I have always serviced the trans at 20K miles. Is this overkill with modern fluids or should I continue this policy?

 

Don't know if it is overkill or not, but I change mine every 25K miles and plan on keeping to that schedule.

 

This is right out of the Diesel Supplement manual:

60K or 48 months Change automatic transmission fluid and filter(s) if using your vehicle for any of the following: police, fleet, or frequent trailer towing (Ram Truck Only).

120K or 96 months Change automatic transmission fluid and filter(s) (Ram Truck Only).

Since this is synthetic trans oil I imagine that this accounts for the long intervals. I already figured I was going to change the trans fluid every 60K even though I don't tow all that often. So maybe that is over kill.

 

My son is a dodge mechanic. He says 100k is plenty. And never flush. Most of his repair work is after a flush. Has worked for me.

 

I'm doing mine at 30K intervals...but I tow fairly often, usually pretty heavy, and with 3.42 gears. So a hundred bucks or so a year vs. a new tranny, I'm cool with!

Chris

 

Yeah, my son says 100k , but I did mine at 50k just for grins. Fluid looked as fresh as it did when I put it in. But better a little preventive maintenance than hard core maintenance.

 

How difficult is changing the filter?

 

That's not all completely true. Nothing wrong at all with a fluid exhchange. The problem comes in when folks don't service the tranny like they are supposed to and expect the fluid exchange to work miracles. That case, the tranny is just about done for anyway. 100K on a tranny service with our trucks towing heavy, forget it. I do 20-30K. Fluid and filters are cheap. Fluid exchanges every 30K.

 

Here is some info on the subject with some expert advice on the subject.

http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/6-...n-service.html

 

Hey New 2, it's an easy job. A bit messy but easy. Have some fluid on hand I think my '06 took about 4 qts. but check on that. Drop the pan ( that's where the messy comes in ). If you want to think ahead you can get a new pan with a drain plug or put a plug in your stock pan. It will make things a bit neater the next go around. Drop the pan and after it drips a bit remove the filter and put in the new one. It's right there after the pan is off. A couple of torx screws and your done. It's a re-usable gasket but you can put some gasket sealer if it makes you feel better and bolt it back up. Watch out for the torque on the bolts, you are in aluminum so beware. Put some fluid back and your done.

 

Spooler, I would certainly change that regularly with heavy towing. but for everyday driving I don't think it is all that critical. My son is not the only one who suggest 100k on trans fluids. I was on a trip and had a glich in the PCM unlocking the torque converter. Stopped at an AAMCO and asked for a total flush. The guy put the truck on his cumputer and drove it. Came back and told me it didn't have any problems but electrical noise causing a cumputer glitch. I had changed the fluids a few weeks before when i bought the truck just for piece of mind. He wouldn't waste my money. Also told me I should be good for 100k and if I did a flush on a 150k engine I might dislodge gunk and flake the bands and I did not want to do that. Wow an honest guy at an AAMCO? Called my son for confirmation and he totally agreed. Got home and fixed some bad grounds and that was the problem. So yeah, if you work a truck hard you should take care of it the same. But normal driving is not as hard on anything.

 

Everybody does fluid exchanges these days. Flushes are not done anymore that I know of. The key is to do the services when you are supposed to. Only if you just drop the pan and change the filter or filters. The 68rfe has 2 filters. 48re only has one filter.

 

Any pics of the filters and locations?

 

Both filters for the 68rfe are in the pan. A spin on canister for filtering after the TC and the normal filter.

 

Thanks. Sounds pretty straight forward.