I’m presuming this isn’t done by the auto manufacturers b/c auto trans seems more of a specialty design. Does the company that designs them also manufacture them and sell the complete unit to the auto manufacturers? Or do they sell the drawings and the auto manufacturers build the units to install in their vehicles?
Is this another of your lets help build the Forum threads ?
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GMs Hydramatic division designs and builds automatics. Chrysler and Ford did as well. Borg Warner used to build automatics for a variety of manufacturers… some Japanese. Aisin makes trannys for Toyota and is owned by them.
ZF makes transmissions for a wide range of Euro makes. Ford built 6 speed autos under license from ZF.
I am.sure @davesmopar could add some more.
Transmissions like engines used to be a big part of the brand’s identity.
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Mustangman pretty much covered the basics, and it all really depends on the vehicle manufacture and model of the vehicle and what transmission is used in it, I have seen a common transmission (can’t think of it right now) that comes in a Kia/Hyundai as well as many other vehicles including some highly rated vehicles that I never thought would share them…
The JF011E/RE0F10A is a CVT used in Dodge, Mitsubishi and Nissan vehicles as far back as 2007 made by JATCO…
The list can go on and on and on, I have not looked it up, but I would imagine with Honda’s very unique approach to automatics that they design and build most of there autos, Toyota likes to keep some (again to many to list and not looking it up) or maybe even most, if not all of there’s in house also…
I know basically on the 3rd gen (16-26) Tacoma’s that the 2nd gen 5 speed was totally redesigned to make a 6 speed auto, the engineers were basically told to go back to the drawing board and design a new transmission in a simpler unit, the older 2nd gen A760 (5 speed auto) used four rotating clutches, four brake clutches, and four one-ways, compared to the 3ed gen AC60E and AC60F (E=RWD and F=4WD) 6 speed auto that uses two rotating clutches, three brake clutches, and one low mechanical clutch (sprag), that is a huge difference for a transmission have more gear with less parts… Toyota also sells it to Isuzu for the D-max TF series 2…
Basically, you need to pick a vehicle and then I can tell you who makes it and what all it fits… Some of the new new stuff (heck even some older stuff lol) I don’t have a clue about, but I will try to find out if asked…
Let’s not forget about Studebaker, whose automatic trans was co-designed by their own engineers and the engineers of Borg-Warner. It was an excellent piece of design work, and–quite unusual for its time–it featured torque converter lock-up!
That transmission was also linked to Studebaker’s long history of very bad management, because Ford–which hadn’t yet developed their own automatic trans–offered to buy the manufacturing rights from Studebaker. That offer–which would have provided a reliable flow of a few million $$ over the years–was turned-down by Stude’s management.
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Honda wouldn’t pay copyright fees to use GM design so they made their own version. Which were ok for 48hp motors. No one can make a good cvt. Toyota came up with an odd cvt design which has not been used enough to verify its integrity. It’s still in testing phase now.
Who designs automatic transmissions?
Engineers.
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The newer automatics seem to have a whole lot of parts. So are the repair parts easy to find for the newer automatics? How many years do the parts tend remain available? Mostly as oem or aftermarket ? After new repair parts are no longer available, what do you do? Replace the entire transmission? Purchase recycled parts?
Sort of… There is a rebuild kit available with seals and clutch packs for my 2013 6 speed auto but… I needed a “lead frame” which is a big plastic part carrying 3 sensors and wiring that is not available from Ford… Big time back-order. I was forced to buy a lead frame and valve body kit for quite a bit more money just to fix that one sensor problem.
Manufacturer’s agree to provide repair parts back 10 model years. If you fall into a hole where parts are no longer serviced and the aftermarket hasn’t stepped up, the car becomes scrap unless you can find a swap alternative. And some states (cough… California) have rules that make that darn near impossible to swap and register. I have seen YouTubers scrap Land Rovers for that exact reason (not transmission, another part).
Heck, you can buy GM Powerglide parts and they haven’t been in sold in cars for about 50 years
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To add to Mustangmans great post, again lol…
Transmission parts, well most trans shops don’t start seeing trans issue for a few years or more due to warranty’s and long life, but once they do the aftermarket has already been doing it’s home work and figuring out what all is needed, then if the demand is high enough the part(s) get produced, some company’s like Sonnax will find the flawed parts and redesign them and make way better products for most transmissions, so the failure rate goes down after a rebuild, Also have company’s like TransGo that find all the valve body wear issues and defects and make rebuild kits so that never happens again, or way less likely to anyway…
Then you have the company’s that specialize in Brand X transmission parts like Cope Racing and A&A transmission parts just to name a few of many many more, they make better and high performance parts for brand X…
Then you have the cheap stuff and everywhere in between…
Next you have suppliers that carry and sell aftermarket, OEM and OEM equivalent parts for almost anything, places like WIT (whatever it takes) transmission parts, I use them as much as possible for stock parts, they carry new, used, rebuilt parts (all coded what it is), they mainly only sell to transmission builders and pro shops, not much to the public cause they don’t know about them… WIT company buys up lots and lots of cores to disassemble and reuse as many hard parts as possible, they are checked for wear, cracks and damage, only the good stuff gets sold at the counter… Now once the aftermarket stuff dries up and the used and reconditioned/rebuilt stuff is gone, you are just out of luck, or you band aid it and hope for the best, or pay a machine shop to make you another one at a cost…
For the trans world, it is all about demand and supply, not supply and demand, if enough of a demand, they will make it, doesn’t mean backorders don’t happen but they make it, unless there is a legal problem making it…
Interesting tidbit, one of the largest designers/manufacturers of transmissions worldwide is ZF, the privately owned Zeppelin Foundation created by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the inventor of the Zeppelin airship.
Proof that not all companies go down in flames after a disaster.
Seems to me Foote made lawn tractor transmissions too. Along with peerless and tecumseh.
At any rate th3 history of transmissions is pretty interesting going back but a little confusing to a novice.
GM’s multiple torque converter transmissions seemed curiious to me
Here’s an interesting article in the design of the automotive planetary gearset.
Howard Simpson was diagnosed with cancer and was told he had 6 months left to live. He moved to the southwest where he designed and patented numerous automotive applications for planetary gearsets. And lived another 15 years.
Back in 1950 when I was in elementary.school, there was a Borg
Warner transmission plant in our community. We lived on a paved country road not far from the Borg Warner factory. During the summer of 1950, a Mercury would come past oiur house and if the road was clear, the driver would suddenly shift into reverse and back up for a quarter of a mile, then, with tires squealing, go forward again.
Several years later, I learned from an engineer that the Borg Warner factory was manufacturing automatic transmissions for Fords and Mercurys. The transmissions were being road tested the summer of 1950. Ford and Mercury offered the Ford-O-Matic and the Merc-O-Matic in the 1951 Fords and Mercurys. These transmissions were built in that plant for seversl yesrs until Ford decided to manufacture the transmissions in its own plant.
What is interesting is that the Lincolns used the GM Hydramatic in the early 1950s.
The Ford-O-Matic and Merc-O-Matic were three speed units with a torque converter that started in 2nd unless low was manually selected. The GM transmission was a 4 speed transmission with a fluid coupling iinstead of a torque converter. A fluid coupling does not multiply the torque as a torque converter does. The Ford-O-Matic and Merc-O-Matic were much smoother in operation than the Hydramatic.
My brother in law had a 53 desoto I guess about 1960, ne would slow to about 5 mph and drop it into reverse, wheels squeeling then back to drive. I was impressed. Tough trans whatever it was.
GM used to test transmissions by stomping on the gas and repeatedly shifting between drive and reverse until it blew out. Powerglides could do that until the tires blew out. So could Turbo 400s.
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I had several relatives who worked at New Process Gear (later became New Venture Gear when Chrysler did a joint venture with GM in 1990). From 1955 thru 1990 it was owned entirely by Chrysler. They mainly made manual transmissions and transfer cases. GM, Ford, Chrysler and even Nissan used their transfer cases. My brother-in-law was a GM there during the period Iacocca became president. He even visited the plant because it was one of the only 2 plants at the time that was making a profit for Chrysler. Later my brother-in-law and sister moved to Michigan where he became plant manager for a Chrysler production plant. Retired and then moved back to Syracuse.
New Process Gear was around at the beginning of the automotive revolution. They started out as a tanning. Original name was New Process Rawhide. How the hell they transitioned from tanning Rawhide into being one of the largest manufacturers of Transfer Cases is beyond me. They were owned by several companies before Chrysler bought them in 1955. It was a real kick in the pants for Syracuse when they closed. Luckily most of my relatives were either retired or near retirement age. I had at least 3 uncles who retired from there and I think 5 cousins who also worked there.
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