Help! St. Louis area - Advice on transmission shops.

[Evan Bashirian]

Hey all...

I have a 1996 Eddie Bauer 4x4 that is about to have its transmission fail. Being new to the St. Louis area, I need some advice on what shops in the area are worth my time. I prefer to put in a remanufactured tranny vs. rebuilding the original if that helps narrow down the search.

Thanks in advance for any help offered...

Evan Bashirian

 

[TProost]

Evan, welcome to STL! I am in the same boat with my '91. I recently had some custom work done at Doug Jenkins Custom Hot Rods, and Doug suggested getting a new or remanufactured and he could install. Found a company on ebay Phoenix Remanufactured Transmissions (623.936.1500). They offer, I think, a reman for $695. Seems reasonable, but have not done a complete search yet. My ex has 144K, how many miles did yours last?

 

[Evan Bashirian]

TProost,

Thanks for the welcome! I have been doing some reasearch, and I think I have decided to put in a Jasper remanufactured transmission. Rhodes Engines Inc. over in Bridgeton is a Jasper Dealer, and will install the tranny for $2250.00 complete. I considered just doing a rebuild, but I have learned that the light duty transmission that Ford uses in the Explorer isn't a good candidate for a rebuild, and that I probably would have had further problems with it down the road. My Ford dealer could have put in a Ford remanufactured tranny, but that would have run $2500+, so I decided to go with the Jasper. The warranty is for 36 months, and 75,000 miles, so I feel pretty comfortable with the decision. Jasper wouldn't be as big as they are if they didn't put out a good product.

This explorer has 136,000 miles on it, and is slow in shifting from 2nd to 3rd and 3rd to 4th. There is also a bit of slipping going on. My first Explorer, a 1992 Eddie Bauer 2dr 4x4 went 196,000 miles before needing a transmission... I then drove it until it had 254,000 miles before selling it for $3500.

I will post back and relay my experience with Rhodes.

E