Good info Smoken Gun. I'm on the ledge of buying something like Tobin, but being that my truck is a 1997 with compounds and a G56, I feel like there is inevitable disappointment coming no matter what auto [the wife] I buy. I am looking hard at a 2013 with an Aisin hoping I can avoid 68RFE issues.
ESC Electronic Stability Control?
Slightly off topic, the newer Medium duty trucks I use daily, all have ridiculous TM as well. Even empty they basically don't move in first gear, slightly better in second, little more in 3rd. Almost been T-boned a few times when they derated near curves like you mentioned. 466 Maxxforce, the new L10 from Cummins, all infront of Allisons and the power is limited through all gears, more so at low speeds/gears. Our older 466 that is gone now was old enough not to have TM but made less power. It ran circles around new stuff with more power.
Thank you. Yes, there are certainly a lot of trade-offs with the new diesels compared to the older ones. Going from a well set-up 12-valve truck to a stock new truck certainly takes some getting use to. I definitely miss the simplicity of a 12-valve, if you don't like what it's doing just whack it with a mallet:hehe:. No electrical nannies on a 12-valve, just your right foot. LOTS of electrical nannies on new trucks that dictate what is acceptable driver input wise, DEF, regen, more things to potentially go wrong in general. That said, new trucks are SO much nicer to daily drive than the older diesels. Build quality between a 2nd gen and 4th gen is night and day. 2nd gen cabs are built like beer cans. 4th gens actually feel sturdy. My 4th gen starts in 15* F weather after sitting for days outside, without being plugged in, after the grid heater cycles just as easy as it starts in 80* weather, instantly. No 12-valve grumpiness. 4th gen automatically high idles bellow a certain temp (probably freezing), I flip on the exhaust brake, and get heat fairly quick for a diesel. The truck remembers the preferences of the key fob being used as well- automatically turning on the heated seats, heat steering wheel, and changes the seat/mirror positions (if you set the key fob up for that) based on my habits/settings. It actually steers straight when the wheel is pointed straight, which is nice. Still rides like a 1-ton with leaf springs in back though. My impressions is, again, if you go from a nicely built older truck that's set-up just how you want it power/performance wise to a new truck you'll probably be disappointed by how it drives when you're feeling frisky. If you drive a ~8,000lb truck like a normal person (people on here don't applyLOL) you won't have many complaints, if any.
Going from your preferred older truck to a new truck that's deleted and tuned would probably be the least disappointing route, but then you won't have the powertrain warranty as your parachute should the universe decide it wants to bully you in particular for no apparent reason on any given day... Also, no tuning yet for the Aisin if you do want to delete and tune is kind of a bummer. I don't mean to keep bringing up Randy Reyes, but he's the only one I personally know of (besides RevMax) that is working on/modifying Aisins AND is willing to talk about it a little bit. From what I've pieced together from his responses to peoples questions on Instagram/Facebook is that, according to him, the AS69RC is the strongest stock for stock transmission the big three have ever put in a pick-up (a true medium duty commercial transmission) and will hold a sh!t ton of power in stock form (he beat his to death with 700hp+ for almost a year iirc before it gave up the ghost), but they will shift funky as hell while doing it. Flare shifting and other stuff. According to his posts he got rid of the flare shifting with purely mechanical changes though. So if you want to jump through all those hoops on a brand new truck...
He also said, iirc, Aisins have adaptive learning software and will change how/when the transmission shifts after ~weeks/months of learning your driving habits to suit your driving style/requirements.
Yep, ESC is electronic stability control. It also encompasses all-speed traction control. There is also a couple "smart" braking features and hill decent/start control. If you want to spin your tires, do burnouts, drive off-road, drag race, pull, etc. you have those electrically nannies to do battle with. I haven't tested them much myself, but from what I understand you can't disable traction control in 2wd at all. You can disable traction control in 4wd with the ESC button, but it will automatically come back on if you exceed ~35-40 mph. Traction control in 2wd isn't super responsive either- if it's raining or slick out you can step the ass out with all that torque pretty quick and it won't catch it until your getting sideways. From what I understand if you want to permanently disable ESC you have to either tune the truck and ask your tuner to do that (bye bye warranty), pull the ABS fuse (which has adverse affects), or go to your dealer and ask them to and see if they play ball.
You are right, there are two versions of the AISIN, the AS68RC and the AS69RC. I am not sure how to tell the two apart.
If you are looking at 2013ish trucks, make sure it has the AS69RC and not the AS68RC. That is about when they make the switch and i've heard rumors that some '13s might have the 68 in them. The 68 is a POS from what I have read/seen.
I thought the AS66RC and AS68RC only came in chasis cab trucks? Some actually snuck into regular pickups?
http://www.dieselhub.com/trans/aisin-as68rc.html
https://www.allpar.com/mopar/transmissions/aisin.html
