3060 changed over to TranSynd today

[Darryl]

I had my 3060 serviced today by an Allison dealer. Since it is an older model, it orginally came with Dextron III. They flushed it and I had TranSynd put back in. I was expecting a larger bill than I got --- the whole thing was $384. Maybe not needed, since I've never had a problem with the Dextron, but couldn't hurt. I thought some others might want to know what it cost to have this done.

As an aside, I can't tell any difference in the shifting. Seems to be the same. I think the tech says they used an extra 5 quarts for the flushing part. He said that in 10 years they've only had to replace 2 of these transmissions in a motorhome. He said that most of the time the motorhome service is easy on them since they mostly travel down the highway. On the otherhand, he says the garbage people are the ones that really go through transmissions.

While waiting, I watched them dyno a AT-545. This was the transmission used in most school buses until a few years ago. Now, it is mostly used in Hummers. Says they rebuilt 100 of them a couple years ago for the military. There were several fire trucks and a couple of over-the-road buses in the shop at the same time. I was a bit surprised at so many fire trucks being in there. I would have thought these would have been trouble free since they don't seem to keep them in service but 6 years around here.

[Roadking]

Darryl: My 3060 is due for fluid change and currently has Dextron and I want to switch to the Transynd. THe price you mentioned in your post is more than $100 below what the Allison folks in Las Vegas quoted me. The my quote was for only 5 gallons (19qts) of Transynd and would be more if I had the 4in deep pan. Clearly the quote did not include the additional Transynd to "flush" or replace the other 10qts from the torque convertor or tranny. Furthermore I wasn't impressed with the service techs in the Las Vegas shop so I've elected to delay the service until I get to a different Allison service center.

I'm heading towards the southeast in January so I'm curious where you got your tranny serviced, or if anyone could recommend a reputable Allison shop in the South anywhere between Texas and the southeast coast (Florida, GA, or beyond)?? My last service a few years ago was in Monroe La, and those folks were great. Currently I'm leaning towards giving them my repeat business.

Thanks

[Triker56]

Every time I have changed the filters & fluid in my 3060 it has always taken only 16 qt. to do it with my 2" pan.

You may ask for them to give you any qt. not used in the 19 qt. job.

[Avalondanes]

[QUOTEThe my quote was for only 5 gallons (19qts) of Transynd and would be more if I had the 4in deep pan.][/QUOTE]

I don't know about Vegas, but around here 5gal is 20 qts.......just saying

Richard

[Roadking]

5gal = 20qts. Yep, learned that in 2nd or 3rd grade. My concern was the $100 difference, not the one quart. It was an estimate for 5 gals and the service writer did state it should be a max of 19qts...or less...so the quote was expected to be higher than the actual bill.

Any reco's on a service location that is more reasonable with the bottom line are still appreaciated.

[Algoma]

Just had my transmission done at Western Branch Diesel. I have the 2'" pan and they used 4 gallons of Transynd at $30 per gallon. The filter kit was $48. Don't know how much they charged for labor as I had some other work done at the same time.

[Darryl]

Roadking, sorry for the late reply. I had my service done at Reliable Transmission in Conley GA. They are an Allison dealer and only service/rebuild heavy duty transmissions. They've been around for many years here and are usually a bit less expensive than Williams Detroit Diesel/Allison, the other dealer here. I have friends in the bus business and they've been using them for years to service and rebuild their bus transmissions. I have been using them for 5 years and am pleased as well.

[robbstein]

We had our 03 Advantage updated to Transynd at the Allison shop in Charlotte, NC a couple of years ago during the FMCA Convention. The price was reasonable and the service area appeared to be well run as well as good, quality techs. We now have 93000 miles on the coach and about another year before we need to do the filter change since we are using the HD filters.

[KIX]

I recently drained the Dexron fluid from our 3060 and replaced with Transynd. It took about 19 qts. I did this after reading about changing to Transynd on Allison's site. They stated that on the first refill with Transynd the fluid would need to be changed again in 25,000 miles and refilled with Transynd. After that second change the concentration of Transynd would be sufficient to change the fluid change schedule to the Transynd schedule. Allison information further stated that a transmission flushing was not recommended.
So, some of the posts above are a little confusing in that they say a flush was performed by an Allison shop and the Allison shop then used 19 qts. of replacement fluid. Could this have been your 2nd fluid change in the process to change over to Transynd?

[Roadking]

Thanks for the responses. I got a second quote for "approx $700". The service writer said this included 6 gallons of transynd at $50 per gallon, the filter kit which was "about $100", and 3 hours of labor. The three hours included the "extra time" required to flush the tranny and torque convertor. I said thanks and promply left. I'm getting closer to the east coast and will check into the shop in Conley.. Thanks again.

On a different subject I just got the engine oil and filters changed at SpeedCo. I have nothing to do with this company, but was very pleased with the service. SpeedCo is a speciality company that does oil changes for big trucks THey had Excellent service and an excellent price. I was in and out of the shop in less than 70 minutes.

[Roadking]

I got the Allison serviced yesterday in Las Cruces NM at Border International truck service. The Transynd was $34.61 per gallon and the High capacity filters were $51.00. Total bill was $350.41. Great service with a great price. I was in no hurry so the tech let the fluid drain for a couple of hours. After draining it took 18 quarts to initially fill to the cold mark. We let the rig warm up and drove it until tranny temp came up to about 170 and returned to the shop where we checked the fluid level again. Both the electronic level and dip stick indicated two quarts low so an additional 2 quarts were added for a total of.... 20 quarts.

[Locomotive]

DARRYL, By 'flush' do you mean they disconnected a line from the oil cooler and ran the engine briefly (to get nearly ALL the Dextron out of the torque converter)..or by ' flush' you meant they did something more? Any info appreciated. Locomotive TOM

[Darryl]

The former ---- disconnected line from cooler and ran all the Dextron out. If you don't do it this way, there is quite a bit of residual left in the torque converter.

[Locomotive]

DARRYL, Ok Thanks. My 4060 Allison holds 48 quarts!! It's a monster. 2 oil changes would be tough to take! I drive mine very little. I'm doing what you had done....and be done with it. Locomotiveman TOM