Any updates on the bullripper, how do you like it? Would you recommend it? I'm needing to get something different here very soon and pondering just a factory rebuild with a hd torque converter or something else
Mine is in storage now but seemed to run just fine in town and drove well from AZ to CA.
I dealt with some annoyances but nothing that would cause me to change who I went with because I don’t trust the other options to be any better if I have problems (their customer service was good so that goes a ways for me).
It wasn’t bullrippers fault that my torque converter had a slight shake to it after install (new TCs are usually good to go).
I did a warranty right away and had them send me a billet torque converter for my troubles. They believed the TC was fine and the flex plate was bad but my installer predicted and later proved that not to be the case when he replaced the TC. Both TCs were made by precision which is a major TC supplier and who my local installer trusts on his rebuilds so no worries there. My installer was the most legit professional mechanic I came across in Tucson (super smart, experienced, and patient). He’s the only guy in town I’d legit trust touching my Jeep. This quiet no name guy won the national championship for being the top HS mechanic back in like 1991 after doing various things and then taking a written exam in Detroit. I only know this becuase I asked him what that old dusty 5 ft trophy was from. Pretty cool.
Engagement wise, all was 100% good (rather than 95% good) after the second TC was installed. However, I had to pay my installer again and the warranty doesn’t cover the full actual labor cost.
Note: you will re-use your coupler housing (from transmission to the transfer case) when installing the bullripper transmission. I suggest you change the seal while you have easy access. If bullripper ships the transmission with a coupler attached, then know it’s only there for protection during shipping. Remove it even if it’s not tagged to do so. If you don’t trust me on that, call them and they will tell you exactly that. Do this to avoid it leaking and needing to remove your transmission later. My leak was solved on the second install since it already had to come out. Luckily I still had the original transmission. Bullripper’s operations department only sometimes ship the trans with a housing to prevent damage. In my case the housing was paint-matched, RTVd and fully bolted down AND there was no tag or instructions saying to remove it. I let them know that they need to fix their tagging system or include it in the instructions. They agreed. They said that they had a worker quit and issues in production during my build and believed that caused the problem for me. Hopefully won’t be an issue moving forward. And u now have the knowledge to avoid that problem.
Last annoyance, Blaine found that a helicoil was used in a through-hole (that’s uncalled for) after he installed a temp gauge bung for me. The helicoil prevented the pan from mating properly, and Blaine fixed it right bc he’s awesome. I let bullripper know that it happened so hopefully that doesn’t happen in the future.
With all that said I’d have them do the next build bc their customer service handled the mistakes well enough and I have the knowledge/experience on how to better micromanage the build.
I’ve heard ATS diesel sorta tells their customers to kick rocks so based on that I wouldn’t go with them especially when the cost is so much more.
I’ll report back if I have any issues driving it from CA to AZ, off-roading, or from AZ to NV during the holidays, but I don’t expect to. And Blaine didn’t mention any shifting weirdness when he test drove it after his outboarding and steering mods to the rig. He’s not light on the throttle during those tests lol.
Bullripper doesn’t usually sell their transmission with a billet TC. Their normal HD TC housing is stamped steel. Their sales side said it’s got brazen this and that but my installer said that’s been pretty standard since the early nineties and suggested I get a billet. Their production manager found out that I do off-roading and also suggested to go billet, so I had a billet TC installed on the second attempt (the part arrived to me in a couple of days).
The install experience wasn’t too fun, but functionally all seems good and that’s what I care about most. Thankfully I didn’t do the install myself laying in the dirt (twice!). My installer had the credibility and knowledge that I wouldn’t have had.
I hope the install experience will be better for others especially now that we know some of what to look out for.
Edit: words (sorry my phone is jacked)