We recently finished the last step in prepping our "classic" 7.3L F-350 for full-time pulling our Big Country. Brian's Truck Shop in Arkansas has, for years, specialized in rebuilding the Ford 4R100 heavy duty truck transmissions. Brian has several parts made special for him to replace parts that typically fail in these transmissions. You can either send him your transmission, have him rebuild it and send it back to you, or you can sign up to bring your truck in and have the transmission dropped, rebuilt and reinstalled all in one day. We chose the latter route.
The walls of the waiting room and the hallway nearby are covered with magazine articles mentioning his transmissions used in a variety of racing and pulling trucks around the country. Interestingly, he can also set up a 4R100 transmission to hook up to newer 6.0 and 6.4 engines, replacing the 5R100 transmission supplied with those trucks.
Brian's transmissions are built to withstand the forces of engines hopped up to 1000 horsepower levels and the shift strategies are fine-tuned to the purpose for which you plan on using the truck. In our case, it was for constant towing of a heavy fifth wheel trailer. Brian's tuning added 60 HP as well as optimized shift strategies for pulling the trailer at highway speeds. Most importantly, when downshifting from OD to D going uphill, the transmission immediately drops back into torque converter lockup. Stock transmission tuning drops out of lockup, increasing heat in the transmission. Brian also scrapped the stock 7.3L transmission cooler and replaced it with a much larger (about 3x larger) cooler used in the 6.0L trucks.
We're super happy with the way the truck pulls now. The extra 60HP made a noticeable difference pulling out of the hills of north Arkansas (where Brian's shop is located). Traveling on more level interstate, the truck stays in OD more than it used to for gentle rolling hills. The best part is that the unwritten warranty is essentially lifetime, though the official warranty is two years, unlimited mileage. Our cost out the door was $5,800. Having a rebuilt Ford HD transmission put into the truck would have been in the $4,500 range.
The walls of the waiting room and the hallway nearby are covered with magazine articles mentioning his transmissions used in a variety of racing and pulling trucks around the country. Interestingly, he can also set up a 4R100 transmission to hook up to newer 6.0 and 6.4 engines, replacing the 5R100 transmission supplied with those trucks.
Brian's transmissions are built to withstand the forces of engines hopped up to 1000 horsepower levels and the shift strategies are fine-tuned to the purpose for which you plan on using the truck. In our case, it was for constant towing of a heavy fifth wheel trailer. Brian's tuning added 60 HP as well as optimized shift strategies for pulling the trailer at highway speeds. Most importantly, when downshifting from OD to D going uphill, the transmission immediately drops back into torque converter lockup. Stock transmission tuning drops out of lockup, increasing heat in the transmission. Brian also scrapped the stock 7.3L transmission cooler and replaced it with a much larger (about 3x larger) cooler used in the 6.0L trucks.
We're super happy with the way the truck pulls now. The extra 60HP made a noticeable difference pulling out of the hills of north Arkansas (where Brian's shop is located). Traveling on more level interstate, the truck stays in OD more than it used to for gentle rolling hills. The best part is that the unwritten warranty is essentially lifetime, though the official warranty is two years, unlimited mileage. Our cost out the door was $5,800. Having a rebuilt Ford HD transmission put into the truck would have been in the $4,500 range.
