We have recently had feedback from one of our customers who put 70,000 miles on one set of our orings.  Getting that many miles is dependant on driving habits.  Given our new HBNR O-Rings that number could have been in the 85,000 mile range.  No matter what your driving habits, you can replace orings as a consumable indefinitely and we always supply oring replacements with the kit or free if you contact us with your original order information.

​Happy Shifting! ---- Andy

Believe it or not we are finding out that there are still some transmission re-builders that are choosing not to bore and sleeve the cases as part of their rebuild process.  Some consider that aftermarket modifications and they don't do it.  We are hearing this from some of our customers who put a rebuild in before they found out about our kit.  These are also coming from some very reputable places.

This is just a heads up as we do not want people to put transmissions in without knowing it was rebuilt properly.  So if you go this route make sure they are boring and sleeving used cases, or using new cores.

Andy

Initially when we did our studies we found the bores with smooth wearing and some with oval shapes at the bottom leaving a sharp edge.  We are hearing some results of orings prematurely wearing out in less than a year.  Along with that we are getting some reports of rough surfaces in the bores.  We added a step in the instructions to smooth out the bores a bit with 400-600 grit emery paper.  This is done by wrapping the paper around a dowel or drill and running it in and out a dozen time, cleaning out the bore and then installing our kit.  This appears to help the premature wear issue substantially.

We have also run across situation where people are not reading instructions.  Here are the biggest keys to a successful installation.

1. Smooth out the bores with emery paper.
2. Make sure you leave the plastic installation sleeve on during assembly.  We still have people who don't read the directions and remove it.
3. Once you carefully put the servo in up to where the bore touches the assembly sleeve, get everything ready to push it in place.  Make sure you push the servo in using one smooth-quick motion.  If you hesitate at all there is a chance the 1st oring will come out from under the sleeve an will get sheared off on the edge of the bore.

Remember we always ship at no cost replacement orings if needed.

That is it, happy shifting!

Andy

Just a quick note we have had our third documented customer who had a transmisison that the bores were sleeved and they stil wore and had to put our fix in.  On the last one the transmission was rebuilt at around 76K and the problem started happening again at 135K.  This was a transmission shop and they ordered our kit and it fixed the problem.

Andy

On the original mountaineer with the original design fix the vehicle started to act up again at 47,000 miles of city driving.  The original design has been updated with a larger front O-Ring and the grooves were optimized to eliminate damage during installation.  The upper heat shield was removed and with a 90 degree needle nose and about an hours worth of time the updated design was installed and the vehicle is back to perfect shifts again.  I expect to get 50,000 on this new part for a City Driver.  If it fails again at 50k or so we will just pop it out and put a new set of o-rings on it.  Currently there is 70,000 miles on test vehicle since the fix was 1st installed.

Andy

I always try to come up with new ways to do the job.  I recently was playing around with a better way to get the snap rings out.  I modified a 45 degree needle nose to 90 degrees.  When you compress the cap in one of two ways (Block, Pry Bar, and Bungee Cord or Block, Pry Bar, and pressing between the sheet metal and converter), then compress the snap ring with the needle nose or snap ring tool.  While holding the ring compressed, gradually release the pressure on the cap.  The pressue from the return spring should push the cap out on the opposite side of the snap ring grooves.  When fully released the top of the ring should stay out of the groove.  Then just take a pick or small screwdriver and pry it out from the top.  You may have to work around the diameter a bit.  That is it and it works great!

I am going to be coming up with the recommended needle nose to do the work and probably sell them on my site.  If I cannot find the right one I will modify ones I know I can get a hold of.

Along with this, I strongly recommend modifying the snap ring after you have it out.  The snap ring originally has an angle that leads down to a radius corner.  If you take a small file or a Dremel Tool and make it a sharp corner, and also angle it back towards the split in the ring a bit.  Basically with the needle nose I used after doing this you can put it on the ring and compress it and it no longer slips off.  You can test the modification one whatever tool you are using to make sure it works.

Also, if you every have a oring wear out, there it a 90% chance it will be the inner one on the OD servo. To fix it I would just remove the upper heat shield and follow the directions from there.

Some very good and highly recommended tips.

Andy