The large number of DODGE RAM 1500 5.7L HEMI trucks having been observed thru the years sitting immobilized on the side of the road with ever-expanding puddles of ATF+4 underneath would certainly seem to lend credibility to that statement, eh...................
The oem stock Hemi-verter, as do all oem torque converters, has stamped steel drive\driven covers, oem friction clutch material, drive\driven turbine vanes are located in place by folded end-tabs, and cast-aluminum stator - all proven entirely suitable for normal heavy-duty hauling\towing service - over many miles of usage, the friction material is usually the first failure resulted by normal wearing-thin
The SUNCOAST Hemi TCC was 'hardened' with a machined "billet" drive cover\integral TCClutch drive plate to prevent warping, the TCClutch disk gets KEVLAR friction material to prevent slippage, the turbine drive\driven fins are "brazed" as in any fluid coupling for hi-power hi-rpm thru-put, and some other stuff, like maybe increasing the number of sprags in the one-way stator clutch, possibly a new "billet" aluminum stator, all done to handle 450~600hp^ @8000rpm in repeated trips down any 1/4mile drag strip, and reliably survive the jaunts
The SUNCOAST unit is a good upgrade, no doubt about that - would have been particularly so during the early chronology of the original KJ TCC, which had a thermo-plastic stator assembly that easily shattered in normal driving scenarios, resulting in much warranty repair rework during '04-'05 until the F37 upgrade was issued for a revised TCC with an aluminum stator upgrade
Some pics of an opened KJ TCC were posted, showing what was left of the shattered stator assembly, plastic shards erratically distributed amongst the turbine fins
No such failure occurred in the Hemi trucks - the SUNCOAST upgrade was required because the oem TCC could not reliably transfer upgraded Hemi V8 power to the drivetrain, as shown in a picture of an opened Hemi TC with burned and warped drive plate surface - the new "billet" drive cover with thicker\wider drive plate surface prevented the burning caused by slippage with subsequent warping of the thin stamped-steel drive cover producing even more slippage in lock-up
So, gentle readers, if anyone's KJ 2.8L CRD is capable of outputting those levels of power in that rpm range, then it would be time to seriously consider selecting the SUNCOAST over the "flimsy" factory Hemi TC - which, BTW, was designed to handle way more HP, torque, and rpm in stock form than the KJ CRD is capable of outputting even with any of the variously available ECM upgrades
Yes, I upgraded to SUNCOAST based on member Ranger1's valued input, but back in ought 7 that was the only known option at the time - subsequent investigations on my part revealed the oem stock Hemi-verter as a viable option for those not planning on repeated 450-600hp 8000rpm short-tripping jaunts down the asphalt
A number of eye-witness owner-type testimonials on this forum have proven that to be true, I think - let your wallet be your guide