AVOID ManTrans In Florida
 

Good Day All:

As is often quoted, “Enter at your own risk”. Do NOT send your transmission to ManTrans (www.ManTrans.net or www.ManTrans.com) in Tallahassee, Florida.

After speaking with Cindy Allen of ManTrans, I sent them a 65K mile ZF 5-speed transmission for a rebuild just to make sure it was new before installing. My American Express card was billed immediately. The transmission was delivered to their facility May 28, 2019 for what was supposed to be a 2-3 week rebuild. As you can guess, it’s now mid-October 2019 and no transmission.

The ongoing saga:
• We need one bearing to finish the rebuild (July 2, 2019)
• The transmission is completed and needs to be run on the dyno (August 8, 2019)
• I’m not sure what’s going on with it. I’ll call you back (July – October 2019)
• Transmission is finished and ready to go on the dyno today (September 9, 2019)
• Owner Darrell Moore (darrell@mantrans.com) tells me they need a bearing and a synchro (September 23, 2019)
• Owner hung up on me after I asked them to ship the transmission back to me. Long, excuse filled e-mail from owner in response to my e-mail. Taking synchro from core they have in house (September 26, 2019)
• October 1, 2019 e-mail inquiry to the owner with response: “Builder out today, I’m getting with him now to confirm”. Of course, no response three days later.
• October 7, 2019 owner says transmission shipping 10/8 or 10/9/19 after dyno run. They will send me the video of the dyno.
• October 9, 2019 “Builder out with death in family. If it doesn’t ship today. I guarantee it will tomorrow”
• October 15, 2019 phoned and left a message as well as e-mail. No bill of lading so obviously transmission isn’t done and hasn’t shipped.

I’ve contacted American Express to dispute the charge, but since it’s past 60 days, they’ve no guarantee. I’m writing off the ZF transmission costs as part of my ongoing adult education.

Call this my mistake for at least not checking the Better Business Bureau. I don’t usually put much stock in the BBB, but I’ve never seen a “F” rating.

https://www.bbb.org/us/fl/tallahasse...0403-160444139

Many of us have had similar issues with other vendors. This is my experience with ManTrans. You may want to avoid them.

God knows in what condition the ZF will be returned, if it comes back at all.

Feff

Is the ZF a GT40 transaxle?

More likely a truck trans, ZF did six-speeds used by Ford, GM and MoPar in 250/2500 and up trucks.

Evidently yes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ZF_transmissions
They did use the 5 speed transaxles on the MK1 and MK3 cars.

I had a similar disputes with an engine builder that was way past 60 days. Just explain that the nature of the service required a long lead time and that you attempted to resolve the issue. It was with MasterCard.

My credit card company thankfully reversed the charges. I'll probably never see the tranny again. Caveat Debtor!