Tranny rebuild: TRE or Shep?

[CP]

I've come to find out that the tranny I removed last November was stock, and had been rebuilt by some shop down in FL about a year ago. Maybe this was the reason for the ticking first gear.

Anyway, I'd like to send it out for a quality rebuild this summer (and some synchros). The car is a daily driver, and may never see a drag strip again. The two big players seem to be Shep Racing and Team Rip Engineering:

http://www.shepracing.com/sr_serv2.html
http://www.teamrip.com/TRE%20AWD%20SERVICES.html

Prices for the complete service are within $200 of each other. However the TRE service appears to replace more parts. I'm assuming that I'll need a new first gear to fix the ticking. TRE also offers a 10% taller 5th gear, which I'm dying to get (can you see a trend here?).

Which would you recommend and why?

 

Shep. I will never do business with TRE again. He didn't take my money but he did take far too long and promised the tranny would be done by X date when it wasn't even started. He finally got it to me a couple days before my lease was up and the output shaft was wrong so I had to find a t-case locally. He did reimburse me for that 100% however.

He is not a bad guy but unless he's changed or he knows you, I don't feel like you get service in a timely manner. The tranny did shift great though.

 

[CP]

These are very similar comments to what I've heard from some local guys. TRE seems to have some customer service issues. Shep it is then.

 

go here.
dog box racing

Alex is one of the owners and is an awesome guy! I know several people who got built trannies from him and have had no problem. My one buddy runs 12.0s all day shifting at 7500 rpms and it still shifts perfect as a daily driver. I can't wait till mine goes to get one done by him. He's out of North Jersey.

Geoff

 

Quote:
go here.
dog box racing

Alex is one of the owners and is an awesome guy! I know several people who got built trannies from him and have had no problem. My one buddy runs 12.0s all day shifting at 7500 rpms and it still shifts perfect as a daily driver. I can't wait till mine goes to get one done by him. He's out of North Jersey.

Geoff



Yup call up Brian
he did 4 trannies for me already and they shift like butter /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
also the prices are unbelievable

 

Quote:
go here.
dog box racing

Alex is one of the owners and is an awesome guy! I know several people who got built trannies from him and have had no problem. Geoff



Highly recommned Alex and Brian at DogBoxRacing.com
I have one of their transmissions in my car, 10k miles of pure abuse and it shifts perfect.
It is also the smoothest shifting trans I have ever driven in a dsm.
Their prices are very good too.

-Ant

 

If Im reading the Shep site right, his rebuild starts at 895.
Sounds like thats the one you want since you said you're not looking for a drag-box.

 

[RayH]

Quote:
go here.
dog box racing

Alex is one of the owners and is an awesome guy! I know several people who got built trannies from him and have had no problem. My one buddy runs 12.0s all day shifting at 7500 rpms and it still shifts perfect as a daily driver. I can't wait till mine goes to get one done by him. He's out of North Jersey.

Geoff




What town are they in?

 

[4orced4door]

Quote:
I've come to find out that the tranny I removed last November was stock, and had been rebuilt by some shop down in FL about a year ago. Maybe this was the reason for the ticking first gear.



It was rebuilt by Jerry in Tampa with whatever needed replacing replaced and a double synchro second. When the ticking started and I posted about it on the board, the consensus was that it's not a bad gear, but a bad bearing.

 

[CP]

Thanks Paul. The redheaded step-tranny is spending some quality time in the corner of my garage for now.

 

Well I just got mine done, I got it built locally by a guy that has been building DSM trannies for a 3-4 years now. The tranny in my VR4 was built by the same dude.
here is the specs
91 Tranny case (23spline)
Custom 4spider center differiental (machined here in Colorado)
1-2 Steel shift fork
3-4 Steel shift fork
Galant VR4 1st gear
Double Coned second Gear and syncros
All new bearings
All new syncros.
Bigger 3-4 gears (stock 91-92 gears)

I'm not even going to tell you how much I'm paying, let's just say I got a KILLER deal, didin't get charged for labor and got a deal on the Differiental because the builder took 3 months to finish it. But for the price I would of waited another 3months. I'll give you guys a ball figure I paid less then $825 for everything.

 

Quote:
Well I just got mine done, I got it built locally by a guy that has been building DSM trannies for a 3-4 years now. The tranny in my VR4 was built by the same dude.
here is the specs
91 Tranny case (23spline)
Custom 4spider center differiental (machined here in Colorado)
1-2 Steel shift fork
3-4 Steel shift fork
Galant VR4 1st gear
Double Coned second Gear and syncros
All new bearings
All new syncros.
Bigger 3-4 gears (stock 91-92 gears)

I'm not even going to tell you how much I'm paying, let's just say I got a KILLER deal, didin't get charged for labor and got a deal on the Differiental because the builder took 3 months to finish it. But for the price I would of waited another 3months. I'll give you guys a ball figure I paid less then $825 for everything.

jack im guessing? im heading down there today to drop my tranny off i think..

 

[DSMGVR4]

Damn, I guess dogbox will get my business in the future. $725 for parts and labor on a basic rebuild and its in the same state as me.

 

i got a BM trans now know as a turbo trix trans. shifts great no complaints from me

 

Quote:
Quote:
go here.
dog box racing

Alex is one of the owners and is an awesome guy! I know several people who got built trannies from him and have had no problem. My one buddy runs 12.0s all day shifting at 7500 rpms and it still shifts perfect as a daily driver. I can't wait till mine goes to get one done by him. He's out of North Jersey.

Geoff




What town are they in?



I think Brick, NJ or in that area.

-Ant

 

[CmanorVr4]

My trannies were rebuilt by B&M which has now merged with Turbotrix. I highly recommend them, they built a race tranny for my Talon as well as a stock rebuild for the Vr4. Edison, NJ /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worthy.gif

 

Hands down either Shep or Dogbox depends on how much u want to spend

 

According to the webpages, doesn't it look like Shep is several hundred dollars cheaper for the basic rebuild?

 

Call Lucas English at EnglishRacing.net before you make any decisions. 360-901-3112.

He has done a few trannies for me and hundreds of transmissions for other DSM and GVR4 customers. Excellent service, warranty, and minimal downtime for you.

 

[Luke]

I think the aforementioned TRE customer issue is no longer true.
Jon@TRE hired a helper ( Ming? ) and the turn around has been a lot quicker.

I got mine done in about 3 days.
1 day to disassemble.
1 day to discuss my options with me on the phone and wait for my decision
1 day to assemble

Including shipping, the turn around time was just slightly over one week.