Who is the real PTS?
I've been noticing lately, that a couple company's have been using PTS in their product line. One was as recent as last week, with Jim Stoltz and Level10. They tout their products as PTS this and PTS that. So I got in touch with Bruce Toelle (The real PTS) to say hey, I didnt know SO and SO teamed up with you out here. Heck, I thought he might have been franchising. Boy was I wrong! Bruce went on to tell me he's even getting calls that peoples cars are at his shop in (insert town here) to which Bruce has to answer, um, I dont have a shop in (that town you inserted), nor am I affiliated with them. Nice, not only are they using his shop, but people buy into it, thinking theyre getting a PTS trans. So what happens when the trans blows up? Bruce looks bad. Real nice huh?
I'm sure you all know my history with Level10 (The most recent PTS imposter), but in case you dont, let me try to do it without causing you all hit your heads on the keywoard when you fall asleep. Me and Pat Barrett go way back, around 1992 I'd guess, when my 4th transmissions 1-2 shift got real sloppy. I was tired of paying $1500 for a stock rebuild. I talked to some Buick people, and the consensus was Level10 was the best around. They are about 1hr from me, so I limped the car to them and got an estimate. $1300 for a "Pro-Street" rebuild, and $799 for their 9" with 2.1x torque multpilication converter. I got wood and called my wife to pick me up. I left the car there for about a week I guess. I go to pick the car up. WOW, this thing is great! I drive home etc, and I guess about 2 weeks later I develop a 2-3 flare. This is back when I did race it, so I assumed I hurt it. Pat touted this as the balls as far as tranny's go, gauranteed to hold up in the 9's, so I brought it up to him to fix under warranty. He refreshes the soft parts and I guess works the VB some, and I pick it up and its great. But he charges me for oil/seals and gaskets etc. I'm like WTF? I dont wanna get into it, so I pay him like $150 and go on my way. My butt is a little sore, but it'll heal. About 5 months later I develop a engine knock. The motor has ~90K on it, so I figure all the beating I'm giving the car is taking its toll. I yank the motor to check it all out to find a balooned converter. Ahaaa.... I pull the pan and the thrust bearing is gone, as well as my crank damaged. I call Pat up and say Dude, this converter balooned. WTF? He says bring it up. I put a reman motor in the car, and bring it up to Pat. I go to pick the car up and WOW, it shifts even HARDER than before. But it dont stall like it did before. I'm like dude, I dont know what you did, but it hits harder than before.. THANKS. He hands me a bill for $250. I'm like WTF? This is the converter core charge and well, I went thru and freshened up your trans. You're paying for seals and oil too. I'm like WTF! But, being in the biz, I guess I know how it is, and pay him. So far so good. I go about a year and become a member of the DOTC. (Driven over the crank club) I get under the car to unbolt the converter to pull the motor and I see a 12" converter under there w/5 stamped all around it. WOOOOOOO...I immediately pick up the phone, and am admittedly PISSED. I'm like WTF is a $125 12" converter doin in that $800 9" spot? He's like, thats a special 12" converter that stalls ar 3000 etc..etc..etc..(insert bull**** story here) I'm like, Oh, ok, I didnt know that. (I really didnt, I knew very little as far as transes went) But explained that it never did stall like the 9". He tells me its an awesome unit and that I wont have any problems. I later find out its nothing much more than a Dacco rebuilt 12" (worth about $125) and I immediately call Level 10. He cant talk, I call another time, he cant talk, and so on... I write it off as experience till approx a year ago I split the converter on a hard pass on the street, and put a PI 9.5" in there which I love to death now. When I swapped the converter, I figured I'd freshen up my trans so I call Level10 for an OH kit. Heya Pat, remember me? I need an OH kit for...."Jim who? well, no, but an OH kit will be $450." I'm like f-u pal and hang up. I immediatly get a Transtar HP OH kit which uses all Raybestos soft parts and proceed to rebuild my trans. I dont know Bruce at this point so I'm on my own.
A little more recently a friend of mine had a problem with ArtCarr (No, not the original, but who knew at the time) and had to pay for each step. After about $3K of credit card bills, he gave up and I did his trans. Only problems was when ArtCarr sent his valvebody to him, they damaged it. I thought I fixed it ok but apparently didnt. The OH I did wasnt right at WOT. Part throttle was awesome, but WOT flared at gear changes. I dont know what I did wrong so I got with Bruce and Joey B. The consensus was either the pump was bad (I OH'd it and almost knew it was OK) or the VB was humped. SO my pal got another trans elsewhere. And gave up on mine. I really wish I knew more and could have helped him, but my offer to help turned out to screw him up, and I apologize Joe if you're reading this, I was only trying to help. Who cares about an experience with another vendor right? Well, I'm trying to prove a point. A large company that can afford to make things right didnt, where a little guy cant, but does at his own loss to make his customers happy. Thats a good guy.
Fast forward to today. I've gotten to be a relativly close friend with Bruce thru our telephone conversations. We basically met when a local guy, Dan Goldstein (aka Darkfa8) bought a trans from Bruce at my suggestion and installed it to find it didnt shift right. Bruce found out I was close to Dan and got with me on trying to help the guy out. With my limited trans experience, I really didnt know much about diagnosing failures (I however, could OH them with the best of em, as long as I put back what I took out, and had step by step instructions doe modding the VB) so Dan made an appointment with me at my shop and I checked all the usual crap to no result. I then picked up the phone to call Bruce, who spent over an hour during his busy day on the phone with me instructing me to take this out, and do this etc.. To no result. Bruce sends different parts out on his dime to try to help rectify the problem. He does all he can with me not really being a trans guy till me and my boss have a falling out and I cannot work on cars after hours anymore. I apologize to both parties and explain I cannot take the trans repair any further. Bruce then works it out that Dans trans will go to the next guy on his list of trusted friends and the car goes to Eric in LI. About I guess a month later the trans is repaired. Something in the VB was screwed, despite it working fine in Bruces test car withouot anything changed. Eric and Bruce work diligently to find an answer to Dans trans dilemma. All the while, despite Dan not having a car, which is admittedly a bummer, but not costing him a dime. All these "experts" on the job, with Bruce taking the hit. I'm thinking to myself, holy shoot, now theres a good one. A guy who sells a product, and stands by with HIS wallet out to get it right. After all was said and done, I think Bruce might have lost $ with dans trans. But last time I talked to Dan, he STILL had wood about how the trans was. Another instance involves a PTS converter. The converter had an incorrect part inside and Bruce worked on HIS DIME to get the guy the right part. And sent out some other performance goodies as an apology for the inconvenience. I think that deal COST him $500. I know of at least a dozen similar experiences which proves Bruce's dedication to his work. How many places would work on something just to make sure the customer was happy, despite not making a dime. Not many!
Why am I rambling? Well, to show the difference between a guy who cares about the PEOPLE who made him successful and a guy who cares solely about his bottom line. Bruce not only runs a business, but runs a family, runs a tech help forum, takes dozens of tech calls over the course of his day from dip****s like me, helps guys who had their stuff worked on by other people, talks to other shops who are doing work on peoples cars. Who else GIVES out parts solely because someone needed something they couldnt find, or didnt get from someone ELSE? Bruce is giving away thrust washers. Big deal right? Well, you cant buy them alone. Bruce is not only giving them away, but paying for shipping in most cases. Sounds a lot like me!
When I recently figured out that other places are using PTS as part or all of their company names, it began pissing me off that they are trying to cash in on Bruces fine reputation which is bull****. The place in Vegas calling themselves Performance Trans, Level10 using Performance Trans will NEVER be the real PTS. And I want to you all tell your friends who ask, tell them there is ONLY ONE PTS. And Bruce Toelle in Sacremento California is the REAL PTS. If Bruces name isnt in the company logo, or Bruces name isnt in the email, its not the real PTS. I only wish I could be more closely associated with Bruce. I'd kill to be a part of the PTS team. And it seems others feel this way as well, otherwise they wouldnt be trying to sell themselves off as PTS affiliates. Sorry to ramble, but after talking to Bruce, I'm pissed that someone would use someone elses name to appear associated with them instead of building up and using their OWN reputation. Pat, if you read this, SHAME ON YOU!
Bruce is putting together a trans "Tech-Session" on IRC. I urge you all to be present and watch how a REAL pro does things. Bruce, are you around? Care to defend your name? Will the real PTS stand up...
I've been noticing lately, that a couple company's have been using PTS in their product line. One was as recent as last week, with Jim Stoltz and Level10. They tout their products as PTS this and PTS that. So I got in touch with Bruce Toelle (The real PTS) to say hey, I didnt know SO and SO teamed up with you out here. Heck, I thought he might have been franchising. Boy was I wrong! Bruce went on to tell me he's even getting calls that peoples cars are at his shop in (insert town here) to which Bruce has to answer, um, I dont have a shop in (that town you inserted), nor am I affiliated with them. Nice, not only are they using his shop, but people buy into it, thinking theyre getting a PTS trans. So what happens when the trans blows up? Bruce looks bad. Real nice huh?
I'm sure you all know my history with Level10 (The most recent PTS imposter), but in case you dont, let me try to do it without causing you all hit your heads on the keywoard when you fall asleep. Me and Pat Barrett go way back, around 1992 I'd guess, when my 4th transmissions 1-2 shift got real sloppy. I was tired of paying $1500 for a stock rebuild. I talked to some Buick people, and the consensus was Level10 was the best around. They are about 1hr from me, so I limped the car to them and got an estimate. $1300 for a "Pro-Street" rebuild, and $799 for their 9" with 2.1x torque multpilication converter. I got wood and called my wife to pick me up. I left the car there for about a week I guess. I go to pick the car up. WOW, this thing is great! I drive home etc, and I guess about 2 weeks later I develop a 2-3 flare. This is back when I did race it, so I assumed I hurt it. Pat touted this as the balls as far as tranny's go, gauranteed to hold up in the 9's, so I brought it up to him to fix under warranty. He refreshes the soft parts and I guess works the VB some, and I pick it up and its great. But he charges me for oil/seals and gaskets etc. I'm like WTF? I dont wanna get into it, so I pay him like $150 and go on my way. My butt is a little sore, but it'll heal. About 5 months later I develop a engine knock. The motor has ~90K on it, so I figure all the beating I'm giving the car is taking its toll. I yank the motor to check it all out to find a balooned converter. Ahaaa.... I pull the pan and the thrust bearing is gone, as well as my crank damaged. I call Pat up and say Dude, this converter balooned. WTF? He says bring it up. I put a reman motor in the car, and bring it up to Pat. I go to pick the car up and WOW, it shifts even HARDER than before. But it dont stall like it did before. I'm like dude, I dont know what you did, but it hits harder than before.. THANKS. He hands me a bill for $250. I'm like WTF? This is the converter core charge and well, I went thru and freshened up your trans. You're paying for seals and oil too. I'm like WTF! But, being in the biz, I guess I know how it is, and pay him. So far so good. I go about a year and become a member of the DOTC. (Driven over the crank club) I get under the car to unbolt the converter to pull the motor and I see a 12" converter under there w/5 stamped all around it. WOOOOOOO...I immediately pick up the phone, and am admittedly PISSED. I'm like WTF is a $125 12" converter doin in that $800 9" spot? He's like, thats a special 12" converter that stalls ar 3000 etc..etc..etc..(insert bull**** story here) I'm like, Oh, ok, I didnt know that. (I really didnt, I knew very little as far as transes went) But explained that it never did stall like the 9". He tells me its an awesome unit and that I wont have any problems. I later find out its nothing much more than a Dacco rebuilt 12" (worth about $125) and I immediately call Level 10. He cant talk, I call another time, he cant talk, and so on... I write it off as experience till approx a year ago I split the converter on a hard pass on the street, and put a PI 9.5" in there which I love to death now. When I swapped the converter, I figured I'd freshen up my trans so I call Level10 for an OH kit. Heya Pat, remember me? I need an OH kit for...."Jim who? well, no, but an OH kit will be $450." I'm like f-u pal and hang up. I immediatly get a Transtar HP OH kit which uses all Raybestos soft parts and proceed to rebuild my trans. I dont know Bruce at this point so I'm on my own.
A little more recently a friend of mine had a problem with ArtCarr (No, not the original, but who knew at the time) and had to pay for each step. After about $3K of credit card bills, he gave up and I did his trans. Only problems was when ArtCarr sent his valvebody to him, they damaged it. I thought I fixed it ok but apparently didnt. The OH I did wasnt right at WOT. Part throttle was awesome, but WOT flared at gear changes. I dont know what I did wrong so I got with Bruce and Joey B. The consensus was either the pump was bad (I OH'd it and almost knew it was OK) or the VB was humped. SO my pal got another trans elsewhere. And gave up on mine. I really wish I knew more and could have helped him, but my offer to help turned out to screw him up, and I apologize Joe if you're reading this, I was only trying to help. Who cares about an experience with another vendor right? Well, I'm trying to prove a point. A large company that can afford to make things right didnt, where a little guy cant, but does at his own loss to make his customers happy. Thats a good guy.
Fast forward to today. I've gotten to be a relativly close friend with Bruce thru our telephone conversations. We basically met when a local guy, Dan Goldstein (aka Darkfa8) bought a trans from Bruce at my suggestion and installed it to find it didnt shift right. Bruce found out I was close to Dan and got with me on trying to help the guy out. With my limited trans experience, I really didnt know much about diagnosing failures (I however, could OH them with the best of em, as long as I put back what I took out, and had step by step instructions doe modding the VB) so Dan made an appointment with me at my shop and I checked all the usual crap to no result. I then picked up the phone to call Bruce, who spent over an hour during his busy day on the phone with me instructing me to take this out, and do this etc.. To no result. Bruce sends different parts out on his dime to try to help rectify the problem. He does all he can with me not really being a trans guy till me and my boss have a falling out and I cannot work on cars after hours anymore. I apologize to both parties and explain I cannot take the trans repair any further. Bruce then works it out that Dans trans will go to the next guy on his list of trusted friends and the car goes to Eric in LI. About I guess a month later the trans is repaired. Something in the VB was screwed, despite it working fine in Bruces test car withouot anything changed. Eric and Bruce work diligently to find an answer to Dans trans dilemma. All the while, despite Dan not having a car, which is admittedly a bummer, but not costing him a dime. All these "experts" on the job, with Bruce taking the hit. I'm thinking to myself, holy shoot, now theres a good one. A guy who sells a product, and stands by with HIS wallet out to get it right. After all was said and done, I think Bruce might have lost $ with dans trans. But last time I talked to Dan, he STILL had wood about how the trans was. Another instance involves a PTS converter. The converter had an incorrect part inside and Bruce worked on HIS DIME to get the guy the right part. And sent out some other performance goodies as an apology for the inconvenience. I think that deal COST him $500. I know of at least a dozen similar experiences which proves Bruce's dedication to his work. How many places would work on something just to make sure the customer was happy, despite not making a dime. Not many!
Why am I rambling? Well, to show the difference between a guy who cares about the PEOPLE who made him successful and a guy who cares solely about his bottom line. Bruce not only runs a business, but runs a family, runs a tech help forum, takes dozens of tech calls over the course of his day from dip****s like me, helps guys who had their stuff worked on by other people, talks to other shops who are doing work on peoples cars. Who else GIVES out parts solely because someone needed something they couldnt find, or didnt get from someone ELSE? Bruce is giving away thrust washers. Big deal right? Well, you cant buy them alone. Bruce is not only giving them away, but paying for shipping in most cases. Sounds a lot like me!
When I recently figured out that other places are using PTS as part or all of their company names, it began pissing me off that they are trying to cash in on Bruces fine reputation which is bull****. The place in Vegas calling themselves Performance Trans, Level10 using Performance Trans will NEVER be the real PTS. And I want to you all tell your friends who ask, tell them there is ONLY ONE PTS. And Bruce Toelle in Sacremento California is the REAL PTS. If Bruces name isnt in the company logo, or Bruces name isnt in the email, its not the real PTS. I only wish I could be more closely associated with Bruce. I'd kill to be a part of the PTS team. And it seems others feel this way as well, otherwise they wouldnt be trying to sell themselves off as PTS affiliates. Sorry to ramble, but after talking to Bruce, I'm pissed that someone would use someone elses name to appear associated with them instead of building up and using their OWN reputation. Pat, if you read this, SHAME ON YOU! Bruce is putting together a trans "Tech-Session" on IRC. I urge you all to be present and watch how a REAL pro does things. Bruce, are you around? Care to defend your name? Will the real PTS stand up...
I got word about him through my association with the Monte-list and G-Body.Org and some of the people on there who were crossed between Montes and Turbo Buicks (Neil from Lenexa, KS is one of them) .. through Jim I inadvertantly found out about Joe Burkhart, who I then started talking to right around the time my 84 Caddi 2004r trans died in my Turbo Regal ... how conveinent huh?
