I just recently purchased a car that was in need of the transmission to be rebuilt.
Being as I work entirely to much and didn’t want to build the transmission myself I decided to enlist jerra and give back to the community and the people that contribute to it.

I spent 1500 on a rebuild with jerry as my transmission was in need of quite a bit of reconditioning..
When I got the transmission in the car everything seemed ok. I drive the car around the block . I have all my gears . Sweet! . I park the car and go to take it back out of the garage and reverse crunches me.

?? that’s not good .. Maybe it was my fault? I got to put in in reverse again . Same thing . But I didn’t pay to much attention. I figured id just need to adjust the clutch pedal, as I just put a new clutch in as well.

I go and drive the car again and 5th gear was a little funny to get into. “eh new synchros no big.”
After wards 2nd and 4th wouldn’t engage properly.

I called jerry up on this right away.
We came to the conclusion that the shift cables should be culprit of the gear not engaging correctly..

Im ok with that as I tend to agree with it. But reverse was still grinding.

I decided to take the transmission down because now I have 90 miles on the tranny and reverse it getting shittier.

Being as I just paid 1500 for this rebuild I decided to look to see if all the parts that jerry said were put into the transmission were really there , because I cant fathom a fresh tranny to have grinding issues..

My fresh redline mt-90 came out dark pearl grey with plenty of flake so Im not happy already.

I pop off the end cover and find a problem right away.
The reverse synchro ring has a deep gouge in it already after 90 miles.
The reverse spring was not placed properly in the case and was rubbing the ring.



Now im not thrilled at all!
Next the nuts on the ends of the clusters have been reused multiple times. it’s 2 6 dollar nuts. Why are they hammered beyond belief? I didn’t get that pic because I was to eager to check the rest of the trans out.
I take off the gears and I come across The intermediate plate .
WTF is this ? Copper flexible sheet ?


Poor mans shim job, quite possibly the most ghetto work ive seen for shims. These shims don’t cost much of anything and when rebuilding something like this , especially when the customer is paying why skimp .
Completely unacceptable by anyone’s standards.

Now that the plate was off and im in complete disgust I find one of my gears has a chip.
Wtf again . Nice job inspecting the tranny jerry.



Now im worried if he actually did the 4 spider upgrade .But he was a man of his word and did do the upgrades he mentioned. ( 4 spider and shift rail mods).

I was already in here I might as well go to the end. I take off the diff housing and I find another present from Santa jerry clause.

The differential shim all torn up . Another unacceptable thing to find..
It’s the wrong size for the clearance and decided to clearance itself to the tranny .

Ive talked with jerry sought out for him to make things right.

I asked simply for the price I paid in labor as the parts had to be paid for regardless.

He replied with “” QUOTE

I dont have any solutions that will make you happy. And I have no desire to discuss it any further. I made a simple mistake with reverse spring that could have been corrected in the car in about 30 minutes tops.. I suspect by not paying you off you will make a thread about it. I have most responses already prepared. I thought about posting about the situation before you do. But response to your concerns all make you look pretty stupid really. . I am not into thread fights. Doesnt really solve anything. I just made a thread bash on a horrible paint job I just got. There were quite a few surprised I paid for the work and wasnt asking for any kind of refund. I certainly could have insisted he fix the car at his costs. And I am pretty sure he would have complied. I gave up that option by deciding to fix the car myself.


But as stated by jerry in his own thread after seeing the work that was performed on his own car , He did not want the person to attempt to correct the situation.

This was the case in my transmission.

He deems his work completely acceptable because “ It works”
I gave him the scenario the just because jb weld works its not and acceptable fix. Neither should his home made shims. He also told me he doesnt want to wait 2 week for the correct parts if he can make his own.

“ Jerry- I use jb weld in my cars” It works great.


I have heard many horror stories of Jerry but I have seen some good work performed by him as well

Many people speek very highly of jerry but this work that was performed on my transmission is unacceptable.

I will not be doing any further business with jerry nor would I recommend anyone to seek mechanical work to be done by him.



This is NOT an attempt to seek to make things right . Im just making others aware of the kind of things that will come from him.

 

sorry to hear about the transmission job. I trusted someone with a tranny/clutch job that i regretted aswell (again, highly recommended just like your story) so I feel your pain. I hope you get the tranny up and running correctly.

 

threads get deleted because they get off track. You don't need to rant about the mods. Stuff like that is what gets your comments deleted, and useless/offtopic complaining is way so many of the threads get shut down.

I have always heard mixed things about Jerry. I know ateast 3 people that have had work done by Jerry, car/transmission is still running strong and they returned to him for other jobs/parts. But then random stuff like this pops up. Have never done business with him, but the pictures speak for themselves, and as you said Seth. This isn
t the first time issues with his work has popped up.

 

THIS UPDATE FROM POST 36 for people who dont want to read through all the crap
You probably should have mentioned this earlier. Cause this is the first time I am hearing about this. When throw out bearing isnt working correctly the clutch wont either. If the clutch doesnt disengage correctly the trans will have no chance of shifting correctly. and reverse will be first gear to grind. Even non certified techs know this. Now you REALLY look stupid here. First it was cables and now the brand new bearing... WOW just WOW you are an idiot....

following is origianl text:
I will keep my side as short as possible.
This transmission was worse condition than any I have seen. Normally I would recommend finding a better core to start with but that is really no longer an option, The last two people on here looking for 2g AWD transmission spent months . initial estimate to do a build on the transmission was 1100-1200. this estimate was 300 labor and the rest were parts. This estimate was done before any gear sets or center diff was torn apart. He said go a head and built it. After everything was disassembled I found the whole driven gearset useless. this alone was addition 500 in parts. Then the center diff hat was found to be toast. thats another 175 in parts. Then the aluminum third member was also found to be unusable from all the grinding that was going on. another 150 at dealer. So in order to keep the build 1500 I had to include from my parts stash well over 300 worth in parts. The labor for every trans built is flat 300. some take 3 hours, some take a maybe double that. this trans took 12 labor hours to build.
The goal of this car was 550whp weekend car. Pretty much same power level yellow car has. differences will be yellow car weighs 2600lbs, spins 28lb 23" tall tire and uses ultra soft engaging titlon carbon carbon twin. This 2g will weigh over 3000, spin heavy 24.5 tall tires and use the ultra harsh engaging ceramic twin clutch. yellow car transmissions (four broken) lasted about 2000 miles or for me about nine months. I explained to Orlando its not wise to spend money on a dsm trans as the life is very short at his intended HP levels. I explain this because this is what goes through my head when building a transmission. how long will it last and how much money will be wasted when gears let go. I try my hardest to keep build as cheap as possible. In the end the gears are just too small to handle the power we would like to throw at them.
When trans was first installed in the car Orlando called calm but you could tell he was very upset the trans was not working in 1/3/5. I calmly explained to relax. its impossible for the problem to be in the tranny. This problem is quite common a shifter cable issue. I told him the cables break and they flex trying to push into gear. also told him to check adjustments. He calls back the next day with same frustration. "there are no adjustments on 2g cables" At this point I know I am dealing with a mechanic that is not too bright. I again assured the cables are the problem. That was last I heard from him till he called and asked that I give him 300 dollars back because he had to drop tranny and fix my work. I told him that no trans shop would do that. I would have been happy to correct reverse issue had you contacted me after you got cables and found it still had an issue with reverse. but he didnt contact me he decided to work on it himself then beg I pay him for his labor time to work on his car.
end of part 1

 

Dealing with a mechanic thats not to bright . lol

"You" mentioned to me to adjust the cables . I simply called you back and explained that 2g's have no adjustments.

But thats ok. You still didnt justify the poor work on the shims .
Yes im terribly sorry that i was begging and pleading .(obviously sarcastic.) but its ok jerry . you need the money more than i do.

Your big ramble and post still has nothing to do with the poor work that is seen clearly in this transmission. You can try and steer people in another direction with the useless first paragraph. It has nothing to do with the unprofessional approach to "fixing" the trans.

And to further clean up the jumble of a post. the trans works in 1/3/5 . it was having problems with 2/4/R

 

part 2
for all his concerns in the trans.
yes I reuse the big nuts. never have purchase one new. the rim of nut can be reused as long as it has a fresh lip to peen. used nut bites harder than a fresh one. when you remove after peened the threads get slightly distorted and act like lock nut even before peening. 1st tip of day. if you tighten nut and the nut lands in a spot where it was already peened. you can shave a few tough off bottom of nut. now it will clock to a new position. this takes about 30 seconds. and saves about 5 bucs a nut. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. ..............................................tran smission shims. yes I cut my own shims. I also shave back side of bearing race to get clearances I want. are brass shims inferior? harldy. this is were the "certified tech" was most upset. claiming no body does it. it simply isnt done . its unacceptable. blah blah blah. Brass is the same stuff your sycros are made up. they are the best material to use when there is metal to metal friction. it is far superior to using steel for the job. if you dont believe me try shaving brass some time. I tried adding clearance the back of a sycro one time and was flabbergasted at how long on my table sander it took to shave a few though off. I tried for ten minutes and gave up. steel will shave a few though about one minute. mistu doesnt use brass for these shims because it would be ten times the cost and it isnt necessary. Orlandos second rant was why I stack shims when I can just buy the correct height. stacking is not a problem its actually advantageous. this shim is not really a shim. the proper term is thrust surface. the bearing race is not stationary. it turns. not very fast but it does turn. maybe 50rpm tops. it rides on film of oil both sides of shim so is very resilient to wear while turning. thrust bearing (shim) job is to properly space the race. thats its only job. adding shims only adds thrust surface. same as going from single plate clutch to twin plate clutch. you are doubling your frictional surfaces. This "certified tech" didnt understand the function of this shim. hell he couldn.t even answer to me what he set the preload to. his exact reply was "uh, I dont have that information" this was after he informed me that he had to refer to the factory manual in order to correct my unacceptable workmanship. The reason I asked is because the factory preloads are completely useless when building a high performance trans. You want to set your preloads tighter than factory specs. This allows the shafts to slow down faster when throttle is lifted. This allows faster shifts as syncors job becomes much easier. When I explained this to Orlando during our somewhat heated conversation he asked what does that have to do with shimming the center diff?? really you took trans apart and you cant see that all those shafts are connected to one another? do you think maybe slowing one down might also slow the other two? this where I think to my self certified or not you dont have enough up stairs to do intelligent work on a transmission. I myself by the way have done transmission rebuilds for Porsche, VW, Subaru, Toyota, Honda, Ford, Chevy and likley some I forgot about. I havent opened a single manual yet. This includes buying a car with transmission in the trunk completely disassembled. XR4Ti turbo. car I never worked on before. Was able to piece the trans back together with no pictures helping me. That ugly thrust ring by the way is smooth and pretty by the way. The brass shim would simply bite into that surface. the brass was the new thrust surface. Something this tech couldnt understand and was very upset about. I will tell everyone here this is how I do it. It works. I will continue to do it this way.
end of part 2

 

Proper clearances on thrusts surfaces dont gouge the surfaces. Or remove material.

As you said they barely move .. So if theyre Moving and removing material from its surface . Its not a proper clearance.


Also saving 6 bucks a nut is retarded. To me thats a non reusable . Once again different frame of minds.

Id rather spend the money and do things right the first time .
You live and you learn..

 

part 3
dark grey in oil is normal. specially when the trans is not staying in gears from bad shifter cables. those little teeth holding the gears together under power need to be fully seated. when they are half seated they repell eachother at the cost of metal chips in oil. tech claims shims were grinding in the housing. If that was the case we would have seen a very shine silver color in the oil. he simply saw the surface of the rough looking sycro, the normal wear on the aluminum thrust surface and improperly deduced it was shims grinding.......................................... .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. ..................
the chipped gear was on the 3/4 cluster. that was a brand new gear that had been cryo treated. I realized after breaking entire transmissions that had been cry treated that is pointless to treat all the gears. I later started treating only the weakest mostly likley to break. The chip on this gear must have happened during cryo treating four at a time. I didnt notice when I picked them up. A chip on a used gear is a big concern. a chipped new gear is not. The chip is on the unloaded side of gear. For those techs trying to learn only one side of tooth receives power. uless you can figure out how to drive 550hp backwards in third gear this chipped tooth is a none issue. The weak part of that gear is the forth gear end. the gear teeth on forth are almost half the size in strength. thats the side we need to worry about because that is the side that always breaks............................................ .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .dont have much comment on reverse gear. the description simply doesnt match the picture. Orlando said the spring was not seated correctly when it was taken apart by him. If that was the case that spring would have been bent. its obviously not bent. I cant hep diagnose things when you dont know how things work and cant even describe the problem correctly. only an idiot would remove a transmission for a problem with reverse or 5th gear. so you make your own conclusions here.

Thats pretty much it for my defense. I have nothing else to say that matters. I simply think asking for 300 dollars labor back here is plain and simple off the charts stupid.

"As you said they barely move .. So if theyre Moving and removing material from its surface . Its not a proper clearance."


your an idiot. the wear you saw was normal wear from 100,000 miles use. you saw the homemade shim and improperly diagnosed my shim work was causing friction. You dont know how to determine whats normal wear and whats problematic accelerated wear, You cant replace every part in a transmission that shows wear. thats ridiculous. The cost to rebuild would be more expensive than buying the whole trans brand new. SO WHAT DID YOU SET THOSE NEW SHIMS AT? uh uh I dont have that information.

 

A chipped gear is a chipped gear whichever way you slice it . It may not affect the transmission but its the fact that it was another portion of the build that was missed.
The reverse spring was bent , i have 2 wintesses on this forum that can testify if need, I took the picture after we finagled with it just to show the actual rub marks, as that was more important to show with the reverse synchro .

When people pay money and dont receive the work thats expected its a problem. I work with customer satisfaction more times in a week than you deal with in a month.
If one of our customers brings their car in and we have to fix another dealerships screw ups . If its warrenty related the dealer and the tech get debited and the person that fixes the car gets paid. Same goes with customer pay items . the customer will seek for the work to get reimbursed. Sometimes it work other times it doesnt.
I tried coming to you professionally. Its didnt work.
Ill keep my professionalism and say thanks for trying .

 

If you are not involved in this and not adding factual info in a respectful way then stay out. If this turns into just bashing or off topic nonsense I will delete it.