I talked to my friend Keith who owns the transmission shop that was
started by his father in the 40's.  Keith says the only planetary set
that is  tougher than the Ford E40D, 6-pinion  would be the gear sets
from the newer Allison 5 speed, electronically controlled
transmissions.  These are the Allison 1000 series transmissions that are
in the GM 2500 and 3500 series trucks with the 6.6L engines.

Keith
specifically mentioned that the older Allison transmissions like the
AT545 that were paired with the 5.9L engines in the 1980's are not in
the same category and he would not use parts from them for our
purposes.

I gleaned some  photos of the Allison 1000 planetaries from
this site:  http://www.transmissioncenter.net/Allison1000.htm.  You can
get an idea of the size of the planet assembly from one of the
pictures.  Also, one of the pictures shows a thrust bearing on one of
the planet gears that looks thick enough that it could be a needle
bearing.  The planet sets are numbered from the front of the
transmission:  P1, P2 and  P3.

Aubrey

Wow! Thanks Aubrey. I have been curious about the Allison for years.
Looks like it should handle a 1200 HP turbo 3 rotor no problem.


Paul Lamar ...No rotor no motor.

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