A855 - 5 Speed

John Huff called me back today.

He immediately apologized for not getting back to me for a week.
He asked if mine was the a-body trans he just received this week for testing?
I said yes.
He said, does it pop out of 4th?
Yes indeed!

I never mentioned either in my message.

According to John, based on my understanding:

Biggest issue is no one is being upfront about the actual problem, these trans pop out of 4th gear. He stated this a few times.

A-body trans are more prone to popping out.

His own car pops out of 4th, a b-body, but about once every thousand miles.

Basically, before John got in and Bill Fuss (GFI) got out, or took a smaller role, or whatever, Bill had found a 'cheaper' source of machined parts, which was the wrong thing to do and probably caused the issue.

The trans is an excellent piece of engineering and well made, but skimping on the quality of some parts, not being truthful of the issue, and not following up with customers is not helpful to anyone.

He sourced a new manufacturer, and based on the gear sets he has seen, they are of a much higher quality and precision.

If I'm willing to be patient, he will make this trans right, using those new parts if needed.

He will call Bill and Christine and discuss my concerns.

He doesn't want to end up on a forum with bad feedback. Worst case, bad feedback with follow up of a positive resolution.

My own observations:

Based on the 8 b-body trans sent in late 2019, only the a-body being prone to popping out might not be true anymore.

He didn't seem surprised, and certainly agreed it was ridiculous when I told him no one calls me back, responds to email, or does what they say they will do, at least not in the last 4 months.

He brought up negative feedback on forums. Like I've stated before, I can't believe neither of the other two parties have ever been concerned about a Mopar specific product getting negative reviews on, I dunno, Mopar forums.

If you're still interested in an A855 don't bother calling Passon and getting on his stupid list.
I realized later that I received a trans before people who were 'lower' on the list. Probably explains why Passon called me a half dozen times after I got it and never left a message.
Also, according to GFI's website, what GFI has told me, and what I gleaned from John about GFI as he never mentioned Passon, and personal experience, Passon's involvement was limited to supplying info, creating stupid lists, and hiding behind 'I'm too busy' and 'get it in writing that your trans was installed correctly from a certified mechanic' before I even mention you have a warranty with GFI, but who knows, and I don't really know for sure.
I would think if I was involved with the design and/or manufacturing and machining I would plaster it all over my website, and not just have an 'out of stock' notation all the time.
Plus, I might actually pick up the phone and call customers back.

So, John said the trans was already in the car, but they just had 6 inches of snow.
He would call me asap with the results, for me to call him anytime, but it might take him a day or two for a reply, and I told him call me anytime, day or night.

I did ask about the last time it was tested and GFI didn't know what the results were, then said they believed it was a slight vibration, then it was a slight vibration, all within the same conversation.

He said it pops out of gear, straight up, tells it like it is.

He stressed multiple times, that unlike the others, he would be straight with me, tell me the truth, good or bad.

Hopefully I'll hear something from John next week. If I hear from anyone else, I'll be calling him.