Brian of GotTransmissions.com and I were talking about exactly what “Hard Parts” are the other day. There may be many use-ages for the term “hard parts”, but we want to focus on transmissions. Both automatic transmissions and standard transmissions use hard parts, although the term is most commonly applied to automatic transmissions.
rebuild kit
Simply put, an automatic transmission is comprised of hundreds of components, such as seals gaskets, o-rings, clutch plates and electrical components. They also make use of items we would categorize as hard parts such as:
Front pump assembly
Sprag clutches
Clutch Drums
Planetary Gears
Shafts
Case, Transmission
Sun gears, Clutch hubs and much more.
Basically, hard parts are parts that in general should not wear out, but do sometimes, therefore requiring replacement upon a rebuild job. Sometimes the wear is very obvious and sometimes it is necessary to have a trained eye look in order to know how to examine the particular part for wear.
What we call gaskets, seals, washers, and bearings, etc. are “soft parts”. Essentially, soft parts must be trashed and replaced in every rebuilt transmission. Without even looking at them, trash the soft parts, they should get replaced on every reconditioned transmission job.
The most reliable transmissions come from companies that understand the premise of reusing hard parts that don’t meet specifications is more expensive in the long run, not to mention can cause the loss of a customer or more, if the work proves unsatisfactory. Use the GotTransmissions.com Blog for the information you need to make a quality decision when it comes to a purchasing the best rebuilt transmission.
