We have a few ways we recommend shipping transmission to us:
Before you ship a transmission:
Drain its fluid, and wipe it off to keep the mess down. It doesn’t have to be clean, but we definitely prefer not to dump your entire shredded clutch and a gallon of old transmission fluid out on the shop floor when we unwrap it.
Remove the shifter turret, and place any hardware in a ziplock bag. Wrap the turret and any hardware up in plastic wrap, and place inside the bell housing, or otherwise secure it to the transmission before wrapping the transmission up for shipping.
Tracking and insurance are always recommended. UPS typically has the best rates, but if you have a business or freight account, it will almost always be cheapest to ship it through that.
Shipping Method 1 (Easy, and generally cheapest, Freight Only)
Securely strapped to a pallet, and wrapped in plastic. Wrapping in a shipping blanket first has never hurt a transmission either, but it has certainly saved a few.
A standard 40″x48″ pallets are generally overkill for a transmission, and will increase the cost of shipping it. If you can’t find a smaller pallet, you can cut one in half to get the size, and cost of shipping down.
Strap it to a pallet laying down with ratchet straps, or nylon or metal binding straps. Make sure that the transmission is securely strapped to the pallet. You shouldn’t be able to move the transmission at all once its strapped down, and should be able to pick up the entire pallet by the transmission. When they get shipped on their bell housing standing up, the gearstack bounces up and down the entire trip and can cause issues.
You can place the shipping label right on the plastic wrapping, with the straps below the plastic as shown in the above picture. This method is recommended only for freight shipping, not UPS/USPS/Fedex/DHL/etc.
Shipping Method 2
In a large plastic tote or cooler, wrapped in a shipping blanket, inside a garbage bag.
If you have a plastic tote or cooler, wrap it up in a moving blanket and throw some large styrofoam chunks in if you have any to keep it from moving around. Inside the crate with the transmission leave documentation with your name and type of tranny and any other notes so theres no confusion on why we are receiving a random transmission.
Please make sure that the transmission fits fully in the tote, and that the lid can be securely closed. We recommend taping the lid closed with heavy duty tape once the transmission is packed up to avoid it falling out, or being tampered with. Before you ship it, make sure it can be picked up and carried by the handles on the tote without the handles breaking, as this is how the shipper is going to carry it, and you don’t want them dropping your transmission.
Shipping Method 3 – BEST
This is the absolute best way to ship us a transmission, but will usually require you to build a custom crate, and may not be the cheapest shipping method, but it all but guarantee’s safe arrival of your transmission. If you go this route, you probably don’t need much input from us, just make sure it’s secure. This is the recommended method if you plan on shipping via UPS/USPS/FedEx/DHL, etc.
