Anyone out there have any experience with the Tremec TKO 600 5 speed tranny? (Good or bad) I scattered my T5 so looking for a good tranny to replace it. It's a street/strip 55 Chevy gasser. Future engine is a blown 383 SBC. Thanks...
Installed one in my buddies '55 chevy 2 1/2 yrs. ago. Discussed the slightly cheaper 500, but because he was going to put a very stout 327 high rpm motor and beat on it, decided on the 600. Very smooth. It also has a better gear ratio split and a little taller overdrive. We are running a 4:56 rear gear and can easily run over 100 on the hiway with no problems. He says that it was worth every penny. We had to modify the hump (got the pre-stamped kit somewhere, I think he got it at Ecklers) to raise it up. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Mine is virtually indestructible. It's currently behind a Chev. 383 stroker in my 59 ElCamino, had it in a 55 Stude Commander before that. Me and Rashy drove from Chicago to Tulsa then FtWorth with no clutch, speed shifting the whole way and the syncros didn't show any wear at all. My wife got confused between 5th and R Reverse on the freeway, broke a lever inside but we still made it from StLouis to Chicago with 4 forward gears. When I pulled it apart to change the lever ($30 from Standard Transmission in FtWorth) it looked like new despite the 50k+ miles on it in a hot rod. Get it you won't be sorry.
I should probably mention that my TKO500 has about 120,000 HARD daily driver miles on it after it's ten years of life, and when I went to drain the fluid as I pulled the car apart last year for repairs, I feared the worst. The fluid looked as though it had been poured out of the bottle that afternoon! No silver, no color, no mystery chunks.
I can tell you my experiences at the strip are not good. I drive the car all over the place and it shifts fine and love the over drive, but at the drag strip the TKOs would not go into 3rd. I had a TKO500 first and then talked to a shop that builds race transmissions. They assured me they know the secret sauce for the 3rd gear problem. That trans was brand new TKO600 + their mods. It went into 3rd about 50% of the time and then got worse to where it was 0% at the strip but ran all over the country just fine. Last week I swapped to a WC T5, tested it hard at the Atlanta 10,000 this weekend and never missed 3rd once. You can Google TKO 3rd shift and find lots of info. Good luck. I actually tried to order a Richmond 5 speed from Jegs and it was over a year delivery time so canceled that after 3 months.
I have personally never had an issue with third gear being a problem, and that's with tons of full throttle shifts on mine, not necessarily on a track. the couple of times I have run it down a strip it wasn't an issue, and this a high twelve second car in street trim. The one thing that I did have as an issue was a batch of bad mid shift kits from a company that is no longer in business. With a worn Darkhorse shifter in place, it would miss shifts in damn near any gear you would point it at. Not the fault of the trans though.
Thanks guys for the feedback! Seems like some got a great tranny and some weren't so lucky, as in all cases with anything I guess... I just read that there's a new TKO700 trans out now to handle the higher torque - I will look into that too. Anyone have experience with the 700?
In 2007, I purchased a new TKO500 with standard throw shifter and installed it behind my fastbk with a FE390. I didn't like the long throw of the shifter. In 2009, I purchased a new custom built TKO600 for my avatar from Keisler Engineering. I got the optional Keisler short-throw mini-billet shifter, 4616 chromoly gear set, 1 piece counter shaft, CLA-D4152 performance clutch disc (500-lb rated), shift lever hardware for TKO. This set up makes it so easy to bang the gears, with none of the third gear shifting issues some people talk about. It is important not to have a "death grip" on the shifter ball. Palm it and the TKO600 will move threw the gear shift pattern with ease.
DP, thanks for the feedback. Did you ever take the trans back to the shop that did their "magic"? Just curious as to what they'd say. The trans I just scattered was a GM T5 (which I think is the WC T5 w/ S10 tailshaft) when I hit 3rd - cracked the case but haven't taken it out of the car yet to see what other damages have been done. You're right about the Richmond as I called Jeg's as well and the they're hard to get. Thanks again DP!
Thanks Cerberus, who did you purchase your TKO600 from? Are the options you mentioned from that company? Thanks!
No it would have been a freight shipping deal not local. Racing season is winding down quick so I sold it to my buddy for $$ and a T5. I might have been forcing it in the 1/4 mile but hey time is a wasting . My car is about 2500 lbs and 12.5 @ 111 mph. Lets see how long it lasts.
Call my buddy Thomas over here at A.M.P. performance and tell him you know me, Chip Quinn. They are one of the largest distributors for Tremac on the planet and I really couldn't beat their price when I bought the TKO500 for "endlessearth's" truck last month. Their number is 602 437 2727.
I was running a M20 behind the 55 until recently. I changed the tranny to a TKO600 just before I drove the car to California two summers ago. Now I get the best of both worlds! The TKO behind the 327 in the 55 in my avatar is great! I run a 4:56 rear end with 30 inch tall tire! 1990 RPM 68 mph on the highway! I got the one with the .64 overdrive. Best of both worlds and worth the investment. 1st 2nd 3rd 4th are a lot of fun! Got mine from Hurst Drive Line Conversions. Great guys free shipping. Tech support was great! The transmission shifts beautifully! Like the guy post above you don't need to throw them into gear. Smooth like butter! The one thing that I would do is make sure that you change the transmission fluid. They say they are filled for life but I wouldn't and haven't been doing that. I change mine every season. No issues at all with 3rd gear. i have heard a lot of it is from guys trying to run it like a muncie where you really had to follow the H pattern from second to third. I was a little skeptical about the whole tranny 3rd gear thing before I bought it the guy told me the best thing to do is when you shift from second to third just push straight ahead. It goes right into third and I have yet to miss a shift. The only thing that I have heard is that the transmissions are not the best for shifting over 6000 RPM. I have heard that they will not go into gear very well. I only shift about 5900 RPM so I have never seen this for my self. Jay
I called Keisler and spoke with a tech guy today about the TKO7000 but said there's a long wait for that trans. We then talked about the 600 where they do all the mods on a fully sychronized trans which will cost about $3K. I think for my purpose, the tricks they do will be worth the money. Delivery time is 6 weeks as they have to custom build the trans. Looks like I may go that route. Thanks for the connection Chip. If I go with a stock tranny, I'll give Thomas a call but looks like I'll go with a tricked out one for now. Thanks for the tip Jay, gotta remember to push straight up for 3rd. Maybe that's why I destroyed my T5 - stuck it in between 3rd & 5th... What kind & size rear tire are you running? Vic
Ya you got to push straight up to collect 3rd gear! It is a weird feeling at first but I garantee you will get use to it. The rear tires are BFG TA 255 70 15s. They are 29.7 inches tall. I was going to run a Hurst pie crust style tire but I thought it was best to put a good radial under the car because I drive the car long distances a lot. Don't worry about the period correctness either. I left the 4 speed muncie shift ball on the handle and most guys don't notice that the handle is in the centre of the tunnel. They just see the 4 speed ball in there and comment that the car is a four gear car! lolol You will be happy you did this. I get 25-26 miles per gallon! lololol Jay
25 mpg - that's better than my everyday driver - a 2013 F150 pickup! Can you shoot me a picture of your tire in the fender? I currently run M/T piecrust slicks for the looks but been looking for a "nice" tire to take its place - sure hard to beat that look... Thanks, Vic
Contact Liberty Gears and ask for Paul.I have a Liberty faceplated TKO 600 and I have NEVER missed a gear.They do some shifting mods and have several options. I have it in my 42 Stude and launch it on slicks at 7500 and pull the lever at 7500 and NEVER miss agear!!!!Call Liberty do it NOW! 313-278-4040 Tellim "Redline Racer" sent ya! 10.91@ 124
Thanks RL Racer - you're giving me a woody now with a trans like that... I'll give Paul a call tomorrow. Vic
I never realized how noisy the M21 in my GTO was until I replaced it with a TKO600. Money well spent. Dave
Called Liberty's Gears today and spoke with Brad as Paul was out - nice guy. He recommended the full synchro unit in lieu of the faceplated TKO600 for my purpose of street/strip (mostly street). With the faceplated model, it's not as street friendly with downshifting. There're a lot of options and priced right. I'll take some measurements and shoot an order in. Thanks for the info RL Racer... love the "no auto" sticker, where do you get them? Vic
That No Auto sticker is just a step Beyond too cool! I went from a 2400 stall convertered 727 in my '48 with about 420H.P. or so on tap, to my TKO500 and 3.23 gears. Now, with the auto I had stuck some 2.79 gears in the back to TRY to get some semblance of Fuel mileage, and the result was about 10MPG with the converter flashing and unflashing as I rolled at about 75-80mph. The TKO, 3.23s alone got me up to about 18mpg as well as dropping a full second and a half off my 1/4 mile times. It's amazing what happens when you go from miserable compromise to correct! Oh, and further tuning took me as far as 21MPG out of the combo.
You mean like with the Richmond 5 speeds,right? I looked into that,but haven't been able to find all the information I want on them,and the newer ones seem to have pretty low tq ratings... Also heard on here that there is a long wait for one.....not sure though. Anybody got experience with one recently? Scott Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
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