good bang for the buck transmission upgrades?
 

my buddy plans on a tuner for his 02 cummins but he has 189k on the trans and it leaks fluid and shifts like crap. i told him a trans upgrade would probably be in order before throwing any more power to it.

anyways, i don't know where to start for a dodge, apparently its not like an Allison where mostly soft parts will hold allot of power. i see all kinds of hard parts listed on suncoasts site and i don't know whats really necessary for holding a big tuner reliably. is it an expensive ordeal to build these things up? would it be cheaper to just search the junkyard for a 6 speed and buy a good clutch?

school me on the basics of 47re upgrades.

Without all the billet parts your good for 500hp. But you can't do boosted launches or sled pulling. A torque convertor(single or tripple disc), rebuild with extra clutches and steels, and a shift-kit or new valve body will be plenty for a street 500hp truck. I'm at 475-480-bhp and love my trans setup. Minus the racing valve body. But that was my fault.:argh:

go full billet and be done it will save in the long run. Look into a complete setup. it's much easier to deal with

lobsterman, are you talking 500 at the wheels or at the crank? so your saying all the upgraded clutches, a shift kit, and a converter would be good enough for about 500hp... thats pretty simple.

how much effort does it take to get 500whp out of one of these rigs anyways, what should he expect with just a big tune?

I ran mine for years with no billet input at around 500HP, but it was foolish. This was a DTT BTW.

For a 500HP truck, you need a complete trans. An aftermarket flex plate I would considered required at that HP level as well.

Billet input at a MINIMUM. 3rd gear drum would be optional based on intended usage of the truck. And the output shaft could be skipped as the OD unit is easy to swap shafts and rebuild. It's better to do these things, but I know guys are on a budget.

The other internal parts that make a complete system are all the special soft and hard parts, properly designed valve body and a quality converter.

Since we build DTT units, we already have the highest quality parts. But the real key to getting a good trans is having it setup correctly.

I have a local guy that is scrapping his new performance tranny that came highly recommended for one of ours. Pure and simple, it will work where his has been rebuilt 3 times and still not right.

So, some of the parts are cheap, knowing how to properly set them up can get expensive.

Dave