allisonman
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 11, 2009
- Posts
- 88
I just want to say hello and a little about myself. I am an Allison transmission technician with 10 years of experience with working on them. I've rebuilt just about every model of their transmission you could think of from the AT545 all the way up to the CLBT9800 in oil field service. if you have a question on them feel free to ask. I'm not representing any company or soliciting work, just giving free advice on Allisons. I work on a lot of motorhomes at work and while I have a lot of knowledge with the Allison, I have little knowledge of the rest of the coach, that is why I came here, because you guys/gals can give me info on all this other stuff. while I don't have an RV at this time, my wife and I are planning to get one in the next few years but it will be an older one. it may be a trailer I can pull behind my dodge durango (has to be small for that) or an older motorhome. not sure yet. it needs to be big enough for our 3 kids who are 6, 2, and 8 months now and us but not too huge that I can't drive into some of the smaller less developed campsights next to lake superior. we're probably not going on too long of trips because the kids DO NOT like to sit long in the car ;D you get the old "are we there yet" routine. a motorhome may be better for them I think.
a few things on asking me questions, if you have say a workhorse chassis and it has a 1000series allison and you want to know whats wrong here is what I need. I need to know if it has a CHECK TRANS light and if you have a code. if you tell me your 1000 series trans is defaulting into "limp home mode" without a code I won't be able to help much because just about ANY problem makes the 1000series go into "limp home mode". if you have never experienced "limp home mode" then here is what it is. when the trans sets a code, most of the time it will default the trans into 3rd or reverse ranges so you can SLOWLY and CAREFULLY drive the coach to a safe location A SHORT DISTANCE. you will definitely know when this happens because the trans will HAVE NO AUTOMATIC SHIFTS and the coach will take off very slowly from a stop. remember your taking off in 3rd gear when this happens stay out of the throttle on take-offs when you can because it builds a lot of trans fluid heat in the torque converter. its like taking a stickshift trans, putting it into 3rd gear and slipping the clutch to get going. you guys with a 3000/4000 series won't have to worry about this because if your trans has a problem it will default you into the current gear or go into neutral. if yours defaults to the current gear and locks you there, you will have to cycle the ignition to shift to neutral. if you have to do this you are most likely going to be stuck in neutral when you start the engine back up. so if it sticks in gear on you find a spot that you can stop and retrieve codes from the shifter. you can clear the codes with the shifter but write them down first (the shifter stores up to 5 codes) so that the mechanic working on it has a quicker/easier time troubleshooting it which equals less downtime and money saved. we all know how expensive that is now days. my shop charges $98.00 an hour in the building(and this is probably cheap for some of you) and $120.00 an hour plus mileage for road service.
so go ahead and ask away with Allison questions, and I'll try and answer them for you. I'll need your help when I get an older motorhome and have questions with repairing the rest of it
Luke
[edit]Changed message title[/edit]
a few things on asking me questions, if you have say a workhorse chassis and it has a 1000series allison and you want to know whats wrong here is what I need. I need to know if it has a CHECK TRANS light and if you have a code. if you tell me your 1000 series trans is defaulting into "limp home mode" without a code I won't be able to help much because just about ANY problem makes the 1000series go into "limp home mode". if you have never experienced "limp home mode" then here is what it is. when the trans sets a code, most of the time it will default the trans into 3rd or reverse ranges so you can SLOWLY and CAREFULLY drive the coach to a safe location A SHORT DISTANCE. you will definitely know when this happens because the trans will HAVE NO AUTOMATIC SHIFTS and the coach will take off very slowly from a stop. remember your taking off in 3rd gear when this happens stay out of the throttle on take-offs when you can because it builds a lot of trans fluid heat in the torque converter. its like taking a stickshift trans, putting it into 3rd gear and slipping the clutch to get going. you guys with a 3000/4000 series won't have to worry about this because if your trans has a problem it will default you into the current gear or go into neutral. if yours defaults to the current gear and locks you there, you will have to cycle the ignition to shift to neutral. if you have to do this you are most likely going to be stuck in neutral when you start the engine back up. so if it sticks in gear on you find a spot that you can stop and retrieve codes from the shifter. you can clear the codes with the shifter but write them down first (the shifter stores up to 5 codes) so that the mechanic working on it has a quicker/easier time troubleshooting it which equals less downtime and money saved. we all know how expensive that is now days. my shop charges $98.00 an hour in the building(and this is probably cheap for some of you) and $120.00 an hour plus mileage for road service.
so go ahead and ask away with Allison questions, and I'll try and answer them for you. I'll need your help when I get an older motorhome and have questions with repairing the rest of it
Luke
[edit]Changed message title[/edit]