Hey Group….. I’m at almost 40k miles on my 2012. About half of those miles were towing. I’m thinking I will service the 68RFE transmission this weekend (I don’t believe it’s ever been serviced). Anyone have tips or anything to look out for? I appreciate any advice. Do you know if it has a re-useable pan gasket? Anyone know how much fluid I will need (just to refresh what is in the pan – not flushing the entire converter and lines)….. 6, 8 qts? I was just going to use the factory fluid and filter. Thanks in advance for the help!
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68RFE transmission Service......
- Thread starter kcpolk
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No reusable gasket. They use RTV now. Get both filters from Mopar, especially the spin on and DON'T over tighten it. Mine usually takes about 8 quarts.
I just did this on my 2012 a couple of months ago. Here's some tips:
1) I bought the set on Amazon. Price was great, all genuine parts, includes all you need -> http://amzn.com/B009SAUG5M. For the fluid I used SuperTech ATF+4 from Walmart. I just bought a bunch of oil (maybe 12 quarts) and ended up returning what I didn't use.
2) I didn't bother replacing the o-ring on the pan filter since it's a royal PITA if you don't have the drift. I inspected the one there and it was still perfectly fine
3) It is a messy job. Normally messy because there's no drain plug compounded by the fact that there's no gasket, but RTV which means you need to break it loose. While at Walmart I bought a little plastic swimming pool, maybe 6 feed in diameter and 10 inches high: it was 4 or 5 bucks. They have it out in the gardening section. I placed it under the truck and placed a oil catch pan inside the pool. It saved my garage floor. It worked so well that although I had bought a drain plug I didn't installed it: it avoids a possible leaking point. It also came handy when I did the engine oil: 12 quarts rushing out of the big drain plug splattered everywhere.
4) I used a wire brush drill to clean off the old RTV from the pan. On the transmission housing, carefully remove it with a finger nail or a nylon scraper so you don't damage the aluminum; there's normally very little that sticks to it
5) To make life easier and get some extra clearance, drive the front of the truck on ramps. It doesn't need to be leveled to drain. Add 4 quarts of oil, drive it off the ramps and then continue. If you don't trust driving, just have someone give you a push off the ramps back to leveled ground.
6) To properly check the level the oil has to be hot. But "hot" means 180F and depending on where you live you may not get there. Here's an handy presentation that shows (page 7) where the level should be at different temeprature settings -> https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1epIteFE7i-bjJNRXo3MG1YdXc/view?usp=sharing. In my case I couldn't get it hotter than 140F that as you see means you need to stay below the "add" mark on the "Hot" side. I'll check it again in the summer time.
1) I bought the set on Amazon. Price was great, all genuine parts, includes all you need -> http://amzn.com/B009SAUG5M. For the fluid I used SuperTech ATF+4 from Walmart. I just bought a bunch of oil (maybe 12 quarts) and ended up returning what I didn't use.
2) I didn't bother replacing the o-ring on the pan filter since it's a royal PITA if you don't have the drift. I inspected the one there and it was still perfectly fine
3) It is a messy job. Normally messy because there's no drain plug compounded by the fact that there's no gasket, but RTV which means you need to break it loose. While at Walmart I bought a little plastic swimming pool, maybe 6 feed in diameter and 10 inches high: it was 4 or 5 bucks. They have it out in the gardening section. I placed it under the truck and placed a oil catch pan inside the pool. It saved my garage floor. It worked so well that although I had bought a drain plug I didn't installed it: it avoids a possible leaking point. It also came handy when I did the engine oil: 12 quarts rushing out of the big drain plug splattered everywhere.
4) I used a wire brush drill to clean off the old RTV from the pan. On the transmission housing, carefully remove it with a finger nail or a nylon scraper so you don't damage the aluminum; there's normally very little that sticks to it
5) To make life easier and get some extra clearance, drive the front of the truck on ramps. It doesn't need to be leveled to drain. Add 4 quarts of oil, drive it off the ramps and then continue. If you don't trust driving, just have someone give you a push off the ramps back to leveled ground.
6) To properly check the level the oil has to be hot. But "hot" means 180F and depending on where you live you may not get there. Here's an handy presentation that shows (page 7) where the level should be at different temeprature settings -> https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1epIteFE7i-bjJNRXo3MG1YdXc/view?usp=sharing. In my case I couldn't get it hotter than 140F that as you see means you need to stay below the "add" mark on the "Hot" side. I'll check it again in the summer time.
Add back the volume you removed, it's pretty simple. My opinion is change ALL the fluid, it's really easy.
Thanks everyone for your posts and ideas/experience! I have the filters and fluid.... ready to get-r-done tomorrow. I have a 6 quart hand pump vacuum.... made for drawing fluids. My plan is to use a long plastic flex tube and attempt to suck out as much fluid from the dipstick/fill tube as possible..... THEN drop the pan. I will let everyone know how it goes! Thanks again!
That would be awesome... Please keep us updated about how this works for you! Seems to me that you could simply do this every 20K miles and keep your fluid clean...
Eventually the filter will have to be replaced, but constant clean fluid won't have as much stuff that needs to be filtered...
It looks to me like kcpolk's plan was simply to use the fluid pump to empty the pan BEFORE REMOVING IT, in order to avoid a mess. He was still going to replace the filters.
I'm aware of HIS plan. If he is able to remove fluid without dropping the pan, then MY plan would be to swap out as much fluid as possibly every 20K miles and drop the pan at longer intervals. Removing dirty fluid and replacing with clean fluid will extend the life of the filter.
How about just removing ALL the oil? Pic shows at least 50K on AMZ/OIL on complete fluid replacement. This is with a LOT of the miles towing a combined 29K with 3:42 gears.
Hey Guys..... yes, I did the full transmission (fluid and both filters) service last weekend. I used a large Mityvac (like GB posted above) and about 6 ft of 1/4" Poly tubing. It took 15 minutes to pull out about 90% of the fluid from the trans.... then I dropped the pan. Worked great! Turned a PITA messy job into an okay job. The oil pan was pretty clean.... the magnet had some normal metal "fuzz" on it. I probably could have waited until the 50k mile mark or so..... but, I figure better to do it early rather than late. I did notice the dip stick was touching the pan on the inside (thanks for the info!)..... it had left a mark, but not even close to rubbing thru..... I went ahead and ground about a 1/16" off the end of the transmission dip stick, just to be sure. The shorter stick has no effect on the fluid level.... I would recommend everyone do this simple mod. I refilled with 8 quarts of Valvoline ATF+4 and down the road happy I am. Also, while I had the Mityvac out and few spare quarts of ATF+4, I pulled out about a quart of Power Steering fluid sump and refilled with fresh. Why not? LOL......
Actually, trimming the end of the dipstick does affect the fluid level (at least, if you still set it using the normal markings on the stick). The tip of the stick deliberately touches the pan so that the fluid level is referenced from that shelf in the pan (not from the upper end of the dipstick tube). There is some "springback" or flex in the dipstick (to account for variations in the length of the filler tube), so if you grind off 1/16", the markings on the stick will now be 1/16" lower than they were. And so, your fluid level will now read as being 1/16" higher than it used to be.
Not a big deal, but if you grind off XX" from the tip of your stick (within reason; don't grind off 3/4"!!), then you should "overfill" your trans by that same amount.
I just serviced my transmission I used the vac pump idea. I found that I had to cut the end of the draw tube at a angle so I could get it all the way down into the pan and not stuck up on the shelf. I had the dealer service the unit last year at 25,000 miles. I now have 50,000 miles on it. The tec that had serviced it last year had crushed the spin on filter. wasn't leaking just crushed. Also I found my level was low. Put it all back together put in 8 qts only to find it very over filled. seems to take only 6 qts.... My question is how much over filled is Ok? That said I was very pleased by how clean the pan was only a very small bit of fuz on the magnet.
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You are checking it with the engine running, right?
Yup, running in neutral I checked it this morning when everything was nice and cold. I'm about 1/4" to 3/8" over the high cold mark think this level will be an issue?
I would check it again when fully warmed up, and then get your vacuum pump back out and draw it down until it's in the "HOT" range.
Sump filter screw
Have all my fluid and filters and plan on servicing my 2011 68RFE next week. Would appreciate someone who has performed this service to verify what is required for securing the sump filter in place. Have read other threads about a T-25 Torex drive being required? Don't own a torex drive set and would like to only purchase the correct one and not an entire set.
Have all my fluid and filters and plan on servicing my 2011 68RFE next week. Would appreciate someone who has performed this service to verify what is required for securing the sump filter in place. Have read other threads about a T-25 Torex drive being required? Don't own a torex drive set and would like to only purchase the correct one and not an entire set.
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