00 (and that is "cousin pricing"...) for parts plus labor, I am contemplating Transzilla...

 

[TowDawg]

I'm beginning to think it IS a T56 and not a TR6060. Thought it was a 6060 because of a 1 piece countershaft instead of a 2 piece, but talked to Tremec today and the Viper T56 (by the Gen III cars anyway) used a 1 piece. The 56's look to be a good bit cheaper to rebuild.

 

[EllowViper]

When I ate my stock GEN-II T56, Donato recommended the RAM SRT-10 T56 even over the TR6060...so I went that direction since I had one local. You can get one for around $1500-$2k. I got mine for $1500 and sold the guts from my T56 for $400 so my net cost was around $1100. It has the hardened 9310 gears throughout (they do whine a bit due to less heilical cut gears). And you'll need the beefier TR6060 tailshaft yoke. Not sure where the GEN-III speedo sensor is on your trannys, but for a GEN-II, I needed to install the speedo tone ring on the output shaft (already splined). Finally, I needed to drill a hole to install the electronic speed sensor P/U in the tailshaft extenstion housing. No big deal. It also does not have the reverse lockout solenoid so you just leave the pigtail unplugged. Just another option for ya to consider.

 

[DrumrBoy]

Scott, I looked it up, the last two times I busted my T56 I broke 5th gear. Parts were 900 and all in labor to R&R was $1,250. It could be that the 5th gear pieces are easier to replace than the main shaft but given the prices of these things (generally around $2K for newly rebuilt) it might be best to go that route.

If you want to be better insulated against this failure mode, I've had good luck with my G-Force T56.

If you wanna be REALLY CERTAIN, just get the dog box!

 

[TowDawg]

Dammit Bob! You had me hoping you found the Holy Grail of inexpensive trans rebuilds. Lol
Yeah, the input and counter shafts are the expensive parts. Plus we're still trying to figure out exactly what the hell is in my car. All the manuals show that the T56 should have a 2 piece counter shaft, but Tremec told me by 2003, the Viper spec had a single piece (like mine does). I don't know enough about it, so Brian is calling Tremec directly to sort it out.
Ballpark, what does a G-force cost? And does it drive like normal, or is it a pain for regular driving?

 

[A1998]

Sent you a private note about your tranny.
Thanks