2005 Suburban - Need advice on transmission repair

[Freshly Minted Georgian!]

All, I have a 2005 Suburban 1500. Transmission broke down last night, won't shift into reverse. I had that transmission rebuilt about 75,000 miles ago so it didn't exactly hold up all that well given that it's now broken. The last rebuild was done by a small shop out in Southern California. I'm not familiar with reputable transmission repair shops here in Georgia, in the Athens area. If anybody can recommend a place I'd appreciate it. That's my wife's car so it's got to be reliable, otherwise that spells headaches for ME.

 

[rockyfatcat]

I have replaced the transmission on my 93!suburban about 4 times now.

The thing I finally figured out was to avoid replacing the transmission every 5 years was to take drastic steps to reduce transmission heat.

I added a vented transmission pan that holds an additional 2 quarts of transmission fluid and a oversized transmission cooler

 

[Kahrnut]

www.mrtransmission.com

 

[Freshly Minted Georgian!]

Good call, if I keep it long term I'll add more volume and heat dissipation capability to it. I'm sure part of the troubles with the existing transmission stemmed from the fact that when moving to Georgia 3 years ago, I pulled a very large and heavy trailer from San Diego up to Salt Lake City to stage the move. Those trips were made through the SoCal and Nevada deserts, into the mountains, in the dead heat of summer. I made that trip 4 times.....I'm sure that shortened the life of it so I wasn't particularly surprised when it blew up last night. Other than the transmission it's been a really reliable vehicle so most likely I'll have it rebuilt and keep it around for another few years. It's up to ~225,000 miles now. Original engine was replaced at ~150,000 miles with a factory rebuild and the transmission was rebuilt at roughly that same time. It's a bit under powered in my book, it can't really tow more than about 5000 pounds without stressing it but I no longer have that 25', triple axle trailer any more so it's just used for local trips these days and a very small utility trailer, maxed at roughly 1000 pounds of tow weight. If I ever need heavy towing again I'll pick up a big diesel.

 

[Captain Kaboom]

www.mrtransmission.com

+1

 

[harrycalahan]

Im not a transmission expert but it sounds like the reverse band broke. Who knows if the rebuild shop replaced it or if they did so with a beefier one like they should have. Some transmissions have weak reverse bands to begin with and if you throw it in reverse under a high idle (cold start) a lot, they wont last long. Good chance you dont need a full rebuild but just a band replacement. Good luck.

 

[whiskerz]

My experience in a Chevrolet fleet shop taught me that a rebuild from GM parts outlasted any aftermarket re-builder ,TCI was the best aftermarket, Jasper was next. Independent shops were a gamble. The best was a guy I know who bought all of the factory gauges to properly build them. Most independent shops will not spend that kind of money. The other thing is synthetic fluid and regular changes. Real changes include dropping the pan cleaning it and changing the filter. Also change the fuel filter. GM's will start shifting at strange places when the engine is starving for fuel. You should be dumping the trans pan every 50,000 miles. We did 100,000 miles on trucks where we added a 1 quart spin on filter and changed that every 25,000 miles. Flush the lines and cooler. If you can not flush the cooler replace it.