Hurts Taking One Like This

[YukonRog]

The Remanufactured Transmission in my wife's 2005 Yukon has started making a noise that sounds like something is loose inside. Does it in all gear positions. The business that installed it has completely dropped off the face of the earth. So much for any warranty. I just hate the feeling of helplessness and feel totally ripped off. Being on a fixed income and old and having health issues, I still want to pull it and replace it. Is this possible to do in my driveway? I don't think I can get it into my garage. Or will I bite off more than I can chew? My wife thinks I'm nuts. Because of my health issues sometimes I'm down for weeks at a time. Could be the end of this stubborn old mule.

 

[TollKeeper]

If you still have the paperwork, you might be able to see if the warranty is provided by a national provider.

Might also check to see if the shop still exists, but changed names. Happens when a company gets bought out.

 

[YukonRog]

Yeah I have the paperwork but it appears they weren't backed by anyone. Several others are having the same problem too. They still have a FB page but no phones or website work. Makes me want to hunt them down. Where's Liam Neeson and his special skills?

 

[OR VietVet]

I feel for you, I really do. I do have to ask some questions though.

When you found this shop, was it your choice because of price? Because of recommendations? Because of reviews? Because of closeness? How long had they been in business? Did you check for ASE Certifications? Did you ask if warranty is covered anywhere else besides their shop? Or, why were they chosen that I have not listed?

 

[YukonRog]

I chose them for closeness, price, reviews, the upgrade kit they installed, and length of warranty. They appeared upfront and were very busy. They'd been at that location for a couple years. All appeared professional including the estimate. I guess in retrospect I should have checked with the BBB and maybe asked if they were affiliated with anyone else.

 

[OR VietVet]

Ok, you did your due diligence. Great. Like extended warranties, a business can have some complaints, close down and open under another name in the same state or a different state. Either way, you are left holding the bag. Sorry for all that.

 

[YukonRog]

Yeah we've even done searches for new transmission repairs starting up in the area thinking the same thing to no avail. Got a name or two but they're completely off the radar. May have gone to another state. So, back to my original question, possible to do on my own considering my disabilities if I took it slow? I haven't done a transmission in decades but I have done them. When I was younger! LOL!

 

[swathdiver]

The Remanufactured Transmission in my wife's 2005 Yukon has started making a noise that sounds like something is loose inside. Does it in all gear positions. The business that installed it has completely dropped off the face of the earth. So much for any warranty. I just hate the feeling of helplessness and feel totally ripped off. Being on a fixed income and old and having health issues, I still want to pull it and replace it. Is this possible to do in my driveway? I don't think I can get it into my garage. Or will I bite off more than I can chew? My wife thinks I'm nuts. Because of my health issues sometimes I'm down for weeks at a time. Could be the end of this stubborn old mule.

You might crawl under and check the torque converter bolts. A loose one can make it sound like the earth is going to implode. It's not a difficult job for a young man, but for us oldsters it can take some time especially since our batteries take longer to re charge. Definitely want an adapter for a floor jack or a transmission jack if you decide to pull it.

So how does it drive? Think she'll make a drive out to Amarillo, Texas for Precision Transmissions to fix it?

https://www.youtube.com/c/PrecisionTransmission/videos

 

[YukonRog]

Actually sounds like the noise is coming from the middle/rear of the tranny. But I will investigate as soon as I can. I'd be afraid to drive it around the block right now! Here's a link to one of their web ads. Says they're BBB and ASME but I checked with BBB and they're not a member.

Liberty Transmission & Auto Repair: Transmission Repair

libertyautotrans.com

 

[OR VietVet]

Big red flag right there. Either never were or got in trouble and were kicked out.

 

[Mudsport96]

Actually sounds like the noise is coming from the middle/rear of the tranny.l[/URL]

That could be the sunshell getting ready to die. Yeah, i wouldnt go far with it and count on getting home.

 

[OR VietVet]

The flex plate bolts is an easy look see and not that bad to re-tension.

 

[K1ms]

Sorry to hear about your troubles.. I just got a Tahoe for the first time myself, and that 4l60e is making me nervous with 240.000kilometers on it..

Anywho, here is a link to a guy who drops it his driveway and fixes it with a step by step video. He has a lot of usefull DIY tahoe repairs/upgrades.

 

[YukonRog]

It's home. I just moved it to the other side of the driveway and it seemed kinda "jerky". So I'm sure it's not good. K1ms thanks for the video! Makes it look doable. Doesn't look like it has to go as high as I thought. I have a motorcycle jack I'm sure I could lower it with. I have all the equipment and I'm big on using air powered tools too. Have steel ramps too but I may build some "dunnage" type wooden blocks just to be safe. May take me a while. I'm thinking I need to sell a lawn tractor in order to get the money to buy another tranny.

 

[YukonRog]

What REALLY chaps my hide is it only made it 7100 miles!

 

[Mudsport96]

What REALLY chaps my hide is it only made it 7100 miles!

Damn. Thats no miles really. The guy i had do the 60e in my Silverado charged me 3000 out the door. 5 year 30k mile warranty if i remember right.
He did the th350 in my nova, my grandmothers olds Regency, and uncles plow truck E4OD. No problems with any of them and the Nova had been abused for 15 years lol.
I didnt have time to do my Silvy so he was the first and last call, period.

 

[YukonRog]

Yeah, never had anything like this happen to me before. Heck I had a neighbor that was a mechanic and rebuilt my Charger transmission years ago. It was better than new. I had a bad feeling about these guys when I checked the fluid right after we got it back and it was overfilled. Then I saw a drip and found the drain plug was loose! Called them, they apologized, blah, blah, blah, accidents happen, blah, blah.

 

[silky28]

I would say that by the sound of your age and condition dropping the transmission is probably beyond your abilities.

it is doable in a driveway though - I know I did it last December. Nothing terribly difficult about it but the top bell house nuts can be a pain until you figure out how to get them -2 feet of extensions + universal joints. The transmission is quite heavy and difficult to drop and raise though. The most annoying part for me was the number of bolts that snapped because of rust and refilling the transfer case

 

[swathdiver]

It's home. I just moved it to the other side of the driveway and it seemed kinda "jerky". So I'm sure it's not good. K1ms thanks for the video! Makes it look doable. Doesn't look like it has to go as high as I thought. I have a motorcycle jack I'm sure I could lower it with. I have all the equipment and I'm big on using air powered tools too. Have steel ramps too but I may build some "dunnage" type wooden blocks just to be safe. May take me a while. I'm thinking I need to sell a lawn tractor in order to get the money to buy another tranny.

There's more than one way to skin this rabbit. One option is to open it up and fix what is not right, close it up and soldier on. Another option is to completely rebuild it as if it was time for an overhaul. A third option is to drop in a new or reman replacement. GM used to sell them with 100K mile warranties which is covered nationwide. They still do with the 6-Speeds but not sure about the 4-speeds.

If yours were mine, I'd start on the first option and take it from there once it was opened up. I would also search my memory for what we originally brought it in for, did they even fix that? Did these guys just replace all the soft parts and none of the hard? Precision Transmission has at least a dozen videos of him tearing down your transmission and going through them piece by piece sharing his 30+ years of knowledge.

FYI, the website was cold to me and set of warning flags. Some web designer made it and didn't use any photos of the place or real people from the looks of it. No names or bios was a big red flag. I did not search out the reviews.

 

[Joseph Garcia]

I'm sorry to read about your issue. There in nothing worse than spending hard-earned limited funds on something, only to find out that it was never fixed properly, or fixed, only to have a new issue appear shortly afterwards.