hi guys, iam a new owner of an 04 2500 305hp, and got to say that i love the truck. but if i hear one more time from either a dodge or non dodge guy"YEA, GREAT TRUCK TERRIBLE TRANSMISSION" OR " HAVE YOU HAD THE TRANSMISSION GO YET?"
I THINK IAM GOING TO SNAP!!!!!
so, i throw this out to anyone that knows, why do these trucks have such a terrible rep, when it comes to the transmissions?
has the problem or problems been rectified on the 03/04s.
why cant they come up with a reliable tranny?
so far i have had no problems, iam more curious then anything else.

 

They are probably refering to the 47RE Automatic tranny. Stock, it was only a marginal tranny. Add HP to it and it would fail. However, once DTT, or some of the other tranny specialist did their special magic to them, they held up really good. The only thing is, the MAGIC cost $3-$4K.

Now for the 48RE in some of the later model 03's and all 04's, the verdict is still out. However, I know that Piers is running about 450 HP to his stock 48RE right now, and it's still holding. How long? Who knows!

I have a 48RE in the Ghost Rider and have had up to 383 HP with no problems at all.

 

48RE here 90K towed miles and huge heavy tires. I'd like a DTT Torque converter and valve body but haven't needed it yet.

 

some people still tell me how bad Harleys leak oil and breakdown all the time......interesting..... my 10 yr old softail still runs great and has never failed me, never a drop of oil either. Do these people own a Dodge/Cummins or a Harley or are they blowing smoke because they wish they did??? (I am not easy on my vehicles, I do maintain them well however)

 

Tell the naysayers that Dodge now warrenties the improved and upgraded 48RE for 7 years/70,000 miles and ask what the GM or Ford warrenty is.

 

Dodge has been knowen for their poor trannies in the past, but so far the 48RE is probably the best they have put out so far. I really haven't heard if at all anything bad or horror stories about them. So far so good. Finally one for Dodge. I will say this, it sure has it all over the now older Ford A4OD, now that was a POS.. They should have just left the C6 alone. This is from experience!

 

So far so good with my tranny.Grant I have only 11,000 miles on it though.Next door neighbor has a 2003 duramax,with the allison tranny, and 71,000 miles on the OD.His just went out to the tune of $4,000.Maybe we could ask him the same questions.coobie

 

I really don't know why everybody complains abouth the 47RE. I have one and it runs great, so far, of course I have added power tho the engine and upgraded the tranny fluid to AMSOIL. It might have somthing to do with the fact that I run the hell out of it. But you never know. Maybe I got the good one.

 

Been hearing that for years! I worked in service in a D.C. dealer for 4 years.Yea we saw some and some over and over again.Mainly drivers as they also tore up FORD transmission also.BUT I also saw LOTS of 47re pulling heavy go 150k plus also.Very few posts on ANY of these sites about 48res doing ANYTHING but working ok.

 

I think you hit the nail right on the head. It wasn't so much the Dodge RAM trannies that leave a bad taste in people's mouths. Chrysler made some problematic trannies in the late 80's and early 90's in ALL of their vehicles. Remember the Ultradrive transmission in the older Dodge Caravans? They were failing left and right. Dodge sells more minivans than anything, so of course you are going to hear from people that Dodge makes a lousy tranny.

On the bright side, it looks like the 48RE has been a step in the right direction. Personally, I love shifting gears myself which is why I got the 6spd.

 

It seems as long as you stay at stock power levels the 48RE holds up fine. If you raise the engine power levels it may not last very long. I have 18k miles on my truck and I need to replace the 48RE already. I expected it though with the TST box on the truck. It initially held fine at settings 5/5 without a load.After a couple of weeks the converter started to slip in OD. I turned it down to 4/4 and did not have any more trouble with it. I then pulled my 5th wheel trailer on vacation. I started at 3/3 and it did OK until I hit the eastern mountains, where it started to slip. I set the TST on 2/2 and it held OK. Now I am to the point where I have to run 3/3 without a load so the converter will hold. All this happened in a span of about 6k miles.

 

The 48RE has been a great tranny for me so far, I only have 12,000 miles on it .
I live in north Texas where it is usually 100 degrees in the summer, and I drive stop and go traffic every day about 60 miles. no problems

 

the worse tranny out there has to be fords

3 trans in 14000 miles
sold truck
and new owner changeing again
unk

 

I think part of it is that their are no bad things to say about cummins

 

It's like politics. If you lie and defame your opponent enough, people will hear it enough and will start to believe it. Then they spread what they've heard as truth. Then it has become common knowledge even though there's no truth to it. Kinda like the Ford owns Cummins lie, rumor or whatever you want to call it. Ford never owned Cummins and the 727, 47RE and 48RE are very stout trannies. They'll last a long time with stock power. That's what they're built for. If you up the power, you have to beef the tranny to hold the power that it wasn't designed for. That doesn't make the 47RE or 48RE a POS. Even the mighty Allison will fail with 1,100 lb ft of torque going through it. It's designed to handle stock power from the DMax. More will trash it. We tow 10,400 lbs of high profile 5th wheel (constant heavy load from weight and wind resistance). We towed the same with our '01.5 and have had no trouble with either. I don't hesitate to put our 47RE to the limit. I sure wouldn't hesitate to do the same to the 48RE.