Iam going to have the dealer to do the trans @ 30000 like the manual says and if any trouable down the road they were the olny ones in it. If you have a trans shop do the work and a band brakes it would be hard to get it fixed by Dodge. I have ajusted trans before not on this well under warranty.
I think the manual says front and rear ends oil change @ 15000 I will do that and the other oil changes my self.

 

Call me what you want but I have everything serviced by the dealership. That way everthing is on their back.

Last truck I owned had to have a fuel pump at 45,000. Paid the dealership more than the price of what I could have done it myselk for. But, at 75,000 and 150,000 it went out again and was replaced by them free of charge. Kinda off the subject of yours but the same principle.

 

This is a Drivetrain question so I am moving this from no-drivetrain to the appropriate place. Feel free to continue...

 

if you dont have the band seiviced at 30000 miles and something happens to one of them DC is not obligated to cover the repair under warranty

 

Not sure about the transfer case, but the ATF that is to be used is somewhat special. Worth searching about on. I wouldn't trust the quick-lube shop to have Mopar fluid and from what I've seen here the cheap non-mopar stuff might be questionable. Worth a search on 48RE and ATF+4. You should find a link to another site talking about warranty being denied on a 48RE when the owner used a high-end synth ATF that was supposed to be OK.

 

If the bands are REQUIRED to be adjusted at 30k miles, seems to me this SHOULD be a warranty covered item. Why should we(consummers) have to pay extra that is warranted for 70k miles?

Also don't why DC requires the diif fluid changed so much. I went 200k in my old F150 & it was running filne.

I'm still teeter tottering on if to buy the 2500 CTD. Sounds like Dodge nikels & dimes folks on the fluids/service stuff

David

 

Yup. And since the engine REQUIRES oil/filter changes every 7,500 miles, THAT should be covered too.

And the tires... the dealer should rotate them under warranty, too. And what's with the fuel tank constantly emptying, and expecting YOU to pay to replace the fluid?

Look - the fact of the matter is that these trucks, being mechanical devices, require periodic preventative maintenance. One of those maintenance steps is adjusting the bands on the transmission. Like all other PM's, you can either pay someone to do it, or you can do it yourself. And, specific to this issue, since the fluid and filter need to be changed at that same interval ANYWAY, the band adjustment can be done by anyone with a torque wrench in all of about 45 seconds.

To the axles, I agree - 15K fluid changes seem a bit excessive, especially since the spec'd fluid is a synthetic. It probably has to do with the fact that DC still has a bad taste in their mouth from their problems with Dana axles, and with this being the first trucks with a new axle manufacturer, they're probably playing it extra conservative on the maintenance schedule.

Again - this is something that you've just dropped $35-$40K on... the $30 in fluids every 15K isn't going to (or shouldn't) break the bank.

 

I had 1996 Blazer and the rear end was change at the first lub 3000 miles and the cost was aroound $250.