Small Talk Is for Small Sales
Small talk is meaningless yapping about nothing at all. Small talk is safe, but it accomplishes nothing of value. It’s a restatement of the obvious. Small talk is for small sales.
Finding the Right Manager
How important is it to hire the right manager for your shop? It may be the most-important decision a shop owner has to make. Notice I did not say salesman. A salesman talks with the customers, gives the service recommendations, then sits back down and hopes everything else works out. Those guys in our industry do not qualify as shop managers. Sorry. A real transmission-shop manager knows how to sell, manage production and f
Vacuum Testing A750E/F
Vacuum Testing A750E/F
From the TASC Force we reprint a series of in-depth test instructions for checking the serviceability of valve bodies.
Oh, the Joy of Being a Technician!
One recent adventure involving intermittently inoperative headlamps on a 1996 Ford Explorer had me accessing multiple resources en route to the repair. Our customer reported that both headlamps would go out now and then, often for long periods. On occasion, a bump in the road would “jar” them back to life.
Multiple Issues Demonstrate Need for Thorough Diagnosis
Our story begins with a 1995 Chevrolet K1500 with a 6.5-liter diesel and a 4L80 E transmission that was brought into our shop by one of our wholesale customers. The customer had replaced the transmission in this vehicle with one of our remanufactured units. After the installation, the customer said the check engine light came on and the vehicle was setting multiple transmission codes, and that when the truck was going around a left-hand turn the transmission would neutralize.
Sealing-Ring Technology: Small parts – big problems
There have been many ways to plug a hole (so to speak), and sealing rings are but one. These small pieces of metal, or other material, have been part of the automatic-transmission landscape since inception. A transmission could not work without them, even though a few applications have used a bushing to seal oil pressure.
Back to (Sales) School
So what’s your plan? What will you do to maximize your sales opportunities during the remaining 68 business days of 2014?
I’ll get you started. These are the things you should be thinking about if you want to make the most of this year:
Transfer Cases and Tires: How RAM is changing the rules
Looking at the BorgWarner 44-44 and 44-45 transfer cases, we see an evolutionary change that started with the BW4405 and 4411 and has now reached this level of development. The design uses a wet-clutch pack in the transfer case to split torque between the rear and front axles.
GM Compensator-Feed System
There are a growing number of transmissions on the road that incorporate a hydraulic control feature many technicians are unfamiliar with, though they may have noticed the involved components during many builds. Variations of this system can be found in GM and ZF six-speeds, many Aisin AW units and some Ford models. If you haven’t already, it’s an easy bet you will encounter malfunctions related to it sooner or later.
The Best Defense Is a Solid Offense
Sitting back and watching your business shrink into oblivion is no option, especially when you’ve devoted a good portion of your life to making it this far. When faced with this type of situation you need to ask yourself, “What did I do to build up this business when I first started it? How did I get it off the ground? If I just opened it today what would I do to promote it?” Then go and do those things. Don’t ever think that you’ve been in the business so long that you are now entitled to kick back and not have to work as hard at building the business. It’s a never-ending battle. Those who become “too good for it” fail in the long term.
The Importance of Checking Grounds
The 5R110W transmission that is common to the 2003-2009 Ford Super Duty trucks and vans is a very reliable and straightforward transmission when it comes to diagnosis and repair. The subject of this article is a 2007 F-350 equipped with the 6.0L diesel engine and the 5R110W transmission.
October 2014 Issue
In This Issue
GMC truck with Allison 1000: no forward or reverse movement
Electric variable transmissions in hybrid vehicles
