AOD to 4r70w swap in an 86 Bronco

to be honest I would bolt it to an engine block and use that as the jig. how much closer to fitting can you get? that's just my take on it.

Well. That is a bummer. I feel like people are not honest enough about their skills, you were clearly misled.

Hoping you get some Christmas love from Monster transmission.

I have my own stories about a lack of quality workmanship in my town..

So, it looks like Monster will not fix this free of charge. I got my case elevated to the highest level of their customer service, and the best they would do is to take off 25% of the shipping charge. While that is better than what the first few levels of escalation got me, it's still just not what I'm looking for. I want them to take the transmission back and just give me a refund at this point. They won't do that, so I initiated a dispute with my credit card. I hope that some kind of official arbitration process will change their minds or just get me my money back.

I've already lost half the cold season waiting on all kinds of processes related to this transmission debacle. If I keep waiting, I will just end up 4 months later with no truck and a boat anchor of a transmission. I talked to the guy from Baumann (US Shift) that knows everything about transmissions, and ended up asking me what transmission shops he recommends. He recommended Broader Performance in Texas and Transmission Depot in Florida for 4r70w's. Broader seems to build really high-performance stuff, and I need something less aggressive. I ended up just ordering another transmission from Transmission Depot. It ended up being half the price with a much better warranty document, and will be here in 4 weeks.

It sucks that I had to spend $1500 more on another transmission, but my choice was either spend that on a new transmission with another company, or give it to Monster to fix the current one. If I get a refund from Monster, great. If not, I will just swap the internals to another case and I'll have a transmission for another project in the future.

Sounds like you found a way forward, so that is good news.

Looking forward to updates on how the AOD works out for you.

Did you order a stock one or one of the fancier ones?

I just got a stock one. My engine is currently stock from the intake down, and future upgrades won't be that aggressive.

That seems like a reasonable solution.  But it is a shame about Monster.  Hopefully the credit card company will rattle their cage.

While waiting for the actual transmission, I figured I would get things ready for when it arrives. I fabbed up a bracket system for the trans cooler. I made it so the 90-degree AN fittings went in through the former intake hole. The brackets are made from 1.5" 1/8" strap and some 1/2" round tube.

Looks like it'll work great.  

Nice fab work! I like the install in the core support.

What did you use for the lines from the transmission to the cooler? Did you buy a kit? I have to do the same with my 4R70W install, but I bought a Champion radiator that has an integrated transmission cooler (I'm assuming it will be fine?). I have already installed 6-AN fittings in the transmission, and will do the same with the radiator...I just need to order up some lines for it.

Thanks!

I just make my own lines. I use PTFE hose and fittings. I got most of the fittings and hose from Summit, where the Summit store brand is cheapest. I just did one big purchase since I am also changing my fuel system over to the same stuff. If you wanted to go with a smaller company, Sh*tbox supply is a little more expensive, but not much. https://shitboxsupply.com/collections/ptfe

An update on the Monster Transmission drama.

I got a call today from Monster. They said they saw that I had disputed the charge and said "We'll work with you on this, but you have to show us proof that you have canceled the dispute."

As far as I know, you can only dispute a charge like this once, so by canceling, I would have given up my only leverage besides small claims court. I think this is one of their tactics for beating claims against them. Once I gave up my ability to dispute, they could have offered me nothing, and I'd have to take it.

So, I told them I was going ahead with the dispute. They said that if I win the dispute and I am still in possession of the broken transmission, that I will be "sent to collections."

I think threatening someone with the lengthy collections process is just another tactic to wear people down or exhaust their time and resources so they give up. I told them that they have my core AND have not sent me back my core charge money, so they have MY transmission as well.

Maybe I'll send them to collections. LOL

I looked into what kind of transmission cooling I would need for towing and slower driving like 4-wheeling, and it looks like the cooler I added originally would end up being on the small side. So I went to the local junkyard and got a trans cooler from an 89 f-series with the towing package, then I also got the trans cooler off of a 99 f-series with a 4r70w and the towing package.

The 89 bracket fit perfectly on my core support, but was really small, and the 99 cooler didn't have anything close to the right bracketry to fit. I modified the brackets and put them together with some fab work and got it all to fit. I used Russell 639210 to adapt the cooler lines to AN fittings as there is no adapter from the "deep" ford 5/8-18 inverted flare to AN or other threaded fittings.

It fits well with the other stuff on the core support and misses the grilled by about 1/8th inch. I wish there were more space between the grille and the cooler, but I think it should be ok. I'm going to use the other cooler for my power steering fluid instead. Since I switched to a saginaw pump, I have noticed it misbehaving a bit, and I think it might be due to heat issues.

That looks great and should cool it nicely.  And I don't think the clearance on the grille will be a problem.  I have about that much in a couple of places and haven't had any problems.

Alright, so it looks like I lost the credit card dispute with Monster. They said I should have paid to send it back and had proof of shipping OR proof that I shipped it and they rejected the shipment. I guess I'll just swap the internals to a good case and try to sell it. Or maybe keep it around as a spare. Sucks that it is going to be $2906 sitting on a shelf in my shop, though. And given Monster's reputation, the internals may not even be any good anyway. I could reopen the dispute if I were to send it back and provide the paperwork, but the cost of sending it back on my own dime is one of the big reasons I'm fighting this in the first place.

Also, the fact that I gambled on having it welded is going to come back to bite me because they are disputing that the crack was preexisting. Monster said that I can't prove the crack was preexisting because I only took pictures after the break. Of course this is disingenuous, because they had it covered in paint, AND the crack was oxidized and dirty inside. Anyway, I guess if I hadn't tried to get it fixed the cheap way by getting it welded, I would still be able to fight it. But as it stands, I am probably just going to eat $3000. I could take them to small claims court and just keep costing them money out of spite, but my own money would still be gone. Also, I'm getting married later this year and I am not sure I want to get saddled with a bunch of extra work.

I suppose I could do a teardown video on my youtube channel and see what it looks like inside?

On a positive note, TransDepot sent me an email saying that my order is about a week ahead of schedule and should be here in the next week or so. I'll get my bronco and shop space back after that, and then I can worry about the Monster thing I guess.

money spent is bad enough. but money lost is horrible. however, don't let it own you!

Man, that is awful!   

So sorry!

Two updates:

1. I got my new transmission from Transmission Depot on Monday. It looks good and I'll be installing it this week.

2. I decided to keep fighting Monster. Even though the dispute said "resolved" the credit card company said that I could reopen the dispute if I had proof that I had sent the transmission back and it was accepted, OR if I sent it back and it was rejected. Both of those options seemed to involve me paying a bunch of money to send it back. Monster had previously sent their terms of service to the credit card company for the exculpatory parts, so I was able to point to the parts that say "if you send us something without prior arrangement, we'll send it back at your expense" and the part where it says "no returns will be accepted without an RMA number." both of those indicate that they would not accept the return if it were sent to them, so on a phone call with the bank I got them to accept proof that I OFFERED to send it back and they rejected it. I told them about Monster's "we will not talk to you if you have an open dispute against us" policy, and they said that an offer to return it that went unanswered for a few days is enough to count as a rejection of the return.

The first problem is that I don't have proof of my over-the-phone rejected offers to return it and I need something in writing. The second problem is that Monster has a policy where they WILL NOT talk to you if there is an open dispute. The third problem is that they don't want anything in writing, so they will not give you an email address and only want to do things over the phone. So to take care of those problems, I called from a number that was not on their records, said I was hard of hearing and need to communicate through TTY or email, and asked for an email address. (The Americans with Disabilities Act makes this mandatory, and I was banking on them not having a TTY machine.) They wouldn't give me an email address over the phone, but said that if I gave them my email, they would email me and I could respond to that. Just in case they had my email on file as a "do not engage!", I gave them my second email address that is not in their system and we hung up.

Here's our email exchange:

ME:
Hi, *****. Thanks for your quick reply to my call. I have been going back and forth with Monster and our banks for a while now on this issue. I had talked with some folks there at Monster Transmission and those conversations ultimately proved unfruitful. I had opened a case with my credit card to try to arbitrate the dispute that way. While the case showed as "open," I was told that Monster Transmission would not talk to me via phone or email. Now that the dispute no longer shows as "open," I would like to resume talking to Monster Transmission. I currently have a broken transmission that I cannot use and I would like to return it to Monster. Monster Transmission's terms of service state on page 2 paragraph 2: "Do not return the merchandise to Monster Transmission unless prior arrangements have been made. Products returned without prior authorization from MTP will be refused and returned at the client’s expense." and on page 6 paragraph 1: "All returns must be pre-authorized by MTP and accompanied by a RMA number."

I want to make sure that everything is by the book, and that I have the "prior arrangements" and/or an RMA number so that I can send it back.

Also, Monster Transmission still has my core transmission that I sent months ago, and I still have not received my core charge of $350 back to my account.

My order number is *********

Please advise on the next steps. Thanks again, and have a great day!


THEM:
Good Afternoon, The chargeback is still under review with the bank. Once it clears on our end we will then reach back out to you.

ME:
Hi, *****. Thanks for your response. Does this mean that Monster Transmission will not accept the return of the transmission?
Thank you


There was no response after that for a week, so I made it into a PDF and sent it to the bank/CC company. I think because of the way I did things I:  Got it in writing, used their own policy against them, got them to deny a return TWICE, and got them to confirm that they have a "no contact while dispute is open" policy.

Also, Monster, in their reply to my initial dispute said that their experts determined that the crack could not have existed before I got the transmission. So I got a signed report from a Failure Analysis Metallurgist  saying that the one side of the crack was very old and existed prior to the center portion of the crack. And after he looked at the photos, he also said that the OTHER end of the crack that was not oxidized was actually a bit older too, based on the smoothness of the break, compared to the rough texture of the newest part. Turns out it was just a really fatigued and flawed case.

So with all that, I think I have a good case to win the second round of the dispute, and I am feeling hopeful about it again. If I win this round, and Monster says they don't agree with the "ruling," then the next and last step in the bank/credit card process is arbitration. This is the step I am really hoping for, because this is when I will be able to negotiate directly with Monster and try to send the transmission back while the money is in my account. If I can do that, they have no more recourse and I think my interaction with them is done forever. IF they just accept the ruling of this, then I have the money AND the transmission and they will just send me to collections and I have another fight on my hands.

Anyway, I think that it's going fairly well, and I'll keep you updated on the progress of the upgrade!

Happy to hear you didn't give up and yo do seem to have some solid elements to back up your case.

Looking forward to a positive outcome.

Yes, it might actually work.  

LOL! The new transmission, or my dispute strategy?