First off, sorry it's been so long, life literally happens in 3-D! Good news is, I now have a new roof (insurance didn't cover), painted my own house (ask me about a 40' ladder that wasn't tall enough...#rappellinggear), and a new HVAC, Yay home ownership!! The cool factor of adjusting the thermostat with my phone is chilling...see what I did there?
Anyways, the pseudo-Hilux has had tranny issues for a while now. I've chased down all the easy and cheaper troubleshooting fixes and recently come to the conclusion that it's the torque converter. No biggie right...except for the "a while now" and why I defer to the group.
For years I drove it with oversized tires, extra weight, and a lot of highway miles (~100k, underestimating). During this time with stock gears, the torque converter constantly unlocked and locked up. Would be like pulling a load and trying to stay in overdrive. My temps were always a little high, but figured the Scan Gauge wasn't accurate/precise. Now at 180k, I have noise, shudder at 35-45, slippage and unknown damage. The fluid looks great, smells great, and I will deny it...tastes horrible, but I may be a snob of other liquids.
So, if this decision was just before the HVAC (that was only 19 years old and still working...kinda), I would just drop $$ on a new, slightly tweaked tranny to swap in. Since I'm trying not to blow thru savings (what else could possibly happen, right) I was hoping for some seasoned advice from the forum.
Do I go thru all the work and effort (in my garage BTW) of removing the tranny to change out a torque converter assuming everything else is perfectly fine? Or do I consider putting off retirement a bit longer, doing what would be best and get the tranny that is modified for what the rest of the truck wants to do?
Few caveats need to be divulged; I've assisted with maybe 2 engine rebuilds, assisted with 2 re-gears, supervised-got-a-little-dirty with a SAS, helped build some things, may have waxed a vehicle (I'll deny), and recycled some hydraulics. I don't think I've ever dealt with something this heavy and/or specialized. I don't like shops, but I should probably be on meds for OCD, I'm not worried about the voices or visions.
And, I should probably add, I can bike to work, and/or have another vehicle that I can use for a bit.
Thank you for your consideration, especially if you read all this drivel, don't forget to use eye protection for the solar eclipse on Monday, except for during totality Begin free advice now, please
Anyways, the pseudo-Hilux has had tranny issues for a while now. I've chased down all the easy and cheaper troubleshooting fixes and recently come to the conclusion that it's the torque converter. No biggie right...except for the "a while now" and why I defer to the group.
For years I drove it with oversized tires, extra weight, and a lot of highway miles (~100k, underestimating). During this time with stock gears, the torque converter constantly unlocked and locked up. Would be like pulling a load and trying to stay in overdrive. My temps were always a little high, but figured the Scan Gauge wasn't accurate/precise. Now at 180k, I have noise, shudder at 35-45, slippage and unknown damage. The fluid looks great, smells great, and I will deny it...tastes horrible, but I may be a snob of other liquids.
So, if this decision was just before the HVAC (that was only 19 years old and still working...kinda), I would just drop $$ on a new, slightly tweaked tranny to swap in. Since I'm trying not to blow thru savings (what else could possibly happen, right) I was hoping for some seasoned advice from the forum.
Do I go thru all the work and effort (in my garage BTW) of removing the tranny to change out a torque converter assuming everything else is perfectly fine? Or do I consider putting off retirement a bit longer, doing what would be best and get the tranny that is modified for what the rest of the truck wants to do?
Few caveats need to be divulged; I've assisted with maybe 2 engine rebuilds, assisted with 2 re-gears, supervised-got-a-little-dirty with a SAS, helped build some things, may have waxed a vehicle (I'll deny), and recycled some hydraulics. I don't think I've ever dealt with something this heavy and/or specialized. I don't like shops, but I should probably be on meds for OCD, I'm not worried about the voices or visions.
And, I should probably add, I can bike to work, and/or have another vehicle that I can use for a bit.
Thank you for your consideration, especially if you read all this drivel, don't forget to use eye protection for the solar eclipse on Monday, except for during totality Begin free advice now, please