Farmer Stockman Magazine

July 2001

Keep it in Gear

This quiet company keeps power flowing in
Ag equipment across the nation
• By Dan Crummett

Re-manufacturing includes appearance, too, with each transmission processed receiving a fresh coat of high quality automotive paint in Blumenthal's state-of-the-art and environmentally-friendly waterfall-equipped paint booths.

With more than 25,000 transmissions catalogued neatly in warehouses, Blumenthal's can supply Gear Boxes for applications dating back to the 1920's, even to a popular 1967-1992 GM 4-speed truck transmission will get a new lease on life.

You may not realize it, but the longtime family-owned business supplies many of the nation's parts houses with re-manufactured transmissions, engines, differentials, transfer cases, industrial gearboxes, and clutches. And, brothers David, Kevin and Scott Blumenthal are very interested in providing their services to agriculture.
"Whether it's an Allison automatic transmission for a farm truck, or a gear box for a horse walker, we realize agriculture is a large consumer of what we do," said Kevin Blumenthal, president of the company's heavy duty and automatics divisions. He and his brothers began managing their families 52-year-old company about fifteen years ago with the intent of making it a highly efficient re-manufacturer of driveline components. Today, they supply transmissions, clutches, differentials, torque converters, engines, and transfer cases to the public, a number of other re-manufacturers, the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Dept., the United Postal Service, United Parcel Service, U-Haul, GM, Ford & Chrysler dealers, International, Ditch Witch, and Vermeer Tractors, to name a few.
Their product line sounds like a list of "Who's Who" in the automotive business: New Venture Gear, Tremec, Spicer, ZF, Eaton, Muncie, New Process Gear, BorgWarner, Rockwell, and Dana. In fact, the Blumenthal's are certified by a number of these companies as official re-manufactures or re-builders (to OEM specifications) of their products including Authorized Spicer and Authorized Eaton re-manufacturers. Their products range from transmissions for light duty, medium duty, and heavy duty trucks, all applications, all models. (Engines, transmissions, drivelines, clutches, differentials, flywheels, & kits - Our Guideline Says: Quality, Service, and Price!)

A Spotless Tour
Farm Progress Cos. took a day-long tour of the Blumenthal's operations beginning with a look at the thousands of new, re-manufactured and "core" transmissions cataloged and in storage waiting for re-manufacturing. The firm prides itself on being able to supply even the most rare transmission and engine a customer might desire.

We heard stories of a recently fulfilled order for a gearbox for a 1929 Model A Ford truck. And, a look around the "core" warehouses, indicates the Blumenthal's could repeat that performance on just about anything from tractors and bulldozers to combines and hay wagons.
The tour continued through various "build" stations where transmissions are disassembled, vat cleaned, inspected, renewed with parts, reassembled, painted, and individually dyno tested. We watched as one 5-speed from a Ford Ranger pickup was put through it's paces on an electrically powered dynamometer up to about 120 miles per hour. The purr was much like a well-oiled 1940's era Singer sewing machine - just what the company wants.
The computer controlled dyno test is just part of what has helped the Blumenthal brothers bring their warranty return rate to less than 1-5% in an industry that has an average return rate of 27-40%.
"We were at 20% when we first started," Scott Blumenthal explained. "But to maintain the trust our customers put in us, we invested heavily in quality control equipment, and now we see the results."
The Blumenthal's are very proud of their QS9000 Certification, a measure of their quality control from the front of the vehicle to the back.

A Christmas package

"We even spend a great deal on packaging our products before shipping them," explains sales representative Harry Brown. "Not only do we want the units to arrive in the same condition they left our factory, we want people to think they are opening a Christmas package when it arrives." The styrofoam and polybag packing cost more, but it is much like the mandatory paint job that every outgoing transmission gets. "Look at these two identical transmissions," Brown urged. "One is brand new (it was a factory unit with a cast iron case that showed obvious signs of rust that unprotected iron always develops) and the other is one of our re-manufactured units (it was bright, shiny, aluminum/silver colored). Now, which one would you pick?" he asked rhetorically. The choice was obvious, and one that is shared by many customers of Blumenthal's spotless 250,000 square foot operation.

Who you gonna call?

While serving a local retail market and wholesale outlets, too, the Blumenthal's are careful to protect their dealer customers. Still, they are very interested in meeting the demands of agriculture and welcome your calls.

Customer Satisfaction Survey

Manual Transmissions