Anyone have experiance with sunoast trannys?

RowlandSmoke

RowlandSmoke

New member
Joined
Oct 21, 2013
Messages
51
Need a new 68rfe tranny and need a good one that holds a lot of power. heard a lot of bad on ats and good on suncoast. anyone that has has any experience with this please reply!
 
Ive been working with Suncoast for the past 5 years on this tranny. It has came a very long way with some new things in the works. I daily drive one in my 8350lb mega and love it...

Any specific questions?

Click Link for a few videos of normal abuse.
 
rjp said:
Ive been working with Suncoast for the past 5 years on this tranny. It has came a very long way with some new things in the works. I daily drive one in my 8350lb mega and love it...

Any specific questions?

Click Link for a few videos of normal abuse.
Click to expand...

What kind of power is the 68 holding now? It seems that for every one person that says their's holds 700+, there are 20 more who have burnt up multiple units and are now ready to do a 48 swap.
On a side note I am running the Suncoast triple disc TC and valve body in my 48re with no complaints at all. :rockwoot:
 
What do you consider "a lot of power"? Seems like 600hp is the threshold of what they can handle. Some have gotten more, some less.
 
Iv been wondering the same thing, the guys saying they are holding are the ones doing the testing for SC it seems. or an 900hp street/drag truck. I'm 700/750hp to the wheels in a 9000lb truck that tows heavy. I use the truck everyday. Id say my truck would put more load on a trans than a street/drag 900hp truck. I could be wrong but iv went through 3 built trans already, none being suncoast, but I don't want to spend another 10g fore a trans I got to use the warranty every 500 miles.
 
My truck is 1000+ hp and its a daily driver. I do run it down the track as well as hit the local Dyno events from time to time. This tranny has Zero issues holding the power, it will hold any gear with the converter 100% locked and not miss a beat. The issue with this transmission is the electronics!!! If this transmission was manually driven are had the option of driving it with a stand alone system, it would be the $hit!!! I will list a few of the things that cause 99% of most failures on the built units.

#1) Bad Tuning and are a corrupted TCM. A bad tune in the TCM can cause a slip condition when the transmission is perfectly fine. Change TCM and the problem goes away. It doesn't take much to kill a stock unit with electronic issues, a build unit is a little more forgiven.

#2) Bad speed sensor. We have seen quite a few bad sensors right out of the box. If your tranny does not shift right upon installation do not keep driving it, it will kill the tranny. All sensors are now tested before they are put to use.

#3) Not build with the proper tolerances upon Assembly. This is very important in order to keep this tranny happy. If it flares are binds during the learning process, something is not right and the transmission will not last. Sometimes if its not that bad it will learn past it, but in most cases the damage has already been done.

#3) Higher pressures have caused one certain snap ring to break on some units, this has been an issue in the past witch has now been corrected with a very heavy duty replacement.

#4) Wore valve body. The old valve bodies would wear and cause leaks witch would drop pressure and ultimately kill the overdrive frictions. The new valve bodies are now anodized in order to eliminate this issue.


As of recently there has been some new developments in tuning on the 68rfe. If this proves to be as good as it sounds, the 68rfe tuning nightmares will be a thing of the past.
 
It's all part of the trans. It all works together. That being said I'm guessing if any of the 4 problems happenend it would be at the owners expence, so who in their right mind would wanna spend 10grand on a unit that the builder has yet to get it up to par with a 47/48re? Not bashing no one here! But myself spending that much would wanna be able to know that I could go anywhere and tow anything I wanted to. Like I said before the ones (holding) are the SC testers and 900hp dd/race trucks, what about is that use our trucks to tow 25000lbs? I would almost bet if I had anyone's unit, tuning, sensors whatever the builder wanted in my truck I could trash it not even beating on it, and if I didn't I'd pay them the full price for the unit, give them props, and never say this again.
 
In addition to the above Proper tolerances upon assembly information. Anyone can buy theses parts and build the unit themselves. If the unit is not built to the T per the directions, the unit will not last. Air checking the rotating module for proper clearance is a must
 
rjp said:
As of recently there has been some new developments in tuning on the 68rfe. If this proves to be as good as it sounds, the 68rfe tuning nightmares will be a thing of the past.
Click to expand...

when will these new breakthroughs be available to the public. i will be investing in a fully build 68 next year, but mainly concerned with it being absolutely bulletproof for moderate (550-600) power. my current setup includes all upgrades that were available in 2008 from suncoast, which was a triple disk and clutches.
 
All i can suggest is read the warranty the company offers before making this kind of investment, this way you know what they have to offer if there is an issue. If you don't like the terms then look at the next brand are just stay stock. I don't right the rules man I'm just a tester for them.

The question was asked and i simply gave my opinion of what some of the known issues with this tranny were.


At the end of the day the transmission company has done its job to build a tranny that is capable of holding X amount of power. Its not their problem if tuning jacks them up, although they usually warranty them anyway.

My best advise is to make sure you use a reputable tuner that has many happy customers. Proper tuning is the life of the 68rfe!!!

Towing is not an issue with the Mega! What has been your issue on the ones you've had?
 
baracuda said:
when will these new breakthroughs be available to the public. i will be investing in a fully build 68 next year, but mainly concerned with it being absolutely bulletproof for moderate (550-600) power. my current setup includes all upgrades that were available in 2008 from suncoast, which was a triple disk and clutches.
Click to expand...

Should know something pretty soon.
We have came a long way since 2008.
 
Iv read the warranty, and covers nothing you have spoke about. I believe their trans holds power decent, but if the tuning is such a critical part I think as a builder I'd have that figured out for the guys buying them so it's covered .id almost bet the same guy tuning yours tunes mine. And again not bashing just seem your the only one with any luck with it and your a tester so that doesent say a lot. My first built one was the overdrives , 2nd one was it broke the intermediate shaft , I'm on the third but haven't drove it since the last one. The total miles on all 3 haven't been over 5000 together.
 
DieselP said:
Iv read the warranty, and covers nothing you have spoke about. I believe their trans holds power decent, but if the tuning is such a critical part I think as a builder I'd have that figured out for the guys buying them so it's covered .id almost bet the same guy tuning yours tunes mine. And again not bashing just seem your the only one with any luck with it and your a tester so that doesent say a lot. My first built one was the overdrives , 2nd one was it broke the intermediate shaft , I'm on the third but haven't drove it since the last one. The total miles on all 3 haven't been over 5000 together.
Click to expand...

Its not just Suncoast, no one has it figured out. There are things that are known and there are things that are not. To be honest, i don't see anyone going any further than where we are today with the tuning of the factory TCM. Hopefully the new testing being done will prove to be the fix.

Oh Ive had my issues with testing, its all part of the process. Normally the process is Ron builds it and runs it in his 700hp truck for X amount of time and then it comes down the line to myself, Ryan etc... As time has progressed i have built a few motors while turning things up each time. So here we are five years later with a solid tranny and some tuning that has a mind of its own.

I have broke one stock input since the beginning, 600hp. I have never broke any other hard part in the tranny since. How the hell did you break the intermediate shaft? I drive the $hit out of mine and never had that happen. I do have a hitch in my truck as well, its no stranger to dragging a heavy 40' with a GVWR of 30k. I can only assume it was done during towing???
 
Not saying it's just sc I respect what you guys are doing, but when you call sc they say it's bulletproof and it'll do whatever I want it too, then you call the other vendors they say they are working on it some are having issues but some don't, they are honest. I wish I could talk to someone at sc that new what they were talking about, because it's prob just the person I'm talking to. I broke the intermediate going down the hwy at 75mph with the cruise set, it randomly downshifted to 2nd gear, put me in the ditch. I wish there was a 68sc powered truck around I could ride in to see how it does.
 
From what I have read here if the 68 isn't spot on perfect when it is built, or if the tuning is sub-par, it will fail. These are the same reasons that keep many 07.5 and up Dodge owners from dropping 10k on a transmission that may or may not hold power.
It would seem that even after all these years of R&D it is still very touch and go.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top