JAD Transmissions

01/13/2026

Pcss mod in full swing. Gives a 100% seal between the case and center support no matter what. It will be added to every trans from here on out. I've tried a few different tricks thru the years and the test stand proved they didnt work. There is quite a bit of setup and measuring involved. A small miscalculation will cost me $3-400 easy plus my time into it.Takes about an hour and a half to do and I can use this to save cases with mildly distorted mating surfaces as well. The primary symptom is a weak, delayed reverse shift. Please note, this is not the only issue related to this symptom. I came up with this last year after dealing with a "fresh built" prerun reid case built by someone else with a distorted mating surface. I've had a few instances thru the years where I ended up recasing a transmission to get it to seal again due to distorted mating surfaces. Being able to design and test things is one of many benefits of having this test rig.

11/19/2025

11/05/2025

Even hardened yokes wear. Slider driveshafts changing pinion angles, welded wheels , bent wheels, chunks of tire missing, tire to ground chatter can all cause driveline chatter/vibration. I've seen 2 yokes lock up in the needle bearings. Personally, I'd like to see bushed tailhousings over roller. Less moving parts that way. Longer yoke service life as well.

10/19/2025

Easy thing to check on a fresh trans to see if it is a good clean build! Takes under a minute to clean one

10/12/2025

Case prep. A clean case is important. There are bad factory castings and just pressure washing the case wont expose these cracks. I use a transmission specific rtv on my soft pugs and have never(to my knowledge) had one pop out like ive seen dry plugs pop out. Naturally the plug mating being debris and oil free. I prefer to mask gasket surfaces for a cleaner product. Another must is to go thru all the threaded holes with a tap. I start with a tapered tap and finish with a bottoming tap. Case prep is very time consuming this way. But the results are worth it. More to come at a later date.

10/12/2025

Have another transmission worthy of sharing. This is a fresh reid cased spragless trans with trans gel still in place. There were no new thrust washers or bushings in this transmission and were high mileage and grooved and should've never been used. There is a ball of melted bushing babbit plugging the oil l**e feed that feeds the oil to l**e the rear case bushing. The pump is completely stock and nothing was done to it. Stock very worn gears, the gear pocket is thrust warn and shouldn't have been used. It has a stock low pressure spring and has no shims to increase the main line pressure (a must for high hp/tq.) Normally they say you get what you pay for and unfortunately here, it was competitive with my pricing. I think its one thing if its someone is just getting started and learning, building for friends or getting their beginning opportunities and continuing to improve and better their builds. But this is the opposite of that. Starting next year, names will be included with these posts. I think thats enough time for builders to stop this nonsense. Just cuz it, in their words "works" doesn't make it right. Strive to build better.
I will be sharing my prep work and how things work and why i do what I do. It wont be step by step how to build but I will make it make sense as much as I see necessary. I've wanted to do that for awhile, just couldn't think of how I wanted to go about it. I think I have that figured out.

09/27/2025

08/14/2025

Few things. Not really sure what's going on with my page/phone, I will log in to this account and it will show i have messages from weeks ago, tho I try to check it a few times a week. I get some notifications on my personal page but not all of them. Having somewhat similar issues with text messaging. When I make calls, about half of them I can hear the other party, but they cant hear me. Also snapchat wont record sound in videos. I've gone thru settings, reset my settings, tried resetting my phone and it doesn't change. Don't really feel like dealing with customer service for hours but I may have to.

Im also gonna be posting my updated Stage 3 pricing. I hate it, but I have to change it. I dont know of anyone who can afford to break even or lose money on 70-80% of their work. I think most will understand.

I'd like to do some more videos as well to help prevent premature failure, talk a bit about what can fail and why it can fail, installation tips, benefits of tested transmissions and what I look for and deal with, and anything someone may want to see. I dont like being on video at all. But I dont like seeing a transmission come back from a wiped out pump either. Wiped out pump are the biggest failure in derby trans. Pumps are finicky to begin with and is the main reason I test every trans before it leaves. 2nd is catches builder error issues and problems with cases, valvebodys, leaks, converters etc...

06/23/2025

My parts cost to build a Stage 3 spragless builds is as of today $1835 rounded up to the dollar and I recently bumped the price to $2200. That does not include a shop charge which would have to consist of 2.5-3 gallons of oil for testing, a $550-$600 a month for electricity, media, PPE, tools, solvents/cleaners, and maintenance(my wash cabinet is currently in need of a $4700 motor/pump assembly. I also have 12-15+ hrs of my time per build as well as constant R&D to keep improving. $365 a build is not cutting it for what i have into them.
Ive always felt guilty for my builds costing what they do but I simply cant afford to keep going down this road losing money. Im supposed to be supporting my family, not listening peoples opinions and letting my own guilt get the best of me. I know my builds are solid, I know how much care goes into each build and I know Im worth more.
There is going to be a bump in pricing that reflects a proper wage and a shop charge per build that will cover the rest. I am also going to require half down for all fresh builds as well as 500 down for repairs. A post will follow with updated pricing, a new core system and a few other details.

06/16/2025

I have 2 invoices that are 3+ months old that haven't been paid yet and . Builds and repairs no longer leave until fully paid for. I've tried to be laid back on the matter, but seeing people run cars while they either forget about me or can't afford it is starting to frustrate me.

06/02/2025

This is a new build Im offering. I consider it a Stage 1 TH400. Making my standard spragged build being a Stage 2, leaving my spragless builds as a Stage 3. The Stage 1 runs $1250 plus a buildable core with the case and output shaft desired. The differences between them is more parts and better performance. Pretty simple. I've needed to offer something more reasonable for a while. Theres also the option to update later as well. Currently not taking any Stage 2 or 3 builds. Like always, every trans gets tested before it leaves the door.