6L80- Drive it till it quits, rebuild local or replace with rebuilt GM part?

[09Magic]

I will add my .02 since I went the easy route and bought a reman'd 6L80 for my Tahoe. I bought from street smart transmissions and had it delivered to a local shop to install it - since I didn't have a way to install it. Everything went great and SS does warranty their products pretty well. Going strong. Even took a cross country trip to pull my 25' travel trailer. Zero issues with SS and their products.

 

[fozzi58]

Get a built trans from a reputable place. Find out what the local shop warranties their rebuilds for. Add a good torque converter into the mix as well.

Speaking as someone with a built truck, the Circle D converter and removed flipped thermostat has my trans going strong even with the Whipple kicking its ass.

 

[Runfor5]

I will add my .02 since I went the easy route and bought a reman'd 6L80 for my Tahoe. I bought from street smart transmissions and had it delivered to a local shop to install it - since I didn't have a way to install it. Everything went great and SS does warranty their products pretty well. Going strong. Even took a cross country trip to pull my 25' travel trailer. Zero issues with SS and their products.

I'll 2nd Street Smart Transmissions (based down in FL) albeit for a different platform. I bought a 42RLE from them around 2017 for a '04 Jeep Liberty. Their customer service, at that time, was phenomenal - after install (done myself in driveway) and a TCU reset at the dealer, there was still some light slipping from 1>2. They were so quick to send me a new valve body assembly (which they did and I put in) and even offer to send an entire new transmission - the latter was great but I didn't want to re-do the entire project lol. Before the car was wrecked in 2023 I never had any issues with the trans from them.

 

[easymoney]

This is like a Zen and the art of motorcycle maint question.

I have a 15 Yukon Denali with the 6.2L, just replaced the engine with a core I rebuilt from ebay. Now that the engine is running great, it's glaringly obvious the trans is on it's last leg. Brought it to a trans shop I trust and it's as bad as I thought.

Do I drive it till the trans quits and replace with rebuilt GM part after it totally quits? Or rebuild local before it's destroyed? It's going to cost near $6K($5800 US) to rebuild the trans here locally, there's no getting around it, these are expensive transmissions. Local shops offer a 2yr warranty.

I can buy a GM factory refurbished unit with a 3yr warranty for 4300 and change.. Here's the issue though and I hope I'm not alone here- I have serious trust issues with GM dealerships and warranty's. I feel like I got the the USMC green weenie with no lube when I bought this truck. I mean, it's a familiar feeling but it's been a few years since we've had relations like that.. heheh..

What would you do? Spend up to 6K with people you trust with less warranty or spend 4500 with a part from the factory?

The gm 3 years/50k warranty is a lot better and cheaper. These are remanufactured not refurbished there is a big difference. When you take it to a rebuild place they replace things that are broke and obviously warn out but if something tests ok they will reuse it. I think longevity will come to play because are they replacing every bearing even if it looks good? The gm remanufactured process replaces every thing that can fail. Bearings, has all new solenoids, wiring harness,etc. These are rebuilt by gm certified people in the same factory where the new ones are build. Your local gm mechanic will not touch the inside of it they will just bolt it on and fill with oil. I cant imagine trusting a local shop over a gm warranty.

 

[Dexmon]

This is like a Zen and the art of motorcycle maint question.

I have a 15 Yukon Denali with the 6.2L, just replaced the engine with a core I rebuilt from ebay. Now that the engine is running great, it's glaringly obvious the trans is on it's last leg. Brought it to a trans shop I trust and it's as bad as I thought.

Do I drive it till the trans quits and replace with rebuilt GM part after it totally quits? Or rebuild local before it's destroyed? It's going to cost near $6K($5800 US) to rebuild the trans here locally, there's no getting around it, these are expensive transmissions. Local shops offer a 2yr warranty.

I can buy a GM factory refurbished unit with a 3yr warranty for 4300 and change.. Here's the issue though and I hope I'm not alone here- I have serious trust issues with GM dealerships and warranty's. I feel like I got the the USMC green weenie with no lube when I bought this truck. I mean, it's a familiar feeling but it's been a few years since we've had relations like that.. heheh..

What would you do? Spend up to 6K with people you trust with less warranty or spend 4500 with a part from the factory?

This is like a Zen and the art of motorcycle maint question.

I have a 15 Yukon Denali with the 6.2L, just replaced the engine with a core I rebuilt from ebay. Now that the engine is running great, it's glaringly obvious the trans is on it's last leg. Brought it to a trans shop I trust and it's as bad as I thought.

Do I drive it till the trans quits and replace with rebuilt GM part after it totally quits? Or rebuild local before it's destroyed? It's going to cost near $6K($5800 US) to rebuild the trans here locally, there's no getting around it, these are expensive transmissions. Local shops offer a 2yr warranty.

I can buy a GM factory refurbished unit with a 3yr warranty for 4300 and change.. Here's the issue though and I hope I'm not alone here- I have serious trust issues with GM dealerships and warranty's. I feel like I got the the USMC green weenie with no lube when I bought this truck. I mean, it's a familiar feeling but it's been a few years since we've had relations like that.. heheh..

What would you do? Spend up to 6K with people you trust with less warranty or spend 4500 with a part from the factory?

So I have a 15 Escalade and the transmission started shifting rough. My mechanic wanted $5000.00 plus tax for a GM remanufactured one. I didn't check what the dealers in the New York City area prices were. I went online and I found several places that remanufacture transmissions and I chose one based on their price and reviews. The place I bought it from is Street Smart Transmissions. It cost me $2606.00 for the transmission and another $1300.00 to have it installed and programmed. It comes with a 3 yr unlimited miles warranty, which is better than GM's warranty. So far it's running pretty smoothly. All the best to you sir!!

 

[petethepug]

Your in a good sitch with this being an extra vehicle and you can wrench. I use our 09 AWD Esky as a daily so my recent trans death at 170k meant asap, local warranty and value. I too was afraid of a GM supply chain issue if a warr came up.

You need all the known Sonnax goods. I’d have it built by a trans shop to your specs and ship’d to you for install. I’m sure u already nailed a lot of the known maint to complete when the motor was out so a trans core swap / upgrade makes budget sense.

My thinking is getting it from a trans specialist will ensure speed of rebuild, availability all year round, value & quality based on a self R&R and having an extra set of wheels. My Orig trans core was $5k rebuilt in shop by a Indi a mile away. He’s a school district diesel bus tech by day, shop owner by all other hours of the day. Just found out he & his son discretely track a crazy CTSv. Damn nice guy that treats me like family. He gets it.

 

[Ibustbravo]

Your in a good sitch with this being an extra vehicle and you can wrench. I use our 09 AWD Esky as a daily so my recent trans death at 170k meant asap, local warranty and value. I too was afraid of a GM supply chain issue if a warr came up.

You need all the known Sonnax goods. I’d have it built by a trans shop to your specs and ship’d to you for install. I’m sure u already nailed a lot of the known maint to complete when the motor was out so a trans core swap / upgrade makes budget sense.

My thinking is getting it from a trans specialist will ensure speed of rebuild, availability all year round, value & quality based on a self R&R and having an extra set of wheels. My Orig trans core was $5k rebuilt in shop by a Indi a mile away. He’s a school district diesel bus tech by day, shop owner by all other hours of the day. Just found out he & his son discretely track a crazy CTSv. Damn nice guy that treats me like family. He gets it.

Yea, it's not what I do for work anymore so I look forward to all of it.

 

[petethepug]

Amen to that. I grew up on air cooled VW & Porsche. Moved to water cooled VW to get air conditioning and loved their finicky complexity and the challenge. It used to astonish me that guys would create sacrilege by swapping an air cooled flat six motor for a Chevy small block V8 in a Porsche.

Simplicity, reliability, power and torque. So here I am with an all aluminum 6.2L in a boat sized Esky paying $1.75 a gal for e85. A quarter century later, I get it.

 

[Ibustbravo]

Amen to that. I grew up on air cooled VW & Porsche. Moved to water cooled VW to get air conditioning and loved their finicky complexity and the challenge. It used to astonish me that guys would create sacrilege by swapping an air cooled flat six motor for a Chevy small block V8 in a Porsche.

Simplicity, reliability, power and torque. So here I am with an all aluminum 6.2L in a boat sized Esky paying $1.75 a gal for e85. A quarter century later, I get it.

Heh, I used to rebuild VW engines in the old Jelly Belly warehouse in Oakland, Ca and put them in curb side. Good times.