This is for a fellow CK5 member. Furthermore, some of us have e-mailed this vendor concerning his practices and call bullshit on his trouble shooting ability. Here is the customer's write-up about his troubles with the customer service and for "customer beware!"
I did some internet searching and found this seemingly well built ( & overbuilt for my needs ) 700R4.
Speaking with Don the owner, (of Performance Automotive & Transmission Center) telling him who I am, and as a member of CK5 I tell him of the site and the potential to help him gain some more buisness.
We strike up a deal where he was paying me $50 for every purchasing referral I sent him.
So, for $1545.00 and another $125.00 for shipping, I have one on its way. It arrives, I install, and just to be sure that all is well I pay the local AAMCO transmission shop another $50.00 to make sure the TV cable is adjusted properly and all pressures are OK.
Well, 4 months later in mid winter on a skiing trip, the Torque Converter has a major failure and the in trying to limp the truck home 1 quart at a time,..... the Blazer catches fire. The fire did enough damage that the truck wont move or run at this point, so another $284 later, I have the truck towed to the shop that I work at. I call the The Transmission Center speak with Don the owner and he makes arrangements for the tranny to be picked up and shipped back to him. A few days later, he tells me the converter failed and the tranny was on its way back to me. I tell him of my concerns with the condition of this trans. and he proceeds to tell me his guy went thru it and checked it all out and its FINE.
A few days later, the tranny arrives at my shop. The tranny guy that I work with is having a hard time believing that all is well with this tranny. He gives it a quick external once-over, and plain as day the toasted front seal is still there. Looking past this seal into the pump you can also see plain as day the melted plastic retainer inside the front pump. Another phone call to Don..... This time i emphasize my reluctance to trust this trans and am concerned with what little warranty it has left. He tells me its fine, and if there is a problem, we can look into it then. .......well, what can i do ??
So now there is a new pump on its way to me to install.
New pump arrives, I have it installed then install the trans for the second time.
this has all taken about 3 1/2 weeks, time enough to replace all the burned wiring, melted insulation, and get a new TV cable since the last one burned up in the fire. Luckily I have 2 other cars so aside from not having the use of my truck at least I wasnt out of a set of wheels.
Now, 8 months later the trans is shuddering on the 1 - 2 shift when in OD. If you put in D it seems ok. But then the downshift to 2nd is so abrupt and hard it actually stops the driveshaft and makes the ABS activate so you loose breaking pressure just as your trying to stop. ( for those of you not familliar with the ABS on these early year trucks, the sensor is in the transfer case, and picks up driveline lockup.)
So i make another call to Don, this time i just act like a regular Joe calling with a tranny problem. I describe to him the problem, and his reaction is " oh you've got a problem, thats gonna need to come out" I then tell him who i am, and this is his tranny. He then gives me the standard... " sounds like your TV cable is out of adjustment, try readjusting it." Okay, fine... I do and it is so bad when properly adjusted that it will barely move, all it does is shake like hell and shudder the entire truck. In order to get it to move the adjustment is pushed all the way in and it uses a little spring he supplies to get more pressure and not let the cable bind at full throttle.
So, more phone calls to Don, this time he tells me to drop the pan and check that there is no debris. Fine.... ive got a 1000 mile trek to Utah coming up, what the hell.
All is fine inside tranny, no spare parts found.
Another call to The Transmission Center and now Don wont take calls from me, but lets his "manager" take my calls. All this time.... throughout all communications with Don and his secretary i have been nothing but nice and calm. I work in retail, and there is nothing i hate more than dealing with a jackass customer demanding this and that. So i act in a professional manner hoping they will be too.
Well, Mike gets this whole story, and offers to rebuild the tranny for cost. HA ! GOD! is that a good one or what ? I can pay $250 shipping and pay again for something that should have been fixed the first time it failed 8 months ago ! WOW, what a deal. We argue a bit, and Mike still cant understand that this thing has failed again, most likely because of the initial failed torque converter. And refuses to take care of a GOOD customer that has sent him alot of buisness. Well, i have no other options, and am certainly not going to pay anymore money for a crap transmission, this one has cost me enough ! At least i can keep this from happening to anyone else out there. Im sure they build a fine product, and have spoken with a few of the members on here that i reffered to them. They are satisfied with their Raptor and have had no problems. Im sure mine would have been good as well had the converter not failed. Too Bad the owner and "manager" cant see this same conclusion.

What id like to do is have everyone email don@transmissioncenter.net these guys and give them 2 cents worth ."

Also, during my and others' e-mail conversations, this Don has blamed the problem on 3.73 gearing and 33" tires and when called bullshit, he refused to answer and sent out formatted replies.

How many miles form the time it has the first failure to the point you are at now? It seems unlikely that the fist failure is related to this failure if say 5000 miles have past. I'd figure a 700R4 would make it to the gas station and back if the two where related. And since you pulled the pan and didn't find any hard parts in it, who knows. That doesn't mean to say the tranny should have failed again, that sucks twice, but only they are probably not related.

I think every guy who's ever had a 700R4 has had this same thing. I could tell you some really bad stories and some great ones about 700R4's.

I'm not sure a tranny via mailorder is the way to go for any automatic.

Good luck. Keep us informed.

tony k

I think every guy who's ever had a 700R4 has had this same thing.
Never had a problem with mine. The tranny was put in '92, I bought the truck in '95 and I've put over 80,000 miles on it.

i got a raptor tranny in my cruiser and it kicks ass:cool:

Hey TonyK,
Here is the answers you were seeking.
The guy wanted to know how many miles i put on it from the first failure to the 2nd. If ya wanna answer for me.... Tell him about 4,000 miles give or take, Ive only put about 8000 on it total in the past year, and 2000 of that was the trip to MOAB a few weeks ago. The truck gets driven about 2 times per week.

Originally posted by BRBoudreaux

Never had a problem with mine. The tranny was put in '92, I bought the truck in '95 and I've put over 80,000 miles on it.
Here is a link to the CK5 post. Understand that this tranny was suposidly inspected before it was reinstalled by Raptor. Problem is if it was inspected don't you think they would have caught the burned up pump the housing seal and stator seal and popped for the $5 and replaced at least the pump seal before reinstalling it? See where this is going?
On a side note...Don finnaly saw the light after several hundered e-mails and is sending the guy a replacement tranny.
http://coloradok5.com/forums/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=garage&Number=514216&page=0&view=expanded&sb=5&o=&fpart=

Sent a e-mail his way.

any news?

Hey... seems you guys missed somethign in the story. The tranny was installed by "AAMCO transmission" it sounds like.

Everyone, and I mean everyone that I know of that went to them got ripped off. Maybe the tranny was fine and AAMCO transmission is the company to blame for the first failure.

Read again, I don't think AAMCO installed the transmission.

"It arrives, I install, and just to be sure that all is well I pay the local AAMCO transmission shop another $50.00 to make sure the TV cable is adjusted properly and all pressures are OK."

Here's an update if your too lazy to click on the link.
GOOD NEWS GANG..... THIS MORNING I RECIEVED A PHONE CALL FROM DON, AND THERE IS A FRESH TRANNY ON ITS WAY TO ME.
First off id like to thank everyone that responded to my post and those that were part of the barrage of e-mails that were sent to The Transmission Center.
There is POWER in numbers !!!
This site is absolutely the best ! I have never seen or recieved so much support from people i hardly know. From when my first Blazer was stolen, or the camaraderie in MOAB to this ordeal now, All you guys are the best. This is what truly sets us above the other sites and precisely why we are rated #1
I also want to give a big thanks to Jack (bklynlifted) for his e-mail to Don. Whatever you said to him got him to see the light. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you !
I will keep you all posted on the final outcome, and to be fair to all will also post in a few months a progress report on just how the tranny is doing. I feel confident and hopefull that the problems i had were isolated instances related to the Converter failure. Thank you also to Don of the Transmission Center for taking care of buisness.