Nein 11

Hey all! I wanted to warn anyone who has been debating having transmission work done on their 996TT (or any Porsche for that matter). My 996TT was having 1st gear pop-out issues, so I elected to have it repaired and upgraded by GBOX, INC. in Erie Colorado. This consisted of 997 GT2RS 1-3 gear, upgraded synchros, and a few other things. I initially paid GBOX $10,400, and the transmission was shipped to them ( I covered $850 in freight). Upon completion, it was installed in the car and filled with OEM Porsche fluid...but became locked in 2nd gear within 100 miles. I had to pay the labor to have the transmission removed from the car again ($4,100) and covered shipping costs ($850) to send it back again. They repaired it under warranty and sent it back. Upon reinstallation and driving roughly 1,000 miles it began popping out of gear while driving, this is both aggravating and dangerous to myself and those driving around me. When the fluid was checked it was black, and there was metal material on the drain plug...with only 1,000 miles on that new OEM Porsche fluid. They have ignored my calls and texts for over a year, and are not honoring their warranty or offering any form of refund. With the initial rebuild, all of the shipping back and forth, and paying labor to have it removed and installed over and over I am in this over $16,000 and have a transmission that does not work properly. In fact it consistently pops out of 2nd gear every time I decelerate unless I hold the shifter in place. What a sour experience, and I wish this upon no one else, so hopefully this helps!

It will be heading to Bill Rader in Las Vegas soon to remedy the situation.

Lazurus

I was just warning another about this place the other day. Your post is an untimely confirmation of my scepticism and it pains me to read it. Having had no less than three m96G50 boxes opened and repaired over the years.

I would suggest to this guy you plan on seeking legal remedies for damages above and beyond costs you have already accrued. Lousy situation, but Rader will at least sort it out.

I would send a demand letter from an attorney forthwith.

About

Stan Richardson is the owner of Gbox, LLC. in Erie, Colorado. He has a strong racing and engineering background and strives to give you innovative performance technology with a focus on Porsche transmission repair, rebuild and modification. He also restores vintage and collectable vehicles.

Specialties: Porsche transmission rebuilding and parts, custom machining, Porsche transaxles

Lazurus

Been reading up on this shop and apparently their inability to properly repair Porsche gearboxes has been quite well known for years. It is a shame you did not have these anecdotal reports of their less than stellar reports before you took the plunge with them. Here's some old stuff Matt @ Guard had posted long ago.

Matt Monson gearhead

Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Loverland, CO
Posts: 22,992

Gbox is owned by the former mechanic of Chris Fisher's infamous operation, PowerhausII. Stan, the owner and lead technician has several decades of Porsche transmission building experience. They are not a Guard Tramsmission authorized installer, so I can tell you that whatever aftermarket race gear they put in the box was probably not manufactured by me.

FYI, Chris Fisher is back in business, once again selling Albins gearsets under the business name of Vista Grande run out of somewhere in the San Francisco Bay Area.

"I share this as neither anything for nor against Gbox but just for informational purposes for people trying to figure out who these people are and where they came from. The business has been around for half a dozen years since PHII went bankrupt, though they have tended to focus on the water cooled gearboxes and thus why many in this forum would not have heard of them.

Regards,

Matt Monson
Guard Transmission. Llc"

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...aims-ouch.html

I really believe that as a "caveat emptor", this info should be spread as widely as possible, in hopes it might possibly save others the headaches and out of pocket expenses the OP has endured to date, by using this shop GBOX.

Apologies to Matt @ Guard for posting his stuff from a decade ago. The net is forever!

blockhed

They have done shoddy work for years but managed to always sell people on their work. Sorry about your problem, I'd look into taking legal action.

powdrhound

Most people know about Gbox. This is really not news. Gbox is local to me and I wouldn't use them even if they offered to do the work for free. The OP would have been well served with some basic research prior to stroking a check. Sorry to hear such issues.

2fcknfst

I was not aware of that; I had thought, up until right now, they had a pretty good reputation. I even used their detent spring while I waited to rebuild my box.

powdrhound

Years ago, probably back in 2012 (before I knew a lot of people in the industry), I visited Gbox and spoke with Stan regarding some gearbox work I was looking to get done. Their website looked good and they were local. The work I was looking to get done entailed a gearbox cooler and an LSD. After speaking with him, I realized that he had a pretty low technical knowledge regarding these gearboxes and honestly could not do what they advertised on their website. He also tried to sell me on an OS Gikken LSD while talking down Matt's Guard LSDs claiming they were completely inferior. Thankfully I walked away at the time only to hear numerous stories of guys having issues with their work over the years to follow.

paopao

Shame to see this; hope you can get it sorted (saw the post on FB originally).

I have spoken to Stan on the phone before and he was quite nice and helpful; clearly not an indicator of competence as there does seem to be quite a bit of complaints against GBOX.

Hope you get it sorted!

2fcknfst

Makes me very happy I went to CMS.

Cheers,

17ram2500

Man that sucks. I talked with G-box before I had mine done, and went with CMS on the recommendation of everyone on this forum. Big difference in prices.... but I think it was the right call.

Sorry about that, to the OP.

kamlung

i guess the mantra of 'you get what you pay for' still holds true

2fcknfst

Agreed.

Lazurus

re: CMS I don't know about current pricing on g50 repairs? but when I spoke with CMS years ago I found their pricing really high. I got very lucky in that an indie aircraft mechanic that built boxes as a hobby for his brother who is/was well known for his gt2 modded cup car that had the track record at Willow ( his class?! ). He got me in and out and replacing bearings for about $4k all in incl install set gear lash on a Wavetrac.

8 hours to R&R the box in the car the pre/post repair. Seems as if the larger the metro area ( LA then ) the easier it is to find competent and fairly priced "help". That's the only thing I miss. Multiple Porsche mechanics, and friends with garages, tools, and Porsche "know how".

2fcknfst

CMS was most certainly spendy, but no complaints to date.

dt930

CMS has been setting up the ring and pinions for me for years at my shop, Roger is the "real deal" I wouldn't send any trans work anywhere else if it had my name on it.
Dave Treichel
Zeroto60Garage