Anyone ever ship a transmission?

[cavero]

I've got to send my Magnum XL back to Tremec so they can look at a grinding issue I'm having on my almost brand new transmission. If it's covered under warranty, they'll refund me the shipping charges. If not (and I'm sure they're going to try to make sure it's not), then I've got to eat the cost of shipping, diagnosis, and repairs.

The shipping weight is about 160 LBS, dimensions of the box are 46" L x 23" W x 24" H, going from 22079 to 48377. It was shipped by D&D performance to my shop for $200 via FedEx Economy, but when I try to get a quote from FedEx, the cheapest option they give me is 3-day Freight for $500!

I got a quote from UPS for LTL (less-than-truckload) shipping, but they want a class for the freight (50 - 500, the bigger the number the bigger/heavier/more cumbersome the package). I guessed 100 since it's 160 lbs which seems pretty reasonable and the quote is about $200. But I don't know what class it'd actually fall into. And how banged up is the box going to get for the cheapest option?

Anyone ever ship something this size? Any clue what's the best service to use? Looking to save $$$ but also want to make sure it arrives in the same shape it left in.

 

[cavero]

D'oh, I missed the "Freight" option for FedEx on their website, it was quoting me for a package. Now I see the same LTL option (FedEx Economy), and they're quoting me $266.

Also found this freight class calculator, It's a 92.5:
http://www.freightclasscalc.com/calculator.php

Still want to hear any opinions on services/options I should use.

 

[Marble]

Sometimes ifyou can ship it from a business with a loading dock it will be cheaper.

 

[thailand]

Marble is right on the money. Business/Dock service can help with transportation costs.
If you can get a hold of a pallet, it'll help with the handling. Instead of FedEx/UPS handling the box, they'll be moving the pallet.
There are a ton of LTL services out there. You can always snag a quote from them. ABF, ODFL, YRC, PittOhio, come to mind.
Good luck. If I think of any other services, I'll let you know!

 

[dre256]

If your job has a forklift get it delivered there, it will be cheaper going to a business. Truck drivers don't enjoy doing drop offs in a residential area. It will come by a pup truck, straight truck, or tractor trailer. They generally will not unload it for you. You will be responsible for being there and unloading it, if not there and they have to leave the truck company many times will charge your for coming back. It will not be a box. It will be strapped on a pallet. Trucking companies aren't like your UPS guys that deal with Amazon boxes. This is real freight.

200-300 for one time shipment and not having an account with anyone is about correct. Its hard unless you do a lot of shipping with a trucking company to be under 150 a pallet

 

[cavero]

AWESOME, thanks gents. I'm having my mechanic remove the transmission at his shop and the freight company will pick it up from there (I used him for everything drivetrain). Luckily I kept the box the transmission came in, so that simplifies everything a LOT




PittOhio may be the way to go, they're quoting $100 for "Fast Track" (2nd business day by 5PM)!

 

[fdjizm]

I am having an issue with reverse grinding on my t56 mangum xl.
Will be bringing it to my shop and having them ship it back to tremec.
Reverse was always rough, then started grinding only 2 weeks after I've had the trans.
I hope it doesn't damage anything else. I have to shut the car off, put it in reverse and turn it back on.
Pretty frustrating for the amount of $ I spent to get that fucker in there, good luck!!

 

[cavero]

That sounds like your clutch isn't fully disengaging. Does the car creep if you push the pedal to the floor with car in gear?

 

[Juice]

I am having an issue with reverse grinding on my t56 mangum xl.
Will be bringing it to my shop and having them ship it back to tremec.
Reverse was always rough, then started grinding only 2 weeks after I've had the trans.
I hope it doesn't damage anything else. I have to shut the car off, put it in reverse and turn it back on.
Pretty frustrating for the amount of $ I spent to get that fucker in there, good luck!!

Like cavero said, that is a clutch issue. Reverse is NOT synchronized, that is why it is grinding. (clutch not releasing fully) Driving the car like that also puts extra wear on the forward gears' synchronizers.

 

[fdjizm]

That sounds like your clutch isn't fully disengaging. Does the car creep if you push the pedal to the floor with car in gear?

Not at all and all forward gears are fine.

 

[travelers]

The T56 XL reverse gears are synchronized I have one.

 

[Juice]

The T56 XL reverse gears are synchronized I have one.

Really? Tremec must have left the syncros out of mine. I have never seen a manual transmission with a synchronized reverse gear.

 

[cavero]

The TR3650 didn't have a reverse synchro IIRC, but the T56's owners manual warns you if you don't hook up the lockout solenoid and shift into reverse by accident on the highway, the synchro are aggressive enough you could actually get it into gear

 

[Eedd]

I sent mine back to Tremec in a large rubbermaid tote. It's under 150Lbs (just the transmission) so UPS it for a little over $100 depending on how much you insure it for.

 

[cavero]

So is that normal UPS ground you shipped it with? I'm doing mine LTL freight and goddamn I hate this shit. They've failed to pick it up two times now, one because the shop left their race car in the way, and the 2nd time it was cancelled for non-payment. Yet I was told they would just charge at the time of pickup. So now I'm filling out the goddamn form again, scheduling a pickup...again, and have to call them and manually pay tomorrow morning before they show up. All because neither I nor the shop have a UPS business account. I could've driven to Michigan myself for less trouble.

 

[cavero]

So not sure what to make of this yet. They got the transmission on Monday and had to wait for time on the spin test stand to be free for a day but tested it today. A bit vague : the engineers recommended sending me a new transmission back (so that's what they're doing), but they haven't even opened my original one yet. They said they'd do a more thorough inspection later. Does that mean its under warranty? I'm sure I'll find out tomorrow but it kinda surprised me.

Now D&D performance swapped the 5th and 6th gears in my 2.97 ratio transmission out with ones from a 2.67. They're obviously going to be sending me back a regular 2.97 gearset. I'm not sure I want to bring that up since the 6th gear was frankly too tall for my tastes.

 

[cavero]

Just wanted to give a quick update:

Got the new transmission the following week, but had to wait for my mechanic to get back from vacation. Excruciating... Anyway, got the new one installed and it came with this:



Anyone else use this stuff? We decided to use what Tremec sent, but man 1st and 2nd gear are notchy as hell. It's been over the 500 mile break-in and it still doesn't slip into those gears easily. Think I'm going back to Pennzoil Synchromesh.

 

[cavero]

Oh and cruise control only works in 4th and 6th gears. Been doing some reading, may have to do with how close those match up with the stock gears that are in my tune. My guess is with the swapped 5th/6th gears there was less of a mismatch which is why 5th worked fine on the old transmission. Going to try updating the tune first