10 speed variance

04chase

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Mar 28, 2008
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trying to educate myself a bit on the new 10 speeds. Ford and gm worked together to design the newish allison 10l1000 . The 10 speed found in the LD gm lineup including the cars/trucks as the 10l90 . Ford has the 10 speed in the 2020 1.5 and 2 ton trucks but gm still pushing the allison 6 speed in their 1.5/2 and 2.5 tons but seems to be a MD a2000 sized unit.

anyone care to explain the differences? looking to purchase a newer 2 ton in the next year or so .
 

Mike L.

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GM did not work with Ford to develop the Allison 10L1000.
Why are the parts the same then? I was told by Allison to use the Ford 10R80 manual to get any info I needed for the Allison 10L1000. Check out the manual and you will find the parts are identical except twice as big. When Ford and GM did the small 10R80 and the 10L90; Ford engineers took the lead on the 10 speed and GM took the lead on the 9 speed FWD. The Allison engineers validated the 10L1000 for the GM trucks.
 
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Hoser

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I dunno. Why does Allison say that it wasn’t developed with Ford? GM has specifically stated that this tranny is a completely separate venture from the GM/Ford tranny, and was developed exclusively by GM and Allison.
 

Hoser

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I’m not a tranny god (no sarcasm intended) and I don’t know anybody at Allison. However I have read and watched videos (that makes me smart right?? Lol!) where it has been explicitly stated this was a completely different venture. If they all lied, then they duped me. I’m not sure what they would have to gain by lying, the GM/Ford venture was openly stated and very successful.

I‘m a nobody and I’m not trying to prove a point or anybody wrong. I just have to wonder why they would all lie about it, I would think that would upset more die hard brand loyalists than just openly stating the truth.

So your contact specifically said that the 10L1000 was fully developed from the start with Ford? If Ford spent all the time and money developing this tranny, what vehicle are they using it in?
 

Bdsankey

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I’m not a tranny god (no sarcasm intended) and I don’t know anybody at Allison. However I have read and watched videos (that makes me smart right?? Lol!) where it has been explicitly stated this was a completely different venture. If they all lied, then they duped me. I’m not sure what they would have to gain by lying, the GM/Ford venture was openly stated and very successful.

I‘m a nobody and I’m not trying to prove a point or anybody wrong. I just have to wonder why they would all lie about it, I would think that would upset more die hard brand loyalists than just openly stating the truth.

So your contact specifically said that the 10L1000 was fully developed from the start with Ford? If Ford spent all the time and money developing this tranny, what vehicle are they using it in?

The Allison rep at my place of employment (we use Allisons in ALOT of vehicles) stated along the lines of what Mike's has already stated. This is a case of what you read on the internet isn't always true.


There is much more to a transmission other than just looking at it as a complete unit. Like Mike stated, they share a TON of parts internally and the tech manuals can go vice-versa. Just because the case is different doesn't mean the internals are different as well. A case is easy to develop once you have something that works and you need other features like PTO or a different bell housing pattern or transfer case pattern etc.
 

JoshH

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My understanding is the only difference between the two is the PTO setup and the programming.
 

PureHybrid

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The GM & Navi 4500/5500 probably use the old 6spd because Navistar doesn't want anything to do with having to source a trans from Ford!

My brother got a 5500 with a dump bed last year and seems to like it so far
 

04chase

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Mar 28, 2008
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Mike thank you. Exactly the answer I couldnt find.

I have 2 partners that just got 20 5500 and 6500s for service truck duty. In 4wd single cab. Both coming from current gen ram 5500.

I like the gm drivetrain and chassis better. Turn radius sucks and ride quality is similar. Dislike the small cab space . All single cab med duty trucks dont get the top options either.

Ram should be phasing out the as69 trans soon and I'm on the fence on which to choose.

I'm a die hard gm guy but my 6.7 Cummins has been solid for near 200k and for a 20k+ dry weight truck does great on power and fuel. It's been tuned for about 100k and only a 50 hp tune ss the trans cant do much more.

I know I can tune a l5p as well but expect I may be able to push a bit more through it.

Ford has a 10 speed in the 20+ 550s and I'm curious to its variant. I also like you can get them in ex cab.

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Mike L.

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Ram will be introducing their new HD ZF 8 sp trans soon. When this happens; watch Ram/Cummins horsepower jump big time.
 

48548

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I guess what I would do if I was fca... when I bought my jeep I ripped on them about zf trannys couldn't make your own to last... he said zf came them.... of course if I sold transmissions go to the company that makes crap....

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