Re48 Trans Rebuilt 4x in 3yrs / Shop put Re47 clutch drum in

Here’s the back story of my 2004 3/4 4x4 5.9HO:

Feb 2010: 90K miles
Original trans goes out, clutch pack worn and clutch drum cracked. Took to Shop A in Fort Worth, TX with 34 yrs in biz and recommended by a few friends. Shop A fixed for $2700 with shift kits, heavy duty rv t/c , aftermarket solenoids (not sure what that did), performance clutch plates and some other good stuff, basically they said a built trans with everything but a billet input shaft and could handle 500hp and 800 tq. All I have is a bully dog programmer set to tow/haul 60hp / 90 tq+.

June 2011: Added additional trans cooler with fan, drained fluid, dropped trans pan and found 4 bolts on magnet in pan. Didnt think anything of it as I thought shop forgot to take old bolts after rebuilding. Thought they might have used new bolts.

Oct 2011: 110K
Take truck to same shop to get U-joints replaced and told them to check trans as it felt like something was slip. Get a call and they said 4 bolts were missing, told them I found them. They admitted fault for not building and rebuilt after only 20K miles and 6 months out of warranty.

Feb 2012: 115K
Change eng oil, start truck and hear a grinding noise in trans for 30 sec, then clunk. Truck wont move. Tow it back, the tear apart, said snap ring on clutch drum came off, gave some excuses it happens sometimes and rebuilt.

July 2012:
Truck start hunting for gears, down shifting once trans temp reaches 190. Can drive all day as long as temp stays below 190. Take back to Shop A, they run pressure test, check wire, check bands, all sorts of test and nothing. Then say it is my tuner (take it off same results), they say its my fuel pump (have an airdog they put on in Summer 2010), say its my CP3, was not.

Turns out my relay fuel was bad (or that what fixed the problem)

Dec 3 2013:
Pulling boat out of lake, truck on ramp w/o boat, go to reposition trailer, put in drive and nothing until I rev eng to 1800 rpm. Get truck off ramp (barely), to a flat spot and truck wont move forward, only reverse. Have it towed to Shop B.


Shop B knows of Shop A and hear all sort of issues with customers vehicles lately and often fix a lot of them. Shop B removes trans, does tear down only to find they put an re47 clutch drum in and didnt put new bushing and basically looks like they used old parts the last time it was rebuilt (2nd free one by Shop A). Shop B said they had never seen this before and while it will fit, it is sloppy and wont provide correct pressure or something like that, thus causing clutch plates to wear fast. Shop B also said the reason the snap ring came off after the 3rd rebuild was because they reused it and you are not supposed to do that as the lip where the ring sits in the drum is not big and if ring or lip is worn, it will come off.

Has anyone ever had a shop do that too them. Not sure how I can get shop A to cover my cost, thinking small claims court.

Thoughts?