When its too good to be true it usually is.
A week ago Monday I got the truck back from Madison Transmission in Richmond Ky and on Wednesday night I headed to Missouri to pick up a 24' gooseneck trailer that we had recently purchased in Moberly Mo. I got about 419 miles and decided to stop for the night. The transmission shifts weren't quite what I was expecting but were better than they had been before taking in for repair. Next morning I headed out and was traveling along I-70 heading up a mild grade when the transmission kicked out of OD down to 3rd. Stayed that way for about 3 seconds and then shifted back into OD. That didn't seem right since I was running unloaded and no trailer. Then I noticed the OD Off light flashing on the shift lever. Uh Oh, this isn't good although the transmission stayed in OD for the rest of the distance on I-70. Once I got into Columbia I noticed that the shifts from 1st-2nd, 2nd-3rd were very harsh and the shift wouldn't take place until I let up on the pedal.
Since I was on a time schedule to pick up the trailer I went ahead and drove to Moberly (36 miles) and picked up the trailer. While talking to the seller he said there was a good transmission shop in town and led me to their shop with me pulling the trailer behind my truck. I ended up using the shift lever to shift gears while driving to the transmission shop. Once there the shop agreed to do a test drive and give me a quick diagnosis. The word I got back from them is they wanted to pull the pan and look inside the transmission to see if there was any metal bits. Since my warranty was for the transmission "only" be fixed at the shop in Kentucky I called them and explained what was going on. They reluctantly agreed to let the Moberly shop pull the pan for a look see.
The pan ended up being full of metal chunks, metal dust and brass dust. They informed me the transmission should be pulled for a look at the insides. I then called back the Kentucky transmission shop and he was really hesitant about having someone else pull the transmission. When I explained repeatedly that I couldn't drive home with the transmission the way it was he finally relented and said to have them pull it apart to see what was wrong. At no time would he commit to any refunds, etc.
It wasn't until the Moberly shop started pulling the transmission apart that I really started to get mad. Every part removed was old and worn. There were NO new parts in the transmission at all. The torque converter was obviously a used one that had been repainted to look new. The paint was coming off in sheets due to poor prep work before painting. The clutch disks inside were all severely burned. The oil still smelled burnt. The electrical connector on the solenoid pack was old, cracked and had dirt that had been painted silver. There were NO updated parts in it at all. As a matter of fact some of the parts dated back to 88-89 and were only used in those years before being upgraded by Ford. I got pictures of all this while they were dismantling the transmission. They were gracious enough to let me stand there and watch so I knew exactly what was done by the Kentucky shop. Needless to say they told me I was royally screwed by the shop in Kentucky.
Fortunately for me the Moberly shop (C&R Transmissions) turned out to be a first class operation with great people doing the work. Since I was stranded there they let me wander around their shop, watch what they were doing and just in general made me feel at home. They are a family operation with two sons (Charlie & Randy) running the shop with their father (Wayne) providing support in various capacities. Truly wonderful people.
Now for the gory details. C&R explained to me what they felt should be done and why each thing should be done. They started work on the truck about 3:45pm on Thursday. By 5:10pm on Friday I was out the door and hooking up to my trailer. The total bill for doing all the updates to the transmission, removal and installation, rebuild labor and installing a new oil cooler in place of the one on the truck was $2550. I was pleasantly surprised by this price especially since it included so many update parts.
So I headed out of Moberly and back home. Unfortunately I got about 25 miles and while going up a slight grade I felt a jolt and the transmission popped down to what I thought was 3rd gear. I rounded the crest of the hill and pulled over to evaluate the situation. I decided to head back to Moberly to see if I could get them to check things out. It wasn't until I pulled over on the shoulder and then tried to go forward again when I found the truck wouldn't move. I couldn't go forward or reverse. So I had the towing company haul me and the trailer back to C&R. I managed to track down Wayne and he told me he would have Randy check things out 1st thing Saturday morning.
To make a long story a little shorter what Randy found was the input shaft had snapped. It turns out this was the only component they hadn't upgraded. Their reasoning at the time was that it was a somewhat costly part and they had never really had much trouble with the older input shafts in the past. So they felt comfortable not installing that part. I can't argue with their reasoning and still feel they made the right decision. They didn't come out and tell me specifically what the shaft would have cost but I got the impression the shaft and associated parts would have been around $400 or so.
In the end Randy had the transmission out, repaired and reinstalled in the truck by 4:50pm Saturday. Even with this happening I still feel that C&R is a top notch operation that I would recommend to anyone. There was no charge for any of the parts or work performed on Saturday. I couldn't have asked for anything more.
Bottom line is I would NOT recommend Madison Transmission in Richmond KY to anyone. They are crooks plain and simple. I am in negotiations with Madison Transmissions right now to get my money back and for them to pay for 2 nights motel bills. I explained to them exactly what was found in the transmission, and told them I had pictures and a statement from the other shop. They have agreed to reimburse me and I'm supposed to pick up a check today. We'll see how that works out.
I did ask C&R that if Madison Transmissions had done the work they said they did I would I have been ok. They said probably so. They felt the input shaft snapped because of the increased torque coming from the new heavy duty torque converter they installed. In the long run I probably would have had more issues with a rebuild done like Madision Transmissions was supposed to have done but thats a different issue.
Future plans call for the addition of one more oil cooler and the installation of a Derale inline spin on filter. Hopefully both will be done before my next trip.
Brad
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