I have a 93 w250.
As of now I have a stock A518.
My truck is straight piped, and has the GDS 60mm upgrade. I'm going to order a Denny T stage 2 pin soon. and in the next few months a 6" lift.

Is my transmission going to be able to handle that? Cause I have been doing alot of research on it, and have come to the conclusion that these transmissions dont handle any power.

I cant afford my transmission to blow up this second. So I would rather save my pennies and buy a new tranny upgrade, and hold off on any major upgrades like injectors and a new fuel spring until then.

I've spent quite some time looking for upgrades for my A518 but I'm not sure what the best upgrade would be for my 4x4.
The thing is i dont want to compromise my 4x4, so what would be the best torque converter for that? Also I doubt I'll go over 300 horses, if that helps.

But if I'm making too much a deal about this that would be awesome too

 

be sure your front drive line has enough reach for a 6in

 

Yea I was reading about that, but the lift won't be for quite some time.

 

be careful who does your transmission. generic rebuild shops suck when it comes to diesels. i just did my trans , and a good torque converter is essential . also good clutches and steels, and a shift kit is a must. also remember if towing heat is the enemy, a good deep pan helps also auxilary cooler helps .

 

I don't know how you came to that conclusion. You just have to build it right. Sure, they're not going to handle 1000hp, but I'd hazard to guess anything up to 550/600hp if you're careful, (meaning no 40psi boosted launches! ) A'course, to handle that kind of power you're going to be looking at complete replacement of basically everything. But to make that kind of power you'd be looking at replacing basically everything in the engine bay too. One thing a lot of folks forget is that it's all a balancing act. You need to spend at least as much time, energy, thought and money on the tranny and drivetrain as on the engine. And probably the most overlooked thing is brakes. No one upgrades their brakes in direct relation to their increase in power.

 

thanks thats a bit of a relief
I can resume the process of making power!
And I came to that conclusion by looking around other forums , I should have known not to stray from diesel bombers

 

 

one way to upgrade the brakes on these old sleds is to put the HD drums, shoes and 1 ton wheel cylinders. gotta be careful mine would come around sideways if i got on the brakes hard in a corner on wet roads . but it helps ALOT. other than that ceramic brakes are a good upgrade, summit sells drilled and slotted rotors, havnet used them couldnt speak for how they work. i believe summit also carrys hawk performance brake pads, expensive but also good. ive seen a thread on here for a rear disc brake conversion at one point in time too, on the thread it was quoted to be about a $300 upgrade not including the needed bias adjuster. for another $300 in stuff from PATC transmissions you can get some upgraded parts that solve some common issues and increases the efficiency, transgo TF-2 shift kit is what was recommended to me. $68 bucks from summit i believe. lower stall convertor and you're set for a nice modest build. as stated before as long as you arent doing 40 pound boosted launches (in 4wd where you have more than enough traction) SOMETHING is going to give and it probably wont be the driveline talk to RSWORDS, he knows all about it and now uses a billet input shaft

 

It's been my experience the built A518 can easily handle about 450/1000 reliably.*









* Disclaimer: Provided one limits boosted launches to 10psig or less. 20 ~ 25psig launches require the usual heavy duty components such as 6-pinion, steel carrier planetary gear-sets, increased clutch/steel counts in the clutch-pacs, modified valve-body, etc. Stock shafts appear to be able to handle over 100 20psig boosted launches but eventually snap with the shock loads during gear transitions. . . . . . Dang it.

 

May I turn your attention to BC847's disclaimer. Read it, then read it again, and once more for good luck. This man knows what he's talking about with the 518, (and many, MANY other things besides) and has personal hands-on experience both building and pounding them.