Well it's been a while since I've posted in here , but I've been waiting for the truck to be running and driving right to give any updates. Unfortunately the rig is still not driving right. I have the engine running like a champ but still needs a good tune. The main issue I'm still having is the transmission. I brought the truck back to the trans builder to have him figure out what was wrong with it and he had the truck for 6 weeks. When it was finally done I picked it up on a Sunday, had a few things to button up on it before driving it 150 miles back from the builder to my house. I brought the truck to my dads place in the same town as the builder and got it ready to drive back. The truck drove around town just fine while doing some testing and adjusting on stuff but after about 20 miles the trans was starting to act funny. It was late that night and I had to be at work in the morning, with the exploder being my only way back home, I decided to chalk it up to air in the system and go ahead and drive it back that night, not having much of a choice. As soon as I started heading home I began realizing that the issue was not air in the system and was going to need the trans looked at again. The trans would act like it was in neutral whe taking off from a stop, it would get going to 2 or 3 miles an hour and then the engine would free rev, I could let of and gas it a couple of times and it would eventually catch and jerk into gear super hard. The shifts from 1-2 seemed okay but 2-3 was way too hard and then it acted like it didnt know when to shift into 3rd, either shifting way too soon or way too late, 3rd gear around 35-45 miles an hour shudders really bad. Sometimes it doesn't want to shift into OD unless you really get on it and then let off, and other times it shifts into OD way too soon and the engine bogs down. Once I get it into OD it acts like its slipping but drives okay if I keep the RPMs steady and the speed is around 65, but will drop into 3rd and make the engine rev up when coasting down below 65. It made it the 150 mile trip home that night and drove me to work for a couple weeks after but is definitely slipping and the fact that it basically does a neutral drop when accelerating from a stop is telling me there is something still wrong inside and makes me lean towards a valve body issue. The truck being my daily driver, proving itself unreliable, and needing to have more transmission work done, meaning the truck would be out of commission at least another month made my choice simple. I went out and bought a 2015 silverado 1500 with the 5.3L LS engine and parked the exploder next to the house. I haven't messed with the truck for a couple weeks now but will be using my new truck to tow it back to the builder next Wednesday. All the work is being done under warenty but at the cost of my time and fuel to get it there. This builder was very reputable and was supposed to really know what he was doing. Maybe it's just bad luck but the transmission was just fine before the rebuild and now is basically undriveable. The guy who built it is still standing behind his work for now but I have a feeling that a time is going to come when he will choose toeither build a new core or refund my money so I can have someone else fix it. The transfer case being a used unit, it could have problems but the issues I'm having dont seem like the could be cause by the transfer case since to my understanding it is an entirely mechanical component that If it were to fail, the failure would result in a complete loss of power being delivered though it. The builder states that the original issue was that trans filter fell off the valve body and cause the trans to suck in air and the direct clutches were burned up, which he replaced. I am very disappointed with the way this has played out but am looking forward to being able to have it as a full time project vehicle and do some of the more time consuming most and upgrades once the current issues are straightened out. I will soon be looking into a solid axle swap, for the front and a SOA in the rear, as well as putting some BFG 35's on it and maybe installing the body lift that I have for it. Anyways, this is where I'm at with it, awesome sounding and running engine that needs a tune, a busted transmission, and big plans for more upgrades to come! P.s sorry for any typos, I'll try to proof read when I have some time.
