Why is it that people have to die before anyone says something nice about them? Turns out you can improve your business — and your overall happiness — if...
Popular Articles
“Great things in business are never done by one person; they’re done by a team of people.” – Steve Jobs.
This insightful observation perfectly...
When you see the familiar black and gold TransTec® bag, you know you can trust that you’ll find the highest quality components available inside. What you...
In the vibrant town of Ronkonkoma, a mere hour away from the bustling streets of New York City, GT Transmissions is an outstanding example of family values...
Having worked at the ATRA Hotline for many years, I know that words have meaning. Communication between two “techs” can fall apart if they call the same...
While growing up, Lindsay Phillips thought working on cars was mainly a hobby for friends and family – not a career. She didn’t grow up in a garage...
“Satisfied customers are the best source of advertisement,” wisely noted Ron Kaufman, an authority in customer service excellence. This adage beautifully...
GEARS Staff
Donny Caccamise and I met earlier this year when I wrote the GEARS article, From the Classroom to Your Shop for the June issue. It was about developing...
Set in a quiet rural town, Limerick Transmissions in Limerick, Maine, has something a little unusual for a transmission shop. What is that, you ask? A female...
Up Your Business is an exclusive GEARS Magazine feature where I share stories, insights, and reflections about business and life.
We’re all familiar with the...
…Once on the bench and disassembled, all we found was burnt forward clutches, everything else looked ok…
My co-worker recently built a 5R110W...
Automotive markets around the world are interconnected on many levels, particularly in terms of powertrains. As ATRA is an international organization, we...
GEARS Staff
Today’s top and most lucrative companies are often owned or run by leaders under age 35. Millennials start enterprises at younger ages than previous...
GEARS Staff
In early 2023, when Kit Lindsey and his wife Amy showed up at the new IBO in China Grove, Texas, they were a little shell-shocked. There I was, downstairs in...
During the recent Powertrain Expo, we discussed the idea of reaching out to the next generation of technicians and finding a way to bring them into the...
We hope to see you at this year’s Powertrain Expo! Below is the list of all exhibitors. Please click on an image to enlarge.
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Mike Sparkman got his start in the transmission business back when he was just 13 years old. That was in about 1973. Back then, his father, Mike Sr., was...
The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly caused detrimental effects on the economy, supply chains, and small businesses. I often ask business owners how the...
Controller programming has become a standard practice in all shops throughout the world. Whether for a new module installation or simply to update the...
Now that we are getting “back on the field of play” let’s take a closer look at the 8L90 shift quality concerns. Shift concerns are just like playing...
Up Your Business is an exclusive GEARS Magazine feature where I share stories, insights, and reflections about business and life.
Is it just me, or are you...
This new Gears column, “Thinking it Through,” came from my discussion with ATRA President Dave Wilkes while visiting his shop in Ventura, California. We...
Building great torque converters demands proper alignment of your torque converter welder. With your reputation and bottom line in mind, we’ll discuss the...
Admittedly I am not very familiar with transmissions. In fact, the first time I even saw one; was when I spoke at ATRA in 2015. But that’s OK – it’s...
During my recent visit to the Daytona International Speedway (DIS), I had the opportunity to interview Andrew Gurtis, SE Regional VP of Track Operations for...
It was o’dark hundred at the Paris Hotel and Casino, Thursday morning, October 27, 2016, as some 60, bleary-eyed golfers made their way to the bus for...
Cadillacs have always given diagnosticians headaches when it comes to diagnostics. Let’s not kid anyone here: the Cadillac has twenty plus modules, miles of...
Working with transmission fluid exposes me to many types of businesses necessary to the process of base oils and additives, becoming the high-performance...
In modern automotive technology, the torque converter is a pivotal component of automatic transmissions. For transmission technicians, mastering the design and...
GEARS Staff
Over the years we’ve met dozens of transmission shop owners who’ve been ATRA Members for years; some who can trace their relationship with the Association...
Guest Author
Transmission removal and replacement (R&R) is a critical task that requires precision, expertise, and attention to detail. For auto technicians and...
Ask a customer whom they’d prefer to have working on their car and you’ll likely get two answers:
When it comes to repairing the car, they want a master...
The transmission industry has seen a lot of changes in the past 50 years, and Al’s Transmissions in Turlock, California, has witnessed those changes...
Certified Transmissions Complete Auto Care didn’t start out to be what it’s become. That’s probably not unusual as most every business evolves over time...
In preparation for writing a torque converter article, I searched for a catchy title to describe the unit. I found it described as a “Metal Donut” and an...
We’re all familiar with warranties. We get them when we buy something, and we give them with every job. There are two things most of us will agree with about...
GEARS Staff
Decades ago, when I started in this profession, electricity was one of those areas that most shops, technicians and even engineers, avoided when at all...
Up Your Business is an exclusive GEARS Magazine feature in which I share stories, insights, and reflections about business and life.
It seems that whenever two...
GEARS Staff
Kristina Chadwick, mother of 3 and grandma of 3 with 1 on the way, was born in Seattle, Washington. She has over 3 decades of transmission building experience...
As the ATRA Executive Director, my primary goal is to serve our members by assembling and unifying a dedicated team by nurturing a cooperative environment, and...
How many times have you turned on the TV and seen hurricanes and flooding in Florida or Mississippi? Or tornados in Oklahoma or Kansas? Or wildfires in...
GEARS Staff
Lately a substantial number of transmission shops have begun to expand into general repairs. But at Baker’s Transmission Service, LLC in Grand Junction...
In real estate, they talk about the “highest and best” use of parcels of land. For example, a lakefront lot in a resort area probably isn’t well suited...
Up Your Business is an exclusive GEARS Magazine feature in which I share stories, insights, and reflections about real business and life challenges.
2016… a...
As computer-controlled vehicles age, many issues arise that can be difficult to diagnose. Some vehicles have spent harsh winters in the north being repeatedly...
GEARS Staff
Manufacturers are under tremendous pressure to improve fuel economy while reducing emissions. In 1975, the government established a standard called CAFE...
Computers use integrated circuits (IC) to control vehicle system components such as motors, lights, relays, and solenoids. The IC components that control...
One of the most important tools for building a successful shop is being able to identify your market. Specializing in Fords in an upscale market where most of...
Up Your Business is an exclusive GEARS Magazine feature in which I share stories, insights, and reflections about business and life.
I’d love to see a show...
In the face of unprecedented challenges during the pandemic, ATRA has seen remarkable transformations, and each development represents a significant “plus”...
While working on the ATRA technical Hotline, we get to encounter some pretty interesting problems. Recently, we received a call from a member shop encountering...
Learning how to read charts and graphs is important. So much so that when I was preparing for the General Management Admissions Test (GMAT), the test makers...
When a vehicle comes to your shop with a problem, we can be lulled into a state of applying automated solutions based on typical problems we’ve experienced...
Sometimes, when I’m doing automotive electrical diagnosis, I encounter some issues that are real head scratches and challenge my training. Sometimes, I even...
Part one of this series focused on creating a business culture. That is, “Why are you in business, and what do you provide for your customers? ” It’s an...
When WIT opened its doors back in 1999, it had one underlying goal: to serve the transmission repair industry… whatever it takes. That goal was so pervasive...
Does anybody remember the Jetsons? How everyone cruised around in flying cars that folded up into a suitcase? Pushing buttons and voilà, dinner was served...
In the world of automotive enthusiasts, one name stands out as a testament to passion, dedication, and prodigious talent – Nora Gill. Nora’s journey...
April Welsh was born into, what many would consider, a less than typical family. April and her brother were raised by a stay-at-home dad and working mom...
Guest Author
As we close out 2023 and plan for 2024, there is a lot of noise about where the economy is headed. Every presidential election year, doom and gloom or empty...
The 9T series transmission is General Motors’ version of collaboration with Ford for a next-generation powertrain solution. While Ford chose to stick...
In May of this year, Rick and Michelle Grant became the sole owners of Metro Transmission and Automotive in San Marcos, California, situated in North San Diego...
Establishing a family business is not for the faint of heart – only about one-fifth make it through the first year. Despite these odds, countless...
For over a decade, one of the most glaring concerns for our industry has been how we’re going to fill the technician shortage. With the median age of...
In the early 1980s, electronically controlled transmissions hit the market on foreign and domestic vehicles. Early on, electronics may have controlled one or...
In the October/November issue of GEARS, Dennis Madden’s informative article on understanding the systems of shift feel and shift quality brought back so many...
Up Your Business is an exclusive GEARS Magazine feature in which I share stories, insights, and reflections about real business and life challenges.
Lately...
When I was a young man in the early eighties, I was told the following wise words by a gentleman whose age I now reflect (Old): “Why is there never time to...
The Allison 1000 and 2000 series transmissions were introduced in 2001 for GM vehicles and 1999 for non-GM applications. The 1000/2000 series units quickly...
Sitting on the side-line for the last 15 years observing the OEM versus the aftermarket ATF conflict, (about where you source and how you use ATF) has lead me...
It isn’t easy to operate a transmission repair shop in today’s business climate. With the technology moving forward at breakneck speeds and literally...
Appropriately, I started writing this article on May 10th, National Small Business Day. Coincidentally, Zach Evans opened Zach’s Transmission and 4X4 in May...
It is becoming more and more difficult to diagnose issues with today’s vehicles. This issue gets even more clouded as some manufacturers attempt to limit the...
You don’t need me to tell you about the struggles and challenges we’ve faced with the COVID-19 pandemic; its front and center and apparent to everyone. But...
GEARS Staff
We are constantly talking about changes in the automotive world. Vehicle manufacturers are making safer, more fuel-efficient, and more responsive cars in...
There was a time when Dennis Madden walked around the office and asked everyone to identify markings on a ruler. You should have seen the chaos that ensued...
Hello and welcome once again to Clash of the Classics. This month our journey begins at the dawn of the 20th century, when a couple of unlikely friends got...
The scientist who invented Lubegard’s Liquid Wax Ester molecule has passed. Dr. Phillip Landis died at his home in Sedona Arizona on February 4th. He was 98...
This is the third installment of ATRA+ articles. It’s a project that began a couple of years ago. It’s tied to the ATRA University Project and focused on...
Up Your Business is an exclusive GEARS Magazine feature where I share stories, insights, and reflections about business and life.
Writers and speakers often...
GEARS Staff
Entrepreneurs with modest beginnings provide some of the most interesting success stories. Launching into a new profession from scratch may be thrilling, but...
One of the most popular TV shows of the mid-’60s was Gilligan’s Island. It was the epitome of a show that was so bad it was good. It told the story of...
Time after time, you’ve heard from business advisors about the importance of “finding the need,” or “going the extra mile” for your customers. But...
We recently became “reverse Okies.” In the depression era, Okies were the people who fled the “Dust Bowl” of Oklahoma’s drought and headed to...
A Historical Perspective
In the heart of the 20th century, a pioneering movement in the automotive industry was born. The Automatic Transmission Rebuilders...
Nobody needs to tell you that the last few months have been a real struggle for our industry. With shops closing, live seminars and the Powertrain EXPO being...
