hey folks, ive got a 92 awd 5sp tranny that needs rebuilt but im having a hard time deciding where to get it done at. I know that Shep and TRE's both are a great rebuild but ive got a few q's. for one the Shep tranny rebuild is $900 Whereas the TRE starts at a $1000, but im only about 1 and a half hours away from the TRE place in Kalamazoo, MI, so i could just drive it up to them and not have to pay for shipping. ive also heard that the people that work at TRE can be assholes on the phone to you and also diss on Shep at the same time, and frankly i think thats just not cool. Also ive seen people say that they have a B&M rebuilt tranny, but i dont know anything about these are where at all i could get one. Thanks for all your help guys, i appreciate it, and sorry if there is a similar post already.

Dont always belive what you hear. If you go down to tre and talk to the guys you will find out that they are really cool. I have two tre transmissions and i like them both.

thanks

They were assholes on the phone with me. I don’t find that tactic to be vary useful in the business world. I have talked with shep many times and has been friendly every time. All I am going to say is that if people are having problems with one business but none with the other than why take a chance. I don’t think you will find one neg. point about shep. I have one of his tranny's and it has worked great. Also people will stick most of the time for the company they went with. So just look at the pros and cons. But TRE were assholes on the phone.

I started a thread about this a bit ago and the favorable vote was to go to Shep, so thats who I have been talking to and thats who will be getting my tranny.

thanks guys, i just thought i might take it to TRE cus they are only 1.5 hours away, so i wouldnt have to pay shipping,

Listen guys, we are very easy to get along with and I'll spend hours on the phone answering all your questions, explaining to you the pros & cons of all the various parts and options that we offer.

We educate the customer and let them decide on what they really need and not just what we can sell you.

Now there are a few of you who will get chased off for one reason or another and if you take the time to look back at it you may understand why it happened. If you feel that you didn't deserve it, then accept my apology.

Jon@TRE

I don't know what people are thinking but Jon @ TRE was nice as hell to me. I had tons of questions and Jon took the time to talk me through all my options. I asked what I wanted and expected out the car and then told me what he thought was the best thing to do. I have a 90 so I have the bi*** trannies and Jon told me that was nothing to worry about. I think told him of the issues I had with first all the time and he even proceeded to talk me through recommended launching and driving techniques (I am hard on first gear even when I tell myself not to be). When all was said and done I was impressed and TRE will be getting my tranny when I am ready (got to get the car running and proven before spending any more $) and my cell logged 1 hr 15 min of talk time. Now if that isn't customer service then I must one dumb ass idiot. Thanks Jon!

Ok the TRE,Shep,BM Trans battle has been going on for soo long now and there are countless threads on here. From what I read B&M shouldnt even be considered a choice. Shep and TRE will both do great work. Here is how I look at it bewteen the 2:

Shep- He has the fastest dsm out there, Great guy, and his prices are very reasonable, come on $895 for a rebuild and it comes with the shep spec 2nd not bad.

TRE-Prices are a bit more than shep, but even before I got my dsm and when i was in the research process, TRE was all I ever heard of when I was looking into transmissions. They have built soo many transmissions its not even funny.

I am from Grand Rapids,MI and TRE is only 30 minutes away from me. Yes I have an automatic for those looking in my profile but i also have a 95 tsi awd 5spd that im trying to bring back to life. From all the local guys here in Kzoo and GR they all have transmissions done by TRE and they said they were nothing but gentlemen. From what I also hear if they were ever asses or anything it was because they were really short on staff I believe Jon and Ming were the only guys working there during a period of time so it doesnt really leave much time to answer questions ya know?

As of now I am still deciding as well bewteen where to send my trans too TRE or Shep.

Shep is cheaper for there basic 895 and shipping will be like 60 bucks, as to TRE there build starts at 1 grand and seeing how i am in MI I will have to pay sales tax. So no matter how you look at it if your in MI and feel like "wow i can save money on shipping" since i can bring it to them well you still have to pay sales tax so it kinda evens out.

So I dunno I will be deciding soon where im sending my trans but Shep seems to be winning in the decision..But we will see

TRE or SHEP ethier way you cannot go wrong with the reliablity and performance aspect they both offer.

well let's see here...Shep wouldn't even be where he is right now if it wasn't for Buschur. The way I see it he has just ridden the back of other people to get to where he is now. Shep buys a lot of his stuff from TRE. I have seen Shep's rebuilt trannys and they were nothing special. Didn't appear to me that he took the time to do all the little things TRE does. And as far as being assholes on the phone...don't call them and ask them dumbass ?'s. I have been there several times when idiots call and ask about the dumbest shit. So what if Shep has the fastest DSM, that doesn;t mean his trans will hold up or is better(not) than TRE's. I heard he rebuilds his race car trans after 5-10 passes on that thing. Kiggly AND Pruven ran there trans for 200 passes before theirs needed to be rebuilt. And when they were apart they looked brand new. I saw for myself so all of you stupid mothers need to do more research and talk to educated people before you make a decision.

^^^^^^ Please leave this forum now. Shep bought his car from Buschur, everyone starts out from somewhere towards the bottom of the ladder. Give the man respect he obviously knows what he's doing.... UGGHHHHH... Thats it I'm done I dont want to continue and be banned.

They are both killer products. Go with the TRE because you live closer. And if you need any help they are right there. As for what you guys are saying about TRE and Jon clearly you are missing the point. He is not being rude he is simply not bullshitting you. When I am ready to put my hard earned money down I don't want high pressure sales or a bunch of fluf. John tells it like it is and he is honest. In this business it is like a breath of fresh air when somebody donsen't yank your chain. They stand behind their product and are extremely knowledable about DSM's. In the tuner business Time and Knowledge are priceless, and how many of you guys has John sat and talked to and helped and not sold them a damn thing??? I am sure there are qiute a few on this board.

I have had a TRE transmission in the past and it was awesome - however, I have done a few other things with TRE and had extremely bad experience. I will say this to anyone considering TRE, if you have already had a good experience with them, be it just a phone conversation or they have done work for you in the past, then there is no reason not to keep giving them your business, even if you do hear something negative, you should still find out for yourself. Both TRE and Shep have great reputations as far their work is concerned, I have never heard anything negative about Shep or his work and he has been great to me in person and on the phone each and everytime. My next transmission will go to Shep because of my past experience with TRE, but if you're close and have not had a bad experience with them, then there is no reason not to consider them for your rebuild because their work is solid and TOP NOTCH!!!

axxis1 said:

well let's see here...Shep wouldn't even be where he is right now if it wasn't for Buschur. The way I see it he has just ridden the back of other people to get to where he is now. Shep buys a lot of his stuff from TRE. I have seen Shep's rebuilt trannys and they were nothing special. Didn't appear to me that he took the time to do all the little things TRE does. And as far as being assholes on the phone...don't call them and ask them dumbass ?'s. I have been there several times when idiots call and ask about the dumbest shit. So what if Shep has the fastest DSM, that doesn;t mean his trans will hold up or is better(not) than TRE's. I heard he rebuilds his race car trans after 5-10 passes on that thing. Kiggly AND Pruven ran there trans for 200 passes before theirs needed to be rebuilt. And when they were apart they looked brand new. I saw for myself so all of you stupid mothers need to do more research and talk to educated people before you make a decision.

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Are you even from this planet??????????

Ya really who is that guy?????????????????? My guess is that he works for TRE.

Whoever that person is, they do not work for TRE but I'm guessing by his post that he was on e of the several people who stop by the shop and play the hell of of the Atari Race Driving arcade game that we have over here.

Hey Krummel, like I said before there are some of you that I have chased off for one reason or another. If you think that you didn't deserve it well then I'm sorry, honestly.

shep might have to replace trannys ever 5-10 passes, but shit, the man has a thousand horsepower that he is launching of of the line. I have talked to a lot of guys in the nopi circuit and they all are replacing trannys left and right. pushing that many horses at a launch like he does is going to be ruff on any tranny, I dont care if GOD gave it to you!!!

axxis1 said:

well let's see here...Shep wouldn't even be where he is right now if it wasn't for Buschur. The way I see it he has just ridden the back of other people to get to where he is now. Shep buys a lot of his stuff from TRE. I have seen Shep's rebuilt trannys and they were nothing special. Didn't appear to me that he took the time to do all the little things TRE does. And as far as being assholes on the phone...don't call them and ask them dumbass ?'s. I have been there several times when idiots call and ask about the dumbest shit. So what if Shep has the fastest DSM, that doesn;t mean his trans will hold up or is better(not) than TRE's. I heard he rebuilds his race car trans after 5-10 passes on that thing. Kiggly AND Pruven ran there trans for 200 passes before theirs needed to be rebuilt. And when they were apart they looked brand new. I saw for myself so all of you stupid mothers need to do more research and talk to educated people before you make a decision.

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Ok, with qualifying, and actual racing, Shep will make over 5 passes per event, you mean to tell me he will swap out trannies in between races or after every event??? Come on!!!
I don't see any other DSM making 8 sec. passes with anyone elses transmission. Hmm, even Sean Glazer's 8 second passes have been made with a Shep tranny. So lets get real here when you start trying to bash someone's product, if you wanna say something, at least speak from experience. Again, my experience dealing with TRE was not the greatest, but like I said, I would still recommend them for their transmissions because they without a doubt do some solid work. Its just nice that the DSM community has a choice between two such high quality products when it comes to fixing almost everyone agrees is the weak link of a DSM.

Axxis, if your going to Bash shep, call him ask him what exactly he does or go to his shop and view his product. Listen he bought Buschur's car yes, but he had already been racing DSM's and had a car running in the 11's with a small 16g. He bought Buschurs car got the 20g to run in the 10's and the rest is history. Also if you look at his site (don't know if it is still there) he made over 800 passes when he was still in the 9's with his race tranny. He smokes clutches not trannys, that is why he is sponsored by a clutch company . Anyways, either tranny is great choice, if your worried about shipping costs, go to TRE since it is closer. I have a shep tranny and couldn't be happier.

I Went with TRE. Talked for over an hour on the phone. Gave very good advice on drivetrain setup and also Jon knows his way around a DSM. My tranny was all broken and my total costs including replaceing the intermediate shaft was under $2K. I was figureing on haveing to spend a great deal of cash more. Had I another 2K to spend I would have gotten a dogmission. But I digress. TRE was great to me on the phone. Tranny came back all nice and clean. Painted as well. The bead blasting they do really cleans up the casting flash nicely. My vote is for TRE.

Shep also does good work by reputation. So either is good. But I do believe Sheps basic rebuild is just that basic. You get a new 2nd. TRE I believe you get new 2-3-4 grears. At least I did. For Shep if you replace all the stuff that TRE does the cost is almost identical. That is my 2 cents. You can look it up on both sites.

What should I buy : a Ferrari or a Lamborgini ? Any way : you win!

jon at tre is cool. i took my buddies trans over there about 6 months ago. he tore it down in front of me. checked and magnafluxed it all. then i sat there bs'n with him for about 4 hours after. if your special he'll even set up the hard driving arcade game for ya. heh. i will definitly go there when i get enough bucks up to get mine done.

I recently had my tranny rebuilt. I went with Shep because he was close (25mins) and I knew it would be done right. I have also had some other things done by him. First time I was at his shop my dad and I were bullshitting with him for half hour or so and I realized then he was a good guy and has treated me right since then. Transmission looks great! I will be finally putting it and my rebuilt engine in the car this weekend. Also I needed all new gears because the guy before me drove the car without a clutch for a while, when that was added to the price of the base rebuild it was pretty close to TRE's price.

And for that axxis guy... apparently you havent spent much time around racing. Picking up the first 2-3 seconds in racing is easy, making a DSM run 10's now a days is difficult but many people have done it successfully, making a car run 9's is a little harder, making it run 8's now thats only been done by a few people. When you reach a level of racing like shep has it gets harder and harder to pick up any time and to run consitently, and he does so I think the man deserves a little more respect than you give him.

project_tsi - I too was debating between Shep and TRE last spring when my diff. blew. I decided I would probably go with TRE because they were only 45 min away. After one phone call to each, my mind was made up with Shep. I dont want to get into tons of details, but basically like everyone else says, it was because of TRE's customer service over the phone (JON - appology accepted ). I dreaded the fact that I would have to ship the tranny to Shep in Ohio, so instead, I decided to just drive up there. gas money was less that freight would have been. Plus I got to meet the man and see the Talon. It was an awesome experience. And the tranny has been in for a year now; still one of the best mods I've done.

Both vendors offer an exceptional product. I chose Shep because of three things: 1) his customer service, 2) other DSMer's great reviews, and 3) the small price difference. I am happy with my trans and who I bought it from, but I'm sure I would have been just as happy with a TRE tranny......