10-speed automatic truth (Ford and GM), from Next Gen Drivetrain

[Ace-Garageguy]

 

[NOBLNG]

Thanks for posting this Bill !🙂 I’m sure glad my 2017 F250 has the 6 speed. I’ve had no issues so far and reports indicate that it is a very reliable unit. They started using the 10 speeds in 2017 and I wouldn’t have known at the time (no one would) to avoid it.😬

[1972coronet]

10 speed automatic = 5 gears too many. 

[Rodent]

I got as far as cigar guy boasting how he knows more than anyone about this transmission and the drum from the 1K hp Coyote that failed because of it being a crummy transmission and I stopped watching. Figured it was chest beating and an advertisement for whatever Cigar Guy is selling to "fix" the valve bodies. Y'all are welcome to post the Cliff's Notes here.

[TECHMAN]

After seeing this, I decided to "quiz" my local "tranny guru" who deals in GM transmissions exclusively, and a couple of the local "pros" who work for Ford dealerships.  After talking to them about all the trans failures,  I Don't believe there is a salesman alive, that could sell me a new "10 spd" truck, dang sure NOT for close to $100K!!!!!  I gave away my (as the wife called it) pickup-collection when we moved here to Kentucky (did not need a batch of vehicles here).  The '75 Ford F150 Supercab was the old "shop truck" for my racing engine shop, powered by a '76 Chevy L-82 350, and a beefed up Turbo 350.  Put 287K on the truck, when the tranny had to be freshened,  engine was pulled down, and was able to be freshened with rings/bearings and valve job.   Put together in 1985, and WORKED up until 2020.  Can't even begin to guess how many of those 287,000 miles were pulling an enclosed racecar trailer.....

Tranny was built by a good friend back in Longview, known for quality work.  With that said:  If a person that "takes pride in what he turns out" can build a trans that lasts 35 years, being W O R K E D, then  WHY can't a manufacture do the same?????   As I see it:  They don't want to, they want you to HAVE to replace it in 30-35K miles....   Sad state of affairs when companies that USED to take pride in trying to "out last" their competitors, now only want to "out sell" the others (by any means)......  Just my opinion.....

DJ

[Ace-Garageguy]

10 minutes ago, TECHMAN said:

...Tranny was built by a good friend back in Longview, known for quality work.  With that said:  If a person that "takes pride in what he turns out" can build a trans that lasts 35 years, being W O R K E D, then  WHY can't a manufacture do the same?????   As I see it:  They don't want to, they want you to HAVE to replace it in 30-35K miles...

Pretty much my exact thoughts.

[Ace-Garageguy]

On 9/10/2025 at 1:22 AM, Rodent said:

I got as far as cigar guy boasting how he knows more than anyone about this transmission and the drum from the 1K hp Coyote that failed because of it being a crummy transmission and I stopped watching. Figured it was chest beating and an advertisement for whatever Cigar Guy is selling to "fix" the valve bodies. Y'all are welcome to post the Cliff's Notes here.

"Cigar Guy" stands behind his products forever. Lifetime warranties. If his stuff is failing, he won't be around for long. Small companies just can't screw ya like the big ones can.

There's no shortage of late-model many-speed gearbox failures and vehicles sitting for months on dealers' lots due to zero parts or replacement gearboxes being available. And the owners are still making the payments while they sit.

I know of several right here in my little ol' neck o' the woods.

Today especially, there are people who are WAY better at what they do than OEM engineers and their bean-counter overlords.

EDIT: There was, by the way, a little company called B&M that took pretty good GM auto boxes and made them into almost indestructible drag-racing boxes, and changed the face of drag racing forever. They worked similar magic on most of the well known US automatics, and are still in business (though, like many other iconic hot-rod businesses they've been absorbed by mega corps). Ring a bell?

Edited 17 hours ago by Ace-Garageguy

[sfhess]

Ford never got the transmission in the Taurus right.  The "powershift" twin clutch trans in the 2012-up Focus was a joke.  They should have ;looked at what made the C6 and FMX work and last so well.

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

9 hours ago, sfhess said:

...They should have looked at what made the C6 and FMX work and last so well.

A very large part of what I see as the cause of some of the questionable engineering emerging from the OEMS is that they're plagued with a "we know nothing about how it was done well before and we don't care, because we're so smart and educated that we can reinvent the wheel every time; after all, we're tech-savvy, not like those knuckle draggers who preceded us".

Engineering should be more evolutionary than revolutionary.

Any truly competent engineer takes historical precedent very seriously, and analyzes what has worked well in the past to understand why, in order to see how to implement lessons learned into future designs.