Has anyone bought a tci transmission and had problems with it. I bought one and they wint stand behind their work. I got it through summit and all they do is point fingers telling me to call the other one. Tci said they can look at it but i sill have to pay to ship it to them, get it fixed, and back to me. Whats wrong with customer service today? What happened to standing behind their work?
Yes, had one without a rear bushing. rattled like a bon of a sitch. Do a search, their record is spotty.
IMHO I would return it to the supplier, Summit, you bought it from them not TCI. They should sort it out as they are the supplier.
got one but its still lieing on the floor has not give any trouble wished i had bought a gearstar again hate to have to deal with it falling out on the ground have not got many good reports
Don't get me started on TCI. We have always used Jackson Racing Transmissions and they have been good, but my Son Don decided to buy a C4 TCI from Summit for his T bucket project. He also bought a TCI torque convertor. After 100 miles I had to tow him home with my 23 one night because his car stopped moving. We called Summit and they said we needed to call TCI. TCI said we would have to send it back at our expense ($ 125 each way) and they would "take a look at it." When they tore it down they found out THEIR torque convertor came apart internally and the pieces took out the rest of the transmission, so they would fix them, but we had to pay the shipping back ! (Another $125.00) When I told them all this was due to THEIR screwup, they basically told me to pound sand. I bitched to Summit and they kicked in a $ 75 gift certificate to help with the shipping, but we will NEVER buy another TCI product. The new one seems to be working ok, but that still doesn't take away the bad taste from the first one. TCI has no customer service skills IMO. Here is the trans after we pulled it out to send it back. Don
I have never used tci so i have nothing to say about them but i can say I only use john wood automotive transmissions and the converter shop converters and shafts ( who makes johns shafts and converters) in any of my vehicles but I have many of friends that use suncoast transmissions and converters and have had very good luck. John wood builds transmissions for baja trucks and high power diesels and knows how to make them stay together well under any abuse you can throw at them. I have never had a problem with his work . I have wanted to change the stall on my converted and he sends me new converters and waits for me to send the old one back. He treats his customers right in my book. Look him up if you have another problem
The only ford auto trans I buy are from Len Bertrand at Lentech Automotive in Canada. If you break it, they fix it. I have pounded these trans hard...buy their converters!
Check out back issues of Hot Rod Mag. when they do articles on The Worlds Fastest Street Car or Power Tour. Just about everytime some poor soul has his tranny out for an issue there's a TCi sticker on it. Waddoes that tell ya'?!?! P.O.S.!
TCI's back ground is drag racing. Company has been through a few buy outs and it's amazing they are still in business due to that. However their manufacturing facilties are pretty damn nice and they do have a good transmission assembly area with approximately a dozen builders and testing personell. The potential for installation screw ups related to street rod applications it great as most end users aren't familiar with all the neccesary steps related to a successul intall. I know this statement will make the flamers pissed off but the truth can be painful. Fords are a particularly troublesome unit as it's way too easy to hurt the converter hub in the pump due to pull up variations, greatly excaserbated when aftermarket crank shafts and flywheels come into the picture. Been in the biz 30 years and had on and off relations with TCI, but at this time they are a decent supplier and try to do a good job with what there is to work with these days. I can tell you people this, we have self installers bring their vehicle in for inspection before we will warrentee, and 80% of the time there are problems that could shorten trans life, improper rubber hose and used screw clamps on the trans lines are my favorite, particularly when they are laying on manifolds or exhaust pipes.
I suggest using Gearstar Performance Transmissions. They supply all of Street Rodders trans for their annual tour cars and have never had any failures or problems in all the years and over 125,000 miles! And those cars cover the entire US in a season. Do some research - you'll be convinced. They offer a three year warranty but have rarely had to use it because they have less than .01% failure rate in ten years. Every trans is hand built to order for each specific customer and car set-up (no inventory or off the shelf, one setup-fits -all stuff. Disclosure: I do their marketing but it's all fact.
I exploded one in the '90s. Well not completely exploded, the torque converter that came with it let go first then the tranny in rapid succession. We think, the bell is all spider-webbed, the planetary gears came apart and the Kevlar band looked like a paint brush. I have heard that people have good luck with them. When we called they said I must have been racing it, well duh. I mean what did they expect?
For myself, I only deal with local craftsmen for high dollar parts just in case of problems like that. Going directly to the source always nets better results than dealing with companies too far away to care.
You're only suppose to put them in a hearse or a 6 cylinder Chevy II and only drive them in funerals.
But of course, who would buy a high performance transmission and actually think it would hold up to hard usage !!!!!!!!!! My Son is getting close to buying a new C4 for his OT Capri drag car, and it will NOT be from TCI, but probably from Performance Automatic........they have a lifetime warranty, even if it is raced. Don
I have used 4 trans from TCI now - 3 C4's and a Turbo 350. No problems with any of them except for some small leaks that were an easy fix (and in one case my fault, I forgot the O-Ring that goes behind the shifter arm) But here's the deal in my opinion, TCI's street fighter series is a whole lot less money than most of the others that have been suggested on here. You can't expect a high end racing quality trans for $700-800.00
I think that is the catagory that I fell into, mine was the next step up @ 1200 but it was called a street strip transmission. I have gone back to building my own but a lot of the fellas locally have started using Pheonix transmission with good luck. You call them give them the specs of your vehicle and they build you a transmission based on the specs given. OK that was shamless spam, I think with TCI you just need to stay with a race only transmission and you are good to go.
I am not a TCI fan... I have heard and know first hand about alot of problems with TCI products. I would rather buy from a guy that stands by his name, thus building a quality product he can say proudly is his. I did have a problem with the TCI Super Street Fighter converter, and a local guy here at Perfect Converter co, broke it open and fixed the insides, adjusted the flash, and its great. Next, there has got to be more to this story, simply put, People buy from Summit because of their no nonsense return policy. I live right near the tallmadge main store. The return policy is why many companies dont do business with Summit. Barry Grant is one such company. In order to sell or be a supplier, you must adhere to summits policies or you are dropped. They are kind of the walmart of High performance parts. They put out alot of small hot rod shops in this area because the return policy. I bought many cams from them, went to the track, and tested each one. The best performing cam stayed in my engine, I returned the rest, no questions asked. Summit has, a summit rack, they swap the inventory and sell at a reduced price the returned items, and its all profit, buy as is, no return. Many of these items land up at swap meets. If Summit wont return your tranny, then somthing is up, be it time, or somthing.... or simply go to the store and ask for a manager, and discuss it... they have always made it right with me, and I am not a fan and wouldnt buy if it werent for their return policy.
It has been a few years now since we had our TCI fiasco so all the details are not fresh in my mind, but as I remember it the problem with Summit not taking it back was that it was over the TCI warranty period, even though the transmission was just put in service. TCI has a very short warranty period (don't remember if it is 90 days or 1 year right now) but when you buy a transmission it is usually a while before you get the car project done and the car actually on the road. Conversely, we had a transmission front pump failure on a th350 that we bought from Jackson Racing Transmissions and we had bought it 4 years before we ever got around to getting the car running. Jackson said no problem, send it back and we will fix it at no charge. They realize that just because a car builder buys a transmission today the car may not be finished and running for quite some time after that, so they take your word as to when it was put in service. Since we were the ones who screwed up the pump we just had it fixed locally, but it was nice to see they were willing to step up to the plate. Don
summit has stood behind all the shit stuff /most screwed up by lazy usa employes long list ...most easy to see items not only built sloppy but missed in so call Quality control.........maybe summit policy will force manufacturers to up grade their quality of workmanship..... we try to buy usa made stuff but most is crap too try Mike's Transmission in landcaster socal....he runs all his trans behind a engine on a trans dyno...when you put one in you know it is going to work¬ leak........
Two things - First it is this type of bull shit that is the reason that some companies won't do business with them. People that buy product, then test it, decide they don't like it and return it. That is no different than stealing. The product is no longer new and can't be resold as such. The company has to eat the product due to Summit's return policy and they loose money because of it. They have to make up for that in higher prices, so you are screwing the next guy as well. And it is not "All Profit" for Summit either. They have paid shipping when you bought it, handling for the return, cost of filing the return claim with the company, cost of inventorying the item and floor space to re sell it. These things all cost money. And all because you ripped them off in the first place.
Wow! I did! Great folks but after I got done with their quote I couldn't sit down for a week! About 5 grand for a turbo 400 plus the cost of a Gearvendors O.D. and I almost O.D.'ed! They do good work but till I invent something like Facebook I can only afford my lil' 'ol 700R4 built by Art Carr for $2600.00 and dyno'ed at 900 horse.
mike's has transmissions a lot cheaper then that what did you need? my son just rebuilt the 327 in my A &last year rebuild the entire car am tempted to start a thread on all the parts we had to return... lucky that my son was alert enough to check all parts ... the engine would been ruined by more then one of the parts we got... waiting &returning turned a routine rebuild into a month long wait as phone calls where made >photos sent >shipping time&costs ect ect......... most of these parts came from companies that have been in business since i built the car in65?????????????phone calls where with the same people that started the company back in the 50's>what happened ?other then the pressent lazy unskilled usa workforce....
Summit has this policy for Product developement... Nothing wrong with it... When you buy a part from SUmmit, before you purchase it, tell them what your plans are. They are fine with it, on everything except Tires.. AN yes they still make their money, on the Summit Rack. Most big companies have what they call salvage stores. We arent all theives No wonder we cant get a presidential election right..... hahahah... WoW
luckily most parts bought thru summit when phone calls to the owners of some companys turned up as dead ends summit stepped in & took good care of us.................
Bought a C4 from summit a few years back. Had it back out and had to take it to the local shop to be fixed in an extremely short period of time after the initial install.... Not a big fan myself. Works great now though after the local shop with a great reputation went back through it.... My lesson learned.
My son's friend bought one from Summit, had a problem with second gear ,had to pay shipping back to TCI, then when it was deemed their fault,they sent another tranny. Car went high tens with a turbo 350 in a 3600 lb way off topic camaro ,never had another problem.I don't remember if he was reimbursed for the shipping or not.
A tranny that would handle 600+ horse and overdrive. Mike's was going to build a re-geared turbo 400 with a 3800 stall convertor.... That was 5K! Gearvendors O.D. was another $2400.00. Like I said, Art Carr built a 700R4 with a 3600 stall convertor and dyno'ed at 900 horse for $2600.00 to my door.
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