Another great AA Transaxle story

[connorsvw2]

I wanted to publicly thank Daryl at AA Transaxle for taking care of his customers above and beyond the call.

I bought a rebuilt/re-geared transaxle from Daryl about 6 years ago for my 2.5 Subie powered '85 Westy Weekender. Other than a noisy 3rd gear from new it ran great until 3 weeks ago when I drained out tranny oil for a routine change and found a small ball bearing sticking to the plug magnet, along with a fair amount of metal flakes . There were no indications of internal problems at all otherwise.

After several conversations via e-mail, I decided to go ahead and pull the tranny and send it back to Daryl, thinking a shift fork was failing. News was not good-the R&P was shot and the tranny needed a full rebuild. Turns out the later model R&P used in my rebuild seems to be weaker than the earlier units (fewer teeth-I had exchanged my original tranny). I had been running Mobil 1 synthetic 75W90 gear oil since install-now running Swepco 201 on Daryl's advice. Once I get the CV's bolted up this weekend I'll see how it shifts in our cold Denver winter so far.

Daryl basically rebuilt the unit for the cost of the new R&P and parts-he did not charge labor despite being 5 yrs out of warranty and he even replaced the chronically noisy aftermarket 3rd gear for me as a warranty item, all this despite running a non-stock engine. This is simply incredible customer service, and is the reason I will continue to use and recommend Daryl to everyone who will listen.

As an aside, the stock Sachs clutch had at least 50% friction lining thickness remaining after 57,000 hard miles when I compared it to my new heavy-duty LUK clutch lining; not bad for a stock part dealing with double the HP and 50% more torque! Makes me wonder if I needed to spend the extra $$ for the LUK kit...
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'85 Westy Wolfsburg camper/2002 2.5 Subaru since 2003.
'85 GTI 1.8L 1-owner 8v-gave up on 9A 2.0L 16v transplant. Keeping her stock!
'99 Passat 1.8T Variant-AKA "The Money Pit". Still limping along...
'09 Subaru Outback XT 5-speed, 245 hp rocket (wife's car)

[joseph928]

Well I know where to get my trans. fixed when it brakes. Thats a great story they must be outstanding people.
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1987 syncro westy tin top sun roof , GW2.3, rear locker, decoupler, Gary Lee tire rack & winch mount, lift, south african grill, big brakes , rhein alloy ,15 BFG AT, Fiamma 10 foot awning ,140 watt rear 85 watt front solar , mppt, truckfridge, automatic fire extinguishing system, tencent oil cooler, And a RMW SS exhaust! - 1971 bug convertible 1776 engine- 2010 Subaru turbo - 1993 Toyota 4x4 truck - 1999 Harley 95 CI, big bore, Andrews cams . Also 80-84- vans. Stock 65 sunroof bug.

[r39o]

So what failed?

Ring and pinions do not have ball bearings.
_________________
"Use the SEARCH, Luke" But first visit the Vanagon FAQ!

1990 Multivan EJ 22, Rancho trans 0.82 4th, Small Car front AC, CLKs w/ 215/65-16, homemade big brakes 303mm, Konis, Recaros, etc....

Click to see my ads for Cup holders, Subaru clutch fix and CLK wheels (no wheels currently)

[hdenter]

That was my first thought. Maybe it was actually the diff. Do the spider gears run on ball bearings? Not that it matters, he stepped up and fixed it.

Hans
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'79 triple white convertible bug
'84 sunroof vanagon
'85 weekender

[r39o]

[D Clymer]

Yup, Daryl is the real thing. He is a fine craftsman who takes pride in his work and he lives and breathes Vanagons. I could see another shop denying any help since your trans was rebuilt 5 years ago or because it has a Subaru conversion. It's great to hear that Daryl stood by his work.

David

[GBA 88West LA]

thats why he calls it AA , daryl is a vw guru
_________________
88 Westy GL Vanaru 07 2.5 EJ25/AA Trans/oiling plates, 1.14 3rd-.77-4th..solar powered cabin

[presslab]

I don't wish ill will toward Daryl but not every story is like yours, and I feel the need to share my story here too. I know people poo-poo the sharing of bad stories, but life is not all kittens and roses.

My transaxle was rebuilt by Daryl 5 years ago, just a stock rebuild, and I let him know I would be using it with my EJ22 engine. A month ago I heard a whining noise, and I had a road trip planned in just a week! I shipped it off to Daryl and he called me with the bad news. After 35k miles the pinion bearing had failed but worse of all main bearing had beat out the case. I asked what could ruin the case like that and he said I must have driven it hard and the red dirt on the case looked like I had taken it to Moab and wheeled it... I sometimes take it off the beaten path on dirt roads but I definitely don't wail on it.

Anyway at the end of the day Daryl said it would be $1370 to rebuild it, even though the R&P was still good. I don't know how it became $1370 either, as his normal rebuild fee is $1095 and a gear carrier is $100 from GoWesty. I'm not sure how my transaxle was different than yours, in that you got a deal and I didn't. I understand that these transaxles are old, and the parts are not new. Stuff happens, things break, and tolerances of old parts are hard to quantify. I don't blame Daryl that my transaxle only lasted 35k miles.

I ended up giving Daryl my core for his troubles, as I didn't want to pay for his time to disassemble it and the cost to ship it back. I bought a Pick-N-Pull transaxle for $150 and was able to complete my road trip.

Sorry Daryl, I feel I've conveyed my experience as impartially as I could, and I feel to be fair to all I should do this.
_________________
1986 Vanagon Westfalia EJ25
1988 Subaru GL-10 EJ20G --- 2000 Honda XR650L
2010 Titus El Guapo --- 2011 On-One 456 Ti

[turbotransporter]

[AA Transaxle]

Welll...I cannot please everyone for sure. I do my darndest to though.
I am sorry about Ryan's trans, but wear and failure after 5 yrs is pushin the limits in most cases. These days without 20 plus year old rigs we are hampered by tired metalurgy and parts made in non-German countries and there is only so much I can do.
If I remember right, the pinion bearing had beaten out the main case bore and needed replaced too. Pinion bearings can fail prematurely these days as they are made in Hungary and we have definately seen some premature metalurgy failures withing a year or 2.
87 and later ring & pinions are bad about 40+% of the time on 2wd trannies we get for rebuilding...40% is a huge number..Bad design on VW's part..jacks up the cost and will fail prematurely again with another used one..Nothing I can do other than charge a grand for a better one.
Connors trans had a 3rd gear noise for years and I had promised to handle it after the rebuild...A no brainer.
Nuf said for now, but I very much appreciate all the good words (even Ryans ) and am trying to keep everyone happy campers and still stay in business.
_________________
Daryl of AA Transaxle
425-788-4070
Near Seattle, WA.
86 Syncro Westy w/Turbo Zetec in the trunk
90 Doka Tristar w/2.5 Subie

[dubbified]

Yea, AA is the biz.

Good to see ya back on yer feet!

[Ryan Keating]

Great Guy and great service. I am on my second one. This time for a svx vanagon.

[r39o]

Take all of what is stated above with a grain of salt.

Why one person gets a deal and the other not may well be apples and oranges. We do NOT know the whole story no matter what people write. It is between the primaries and not us back seaters.

Yes the boxes are old. Sometimes we get a run of bad parts. Sometimes it is a lubrication failure. Sometimes it is user related. All sorts of reasons.

All the good shops are out there to do a superior job. That is how they stay in business. The state of the art and parts situation are evolving. Customer expectations and reality and how it is all handled are variant.

I always want to know what the root cause of failures are and what needs to be done to keep it from happening again.

In my recent rebuild case, I opted to upgrade and add things to help stave off load related failures. These options may not have been available a few years ago.

There are some things the builder just can not for see, though, too. Crap shoot; it is not factory brand new. The builders do the best they can.

FYI: We have all the VW factory tools to do these rebuilds, BUT, I opted to let pros do the job as they do this every day. That is why I did not do it. I have a warm fuzzy feeling as they know all the current tricks. I do NOT want to be an expert on every thing I have.
_________________
"Use the SEARCH, Luke" But first visit the Vanagon FAQ!

1990 Multivan EJ 22, Rancho trans 0.82 4th, Small Car front AC, CLKs w/ 215/65-16, homemade big brakes 303mm, Konis, Recaros, etc....

Click to see my ads for Cup holders, Subaru clutch fix and CLK wheels (no wheels currently)

[presslab]

[connorsvw2]

I certainly did not want to do anything by my post except applaud a great Vanagon vendor and great customer service!

I should have been more clear about my case. Daryl had offered early on to replace my noisy 3rd gear soon after the original install, but I did not want to pull the tranny again and send it back if it was not harmful to run. What I was surprised and pleased by was his honoring and even extending that offer 6 years later when my R&P failed.

Don't get me wrong-after 2 tranny rebuilds and 1 new R&P I have spent a fair amount of change on just this one part of my conversion...but you have to pay to play with a more powerful engine conversion, IMHO.
_________________
'85 Westy Wolfsburg camper/2002 2.5 Subaru since 2003.
'85 GTI 1.8L 1-owner 8v-gave up on 9A 2.0L 16v transplant. Keeping her stock!
'99 Passat 1.8T Variant-AKA "The Money Pit". Still limping along...
'09 Subaru Outback XT 5-speed, 245 hp rocket (wife's car)

[Jon_slider]

just to remind people
Dont Use Redline MT-90, Swepco 210 is your friend.

[r39o]