Mercedes transmissions by Daimler Benz Corp.

Hard shifts are common and can usually be adjusted out. Revving between shifts is also adjustable, but it’s often a sign that the transmission is on its last legs. Low power is often a transmission issue. They start off in Second gear, and if the transmission doesn’t kick down to First when needed, it will result in very sluggish acceleration. Driving in “S” around town will change your shift points, resulting in more responsive acceleration.

Curing these issues is not so hard to do if your transmission is healthy. If you already have a transmission problem, then an upgrade kit won’t help until the problems are corrected. A Mercedes transmission is a complicated and finicky transmission. When it is time to rebuild a Mercedes Benz automatic transmission there are a few rules of thumb that must be followed for lasting success.

1. It is absolutely necessary to use factory original rebuild parts. They are specifically engineered for the Mercedes transmission, and aftermarket parts will cause operational issues. Saving money on non OEM (original equipment manufacturers) parts is nor saving money in the long run. In most cases the transmission does not shift up to the expectations of the customer.

2. An transmission upgrade-update kit which can be purchased through the dealer or even better, one of the Transgo Mercedes Benz updates kits.

If these two rules are followed and the transmission is assembled correctly, you will have a transmission rebuilt with the proper ingredients for long term success and value.

When you buy a rebuilt Mercedes transmission from us, it is almost an unspoken truth that you will get the above ingredients in the recipe for success, and to top it off every Mercedes rebuilt transmission we sell is pre tested and set up to the exact specializations of your car. Call us at 1-877-268-0664 for details and pricing. GotTransmissions.com.

Jetaway transmissions, Transmissions for sale

Getting power from the engine to the drive wheels of an automobile has provided an endless challenge for rear-wheel-drive, front-wheel-drive, 4-wheel-drive, AWD, front-engine, rear-engine, and mid-engine cars, longitudinal, transverse, vertical, slant, and flat engines, plus an amazing array of hardware in between. George Selden’s notorious 1877 patent was for a front-drive carriage with a transverse 3-cylinder engine, anticipating the Chevy/Suzuki Sprint by over a century. When it comes to car designs, there are very few new ideas, just progressively successful adaptations of old concepts.

The heart of the drivetrain is the transmission. Because gasoline engines develop their torque over a very narrow speed range, several gears are needed to reach useful road speeds. (Steam engines and electric motors can be used in cars with no transmissions.)

The modern transmission was introduced by a pair of Frenchmen, Louis-Rene Panhard and Emile Levassor, in 1894. The engineers had invited the press to a demonstration of the most revolutionary advancement to date in the brief history of the motor car industry. Unfortunately, the engine in their demo vehicle died, and they were reduced to giving a chalk talk on multi-geared transmission theory to a bored press corps.

Cars of the time transmitted engine power to the wheels in a simple fashion that was easy for non-engineers to visualize. The engine drove a set of bevel reduction gears that drove a shaft and pulley. Leather belts extended between the pulley and geared wheels on an axle. One wheel, the small one, got the car going by meshing with a ring gear on one of the driving wheels. The big wheel then took over to get the car to hustle along at a top speed of 20 mph. If the car encountered a hill that it did not have the power to climb, the driver would come to a dead stop so he could engage the small wheel.

Descriptions of the transmissions in these cars: One belt-driven high gear that will go over everything and one belt-driven Low gear in case the car had to climb a tree.

That 1895 Panhard-Levassor was revolutionary, not the transmission alone, but the whole drivetrain layout. In fact, it has served as the prototype for most vehicles built in the 90 years since then. Unlike other cars of that day, it possessed a vertically mounted engine in the front of the vehicle that drove the rear wheels through a clutch, 3-speed sliding gear transmission and chain-driven axle. The only modern features missing from the setup were a differential rear axle and driveshaft. These came along three years later, in 1898, when millionaire-turned-auto-hobbyist Louis Renault connected a vertical engine with transmission to a “live” rear axle by means of a metal drive shaft.

The live rear axle, which Renault adapted from an idea developed in 1893 by an American, C. E. Duryea — was called the differential, or rear axle. It used a number of gears to overcome the problem of rapid tire wear, which was most destructive on turns with the “dead” axles used by all other carmakers. “Differential” referred to the ability of the unit to turn the outer driving wheel faster than the inner driving wheel, eliminating tire scuffing in turns.

By 1904, the Panhard-Levassor sliding gear manual transmission had been adopted by most carmakers. In one form or another, it has remained in use until recent times. Obviously, there have been improvements, the most significant being the invention of a synchronizing system that permits drive and driven gears to be brought into mesh with each other smoothly without gear clashing. The first of these synchromesh transmissions was introduced by Cadillac in 1928. An improvement to the design patented by Porsche is widely used today.

Between the time the sliding gear-transmission was introduced and the perfection of the synchromesh, there were other attempts at making it easier for the driver to shift gears. One was the planetary transmission in the 1908 Model T Ford. It had a central gear, called the “sun” gear, surrounded by three “planet” gears. Today, planetary gears are more widely used in automatic transmissions than in manual.

Some pretty elaborate planetary manual transmissions did evolve, however. One was developed by Walter Wilson and was called the Wilson Preselector. It came along in 1930.

This gear system, which used four individual planetary gearsets, allowed the driver to preselect one gear ratio by moving a small lever on the steering column. the driver could then engage the particular preselected gear by depressing a foot pedal.

All transmission designs since the Panhard-Levassor unit have had one goal in common — to make shifting easier. Obviously, the easiest to shift transmission is the automatic. It’s strictly an American innovation.

The first automatic was invented in 1904 by the Sturtevant brothers of Boston. It provided two forward speeds that were engaged and disengaged by the action of centrifugal weights without need for a foot-operated clutch. As engine speed increased, the weights swung out to engage bands — first the low-gear band and then the high-gear band. The unit failed because the weights often flew apart.

The next significant attempt at an automatic transmission was by Reo in 1934. Called the Reo Self-Shifter, it was actually two transmissions connected in series. For ordinary driving, one unit upshifted itself automatically in relation to car speed through the engagement of a centrifugal multiple-disc clutch — much the same idea used by the Sturtevants. The second transmission was shifted manually and was used only when a lower gear was needed.

In 1937, Buick and Oldsmobile came out with a transmission called the Automatic Safety Transmission. It had a conventionally clutch for shifting the transmission into forward or reverse. Once in forward, the transmission shifted automatically by using two hydraulically operated planetary units — one for low gear and one for drive. The unit was the forerunner of the GM Hydra-Matic, which was born in 1938.

The Hydra-Matic consisted of three planetary gearsets that were operated hydraulically. A fluid coupling was used to connect the engine and transmission. Credit for perfecting the fluid coupling goes to Chrysler, which developed the concept in 1937. However, Chrysler did not make use of it until 1941, when the Chrysler Fluid Drive transmission was introduced. This was not an automatic unit, but a standard transmission with a fluid coupling, not a clutch.

By 1948, the automatic transmission had evolved into the hydraulic torque converter that we know today coupled to a planetary geartrain. The first to use the converter was Buick. The ‘48 Buick Dynaflow, as it was called, was the model for present-day automatic transmissions. Others soon followed with similar units — Chevrolet Powerglide, Fordomatic and Merc-O-Matic in 1950; and the Chrysler M-6 Torque Converter Automatic in 1951.

The end of this article will be posted in the next few days, stay tuned or get yourself a free subscription. For information on matters like buying transmissions, we have a well trained staff waiting to hear from you. GotTransmissions.com Call @ 1-877-268-0664

Smart car transmissions.

Anyway, it’s not exactly a recall, but if you own a Smart Fortwo, you might want to return it to the dealership for a free repair.

Apparently, since its debut, the Fortwo has had one consistent problem, a jerky transmission that drives owners crazy. Some customers called it the car’s “Achilles’ heel,” saying, “This sort of rough shifting is unacceptable in any car at any price.”

And plenty of owners have apparently called Smart to complain about it.

Now, Kicking Tires reports, “Smart is sending letters to 24,622 of its 2008 Fortwo owners telling them they can bring their cars in for a transmission upgrade.” The upgrade is not mechanical. It’s just a software fix. Smart altered the software that runs the transmission for the 2009 Fortwo, and is now offering to upgrade 2008 models to the 2009 software. Smart claims it will minimize the balk between shifts that has been the source of some complaints.

The letter says the fix takes about 90 minutes.

According to Autoblog, it won’t necessarily make everyone happy. “While the fix supposedly makes a difference,” they report, “The few people we’ve talked to who’ve driven the 2009 model assure us that while the shifting is better, it’s still very far from perfect.”

Consumers agree, calling the 2009 Fortwo’s transmission “noticeably improved,” but adding that it “still has worlds to go.”

Some owners have found that If you shift manually, using either the paddle shifters or the floor mounted shift lever, the transmission is excellent. With that in mind perhaps you want to try shifting in this manner until the final update is made.

For more information concerning transmissions and updates you may want to examine our blog. If you are here for a replacement transmission, Call GotTransmissions.com @ 1-877-268-0664

ZF Manual transmissions for sale

The ZFS6-40 is a constant-mesh 6 speed fully synchronized manual transmission used in General Motors vehicles. The design incorporates an input/main shaft, a countershaft, and the output/main shaft. The input shaft and main shaft are located on the same axis. The counter shaft is on a parallel axis with the main shaft at a 95mm separation distance.

The ZF S6-40 test program for design acceptance for release into production was defined by General Motors Uniform Test Standards R15-6. This involved 15,000 miles of full-throttle up-shifts at engine red-line and downshifts to red-line. This was done mostly up and down a 7.2 percent grade on the GM Proving Ground In Milford, Mich., and included
wide-open-throttle runs uphill in reverse!

Another test involved 200,000 highway and proving ground test miles, while still another test involved about 80 hours of high-speed testing on various racetracks and at the GM Desert Proving Ground in Mesa, Ariz. This was followed up by a thousand miles of testing on the high banks at Talladega Super Speedway in Alabama.

This may seem like an excessive amount of testing. It is the norm for a new product that will go into possibly millions of vehicles. This does not guarantee that there won’t be some latent problems consumers notice when put it to the real test, finding out how well they stand up to every day driving.

For your convenience and long term success, ZF only recommends the following lubricant for S6-40 transmissions. The GM oil (available from GM with part number 1052931) and the Castrol Synthetic Formula RS 10W60 (available from BMW with part number 0751009420).

With this information you can expect the best lifespan from your manual transmission. If for any reason you need a replacement ZF-S6-40 transmission, we offer terrific low mileage used transmissions and the finest rebuilt standard transmissions anywhere. For more information, Call us at 1-877-268-0664. GotTransmissions.com

Is your Automatic Transmission Cold?

The basic paradigm behind this issue is that during extended cold periods, your cars transmission can take as long as an hour to warm up to operating temperature. The transmission has no radiator so to speak. A radiator is a heat exchange unit, therefore it controls and holds the correct temperature for the engine. But the transmission is not directly related to a heat control unit, so it has to create it’s own heat.

An internal combustion engine makes heat from the combustion process, an automatic transmission does not make heat that way, which is why it takes so long to warm up. Essentially, driving the car long and fast for about 30 to 45 minutes is the only was an automatic transmission generates enough heat to warm up in sub freezing temperatures.

With that in mind, ATF becomes saturated with moisture because the transmission never gets hot enough during short jaunts to work or the grocery store, causing serious damage over a period of time. Engine oil is important to change too, but engines generate a lot of heat by themselves as a function of their operation. An engine will be good and warm in 15 minutes if you have the proper thermostat in it, so essentially speaking in 15 to 30 minutes it starts to burn off moisture.

If you continually ignore transmission maintenance, you can expect to replace it prematurely. It may be a pain to bring it in for a service, but it is a bigger pain when it fails. It also costs a lot more too. Knowing this, there will plenty of transmissions failing this spring. If you are caught in this unpopular spot, call GotTransmissions.com @ 1-877-268-0664 for some solid advise and a terrific price on a quality replacement transmission.

Jeep Transmission ATF leak

Without examining the vehicle, anything I say is pure speculation. In fact I may be misleading you. You would not call your doctor and say my wrist hurts what is wrong with it? The doctor would laugh and say what color is my bedspread? At that point the realization occurs that a qualified transmission mechanic is the only person who can give you an answer. With vehicle in their possession.

You are developing a serious problem and waiting any longer will cost you a lot of money. If you were having trouble breathing, would you wait until you were turning blue to call for help? Well by asking your question to someone who can’t see the vehicle, or, even worse going to a forum and asking a bunch of non-experts what the problem is, constitutes a great recipe for disaster. Time is of the essence.

I hope everyone gets my drift. I hope a bunch of transmission mechanics leave comments on how correct this procedure is. in fact, paying for a diagnosis only is worth well more than the 80 dollar, or so, diagnostic fee. Which is dropped most of the time when the shop makes the repair.

Remember, if you need a replacement transmission, GotTransmissions.com is your one stop supplier of the finest rebuilt transmissions on the market at any price. it just so happens we offer the best value anywhere. Call us now at 1-877-268-0664 and speak with a courteous and qualified professional..

Toyota Car Problems?

Don’t you find it odd that no Toyota cars were recalled in Japan, where these tiny gas misers emanate from, and are driven in mass quantity? It is not directly a Toyota transmission problem, but the tranny is part of a system.

Do you remember some of the problems that have been created for the USA by farming out work out to China and Japan? Obviously they don’t put a premium on quality control. Do you think the American companies that farmed out millions of dollars of products to be manufactured in one of those two countries were very happy when millions of products did not meet US standards and had to be recalled?

I am not an economist, but wouldn’t it have been cheaper to make the products here correctly the first time? It can’t be cheaper to re-make or return every bad product to China or Japan for updates.

Back to Toyota’s. The story I read this morning was dang startling, but perhaps not expected. Millions of Toyota’s Recalled, none in Japan… Feeling her Toyota Mark X station wagon lurch forward at a busy intersection, Masako Sakai slammed on the brakes. But the pedal “had gone limp,” she said. Downshifting didn’t seem to work either. As shaken as she was by the accident, Mrs. Sakai says…

Unbelievable. No comment on how this issue is handled overseas. The point is America is still the best country in the world. Toyota owners can have their cars fixed here. At least we don’t try to put a lid on it, even though it stinks. Can you imagine being treated like Mrs. Sakai?

Be glad you live in the USA. GotTransmissions.com @ 1-877-268-0664.

Thank you for Buying Dodge Transmissions

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration NHTSA) opened the Durango investigation after receiving four complaints that the upper ball joint in the front suspension could fail, causing the driver to lose control. In two complaints, the wheel separated; in the other two, the suspension collapsed.

ConsumerAffairs.com has also received several reports of problems with the front suspension.

NHTSA also said it had 81 complaints that the ball joints wore out prematurely. The investigation covers 1998 through 2003 Durangos.

The upgraded investigation involves problems with the interlock between the ignition and the transmissions on 1999 Plymouth Breeze and Dodge Stratus cars and Chrysler Sebring convertibles.

NHTSA said it had found 113 complaints where the key could be removed from the ignition without the transmission being in park, or where the transmission could be shifted out of park with the ignition off, both of which led to the vehicles rolling unexpectedly. The complaints include reports of 28 accidents and five minor injures.

Without more information on the subject, the problem may not be in the transmission itself. Sometimes linkage issues occur from one of the components in the shifting system itself. So, basically this problem is isolated to the parking mechanism in the transmission or the shifter linkage system.

The thing is that this is a very unsafe condition to have. With that in mind, you may want the dealer to examine your vehicle if it is in the group of affected vehicles.

When more information is available, you can count on GotTransmissions.com to post the solution here for your convenience. For any more concerns regarding this vehicle or if you need a replacement transmission, call us now at 1-877-268-0664.

Ford Transmissions for Sale

Ford Transmissions new PowerShift unit will deliver the fuel efficiency of a manual gearbox with the convenience and ease of an automatic transmission.

PowerShift is supposed to be the first competitive advantage for Ford and is one of the many technologies that will help their global small-car platforms set a new world standard for efficiency and driveability, this advanced six-speed is an improvement over today’s automatic transmissions in terms of fuel economy, while providing customers an even more fun-to-drive experience.

Overall, Ford has committed that almost 100 percent of its transmissions will be advanced six-speed gearboxes by 2013. Six-speed transmissions already have helped vehicles achieve best-in-class fuel economy.

Compared to traditional automatic four-speed transmissions, PowerShift can help reduce fuel consumption by up to 9 percent depending on the application.

In Europe, Ford currently offers a PowerShift transmission in the Ford Focus. This PowerShift uses a twin wet-clutch system to handle the higher torque levels of the 2.0-liter TDCI engine available in the Focus.

In North America, a dry-clutch derivative of Ford’s PowerShift transmission will be used for added efficiency and durability. A dry clutch transmits power and torque through manual transmission clutch facings, while most automatic transmissions utilize wet clutch plates submerged in oil. As a result, the dry-clutch PowerShift transmission does not require an oil pump or torque converter, providing superior mechanical efficiency.

PowerShift, unlike conventional automatic transmissions, does not need the heavier torque converter or planetary gears. In addition, the dry-clutch derivative eliminates the need for the weighty pumps, hydraulic fluids, cooling lines and external coolers that wet clutch transmissions require. As a result, the dry-clutch PowerShift transmission can weigh nearly 30 pounds less than a conventional transmission.

Unique driving features include:
• Neutral coast down – The clutches will disengage when the brakes are applied, improving coasting downshifts and clutch robustness as well as reducing parasitic losses for increased fuel economy.

• Precise clutch control in the form of a clutch slip to provide torsional damping of the engine vibration – This function improves noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) at low engine speeds and enables lower lugging limits for improved fuel economy.

• Low-speed driving or creep mode with integrated brake pressure – This function simulates the low-speed control drivers are accustomed to from an automatic transmission. The amount of rolling torque in Drive and Reverse is precisely controlled, gradually building as brake pressure is released.

• Hill mode or launch assist – Prevents a vehicle from rolling back on a grade by maintaining brake pressure until the engine delivers enough torque to move the vehicle up the hill, providing improved driver confidence, comfort, safety and clutch robustness.

GotTransmissions.com is the leading seller of replacement transmissions. Call and speak with a trained representative for more information on transmission replacement. 1-877-268-0664. 8-5 EST. USA.

Ford 6R140 Torqueshift Automatic Transmissions

If you haven’t heard, Ford has two new V-8 engines coming, a 6.7L diesel and a 6.2L gas engine, and they both need heavy-duty Ford transmissions backing them up if the F-Series Super Duty’s are going perform like they should. But why build two transmissions when you can use one? Enter Ford’s new TorqShift 6R140 six-speed automatic.

As you likely know, diesels and gas engines are very different beasts. Where the diesel spins slow and makes its power at low RPMs, gas engines rev high and make their power at higher RPMs. So how do you build a transmission that’s good for both? With the TorqShift, Ford says they’ve done it.

The biggest issue Ford faced was making the TorqShift able to stand up to the diesel’s torque. The Lepelletier powerflow design has been around for a long time, but it’s not typically found in diesels due to their massive torque. By using a proprietary powder-metal compound in the planetary gear carrier, Ford was able to beef up the system enough to handle the burly diesel engine. Why go to all this trouble? Because sticking with the Lepelletier system reduces complexity by reducing the number of clutches needed (five for the six gears) and slowing down the clutches, all of which improves transmission efficiency and therefore fuel efficiency and power output at the wheels.

“With this architecture, the new transmission can handle the enormous low-end torque produced by the new diesel engine as well as the high speeds produced by the new gas engine,” said Al Bruck, TorqShift transmission engineering manager at Ford. “The sinter-brazed gearset enables more torque capacity and greater engine speed capability.”

Other tricks hidden in the new transmission include a deeper first-gear ratio for better performance off the line coupled with a special one-way clutch that smooths out 1-2 shifts. Once you’re moving, the long-travel, high-capacity turbine dampener in the torque converter soaks up the shocks and vibrations of the big engines and allows the diesel engine to chug along at a measly 900 RPM, saving fuel.

That’s just scratching the surface of this transmission’s capabilities. It also comes with Ford’s SelectShift program that features Progressive Range Select and full manual shifting. The former allows you limit which gears the transmission uses while still having it shift automatically, good for hauling and steep grades. The latter allows you to pick the gears yourself without interference from the computer. Aiding both of those programs in helping you haul is Ford’s Tow Haul mode, which uses a network of sensors to predict when you need a downshift to enhance engine braking.

All those features are nice, but those of you planning to use your Super Duty for some real heavy-duty work will appreciate this option: the only Live Drive PTO in the segment. Whereas other trucks equipped with a PTO require you to be stopped to use it, the TorqShift’s Live Drive PTO is always operational and can be used while the vehicle is in motion. From farm work to snow plowing, the ability to make adjustments to PTO-driven equipment on the move is a handy time-saving feature.

“Our new transmission perfectly complements our new diesel and gasoline engines to give the customer the best powertrain for Super Duty applications,” said Bruck. “Rigorous testing ensures our transmission and powertrain is up to the challenge of even our most demanding Super Duty customers. Overall, the 6R140 heavy-duty TorqShift six-speed transmission enables greater customer capability, efficiency and control than ever before.” Source: Ford.
GotTransmissions.com @ 1-877-268-0664.