Guys making good power on the 5r55 step in

[DVEST8R]

Went to the track over the weekend and the trans was not happy with the 200 shot jets in. Seems like it hesitated on the 2-3 shift, kind of just revved up there and the shift finally happened, I guess delayed shift would be a better term. Im assuming this is the beginning of my 5r being on the way out?
Did some searching and what not....i'd love to do the 4r70 swap but funds are not supportive of that. Since I have a nice 1 piece d s in the car now and a 1100 dollar converter/ 300m input shaft keeping the 5r would be nice. I'd love to have a t brake but can do with out one since its not an option with the 5r. My question is if I do a tear down, drill and bushing the servo bores and do TCI servos, and the tci rebuild kit with kolene steeles and alto red eagle clutches/bands or the level 10 rebuild kit, deep pan and dipstick, get rid of the cooler bypass for full time cooler flow will the thing take some good abuse ?

 

[swflastang05]

My 5r55s blew up on the dyno a few months ago, well the input shaft broke is more accurate. Anyway I opted for a Level 10 unit and billet convertor. The trans is rated for 1000hp and guaranteed for one year, seemed pretty good to me so I bought it, so far so good I had it to the track once and it shifts way better than my old tranny, there's no comparison. IDK about installing the kit, I bought mine built direct from Level 10. Transmission internals is one thing I don't touch but I would imagine if you buy the same parts it should hold the same 1000hp. BTW level 10 talked me out of the deep pan, they said they would be happy to sell me one but it really wasn't necessary so I saved the money. My new trans does run a lot cooler than the OEM unit too, somehow.

 

[JeremyH]

5r55 making good power?.... crickets..... lol

 

[Wild White Pony]

I make 554whp with a 5r55s, still the orginal 2006 trans it came with. Have an upgraded input shaft, JDM Catch Can and a Circle D Converter as the only mods.
When this goes a Level 10 trans will replace it. Not sure why it's lasting so long but 2 things I won't do is pedal it with the OD on and never peg it where it will drop a few gears for passing on the street, I think the automatic downshifting in drive with big power blows these up. 4 years with boost, so far no trouble.

 

[Brezick]

i am at around 550rwhp as well with similar mods as above. I dont drive it very much, but it made a 3 hour trip from Pittsburgh to Carlisle without issues, and the following week, drove to the track, ran a few 10.8's, and drove home. so far so good, but it would not surprise me one bit if (when) it blows.

It did have an issue hitting the limiter on shifts, like it was not able to keep up, but some nice tuning changes fixed that up.

 

[8306gt]

My car makes around 700 rwhp on pump gas and is still running the 5R55. I daily drive my car so it has around 40,000 miles on it, 30,000 of which have been with boost. During those 30,000 miles I have broken a billet input shaft, wiped out 3rd gear twice, broken other internal pieces.

I will say that regardless of who builds it chances are much greater that it will break rather than survive. Mine is built with everything that is currently available, billet input shaft, Circle D convertor, Alto red clutches, billet servos, bla bla bla, however they simply are not up to the task of living with high horsepower. As the previous post stated it is very important not to allow the transmission to downshift under full throttle as it leads to trouble for the transmission.

 

[conexion914]

Subscribing for a possibility of someone having some good input that may talk me out of swapping to a th400 in a year or so.
For the record I've got almost 90k miles and over 300 passes on my 5r55s and have made several long trips in the car. The caveat is I don't make a ton of power since I'm N/A. I have a converter and stock input shaft that was new when the converter went in at around 35-40k miles.

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[retfr8flyr]

I am running 600rwhp on my 5R. I have the same specs as others have stated, Circle D, TCI billet input and servos, upgraded clutch packs and such. It hasn't given me any problems yet but I know it's just a matter of time. The problem with the 5R is that no matter how well you build it, the actual physical size of the internal parts prevents them from being able to be made strong enough to handle big power.

Op if you plan on doing a lot of track work with your 200 shot in the future, I wouldn't spend any money on the 5R. I know you would have to sell your converter and DS to go with a different trans but you will be money ahead in the long run. I don't know what Level 10 is getting for a 5R now, don't really care either as I don't like them but TCI want $3700 for the Super Streetfighter. You can build your own for less but you can build a 4R70W for a lot less and it will be good for about 800rwhp. Or you can be a pioneer and go with the GM 4L80E. This is basically the TH400 with an overdrive and Hughes Transmissions, among others, has them for the mod motor. I am leaning that direction when mine goes, as I will not spend any more money on the 5R.

 

[DVEST8R]

Great input guys, Thanks!

 

[808muscle]

4.5 years with the blower and 300 passes at the strip. Deep pan and I swap the fluid once a year. No issues except the deep pan with a one inch drop on my car is low. Drain bolt hit a speed bump and broke. Thank God it didn't break off or I would have lost all my fluid as those bolts are hollow. I may plug that hole and tap a new one on the side, not sure yet.