Need Trans advise

[GSDiener]

Hello all, I 'm new a new owner of a 06 3500 Mega Cab 5. 9 with AT and 4WD, after totaling my 02 F250 PSD. Let me start by saying that without this Forum and a friend "S. Morris" I would no be a Dodge owner.



My truck has 40K on it and I plan on have trans serviced (it's first service as best I can tell)before towing my 4000 lb boat to Outer Banks 350 miles. My use for this truck is snow plowing, towing boat and daily driver.



Questions 1. Is the double depth Max pan and good investment?



2. The local shop also recommended a "transgo" shift kit. Reasons listed is fluid to TC while in park and firmer shifts via higher pressure. I have seen mixed reviews positive for better shifting and neg for wear. I can not get a clear pro/cons of this kit please help.



I would love to afford valve body and new TC but budget is not there at this time.



Thanks

Gregg

 

[SierraRam]

I believe the any pan that holds more fluid will help in keeping the transmission cooler than the stock pan, that is always a goo thing.



If you have a stock truck power wise and you want better firmer shifts the Transgo kit works well. Not to hard to install while they have the pan down.

 

[cerberusiam]

If your looking for better usability on a budget, save the $$ spent on a deeper pan and put them into the trans itself. Unless your towing 30k thru the desert all day long the pan is way down on your list of needs.



Towing your boat and daily driving is not enough to worry about, its not working it that hard. Snow plowing on the other hand, is HARD on the trans. More so than just about anything else you can do.



The TransGo kit is a good one and they did a very good job engineering it to work with these finicky transmissions. Its not a simple install and you can't reverse the install without replacing the VB but it does work well if installed correctly.



The shift kit is a must to stop excessive wear. It does not cause it. The one drawback that gets blown out of proportion is the extra pressures can have a negative effect on a stock TC IF the conditions are right. Chiefly pressures ramped to the upper end of spectrum, heavy towing, and high constant heat conditions in the TC while locked up. This happens towing heavy trailers in mountains or the desert, not plowing snow or towing a 4k boat.



Eventually you will want a better TC but you don't NEED one immediately. You can run the shift kit on a stock trans and TC with good results for quite a bit. Now, along with that shift kit you NEED to add some other parts internally, specifically the front servo, accumulator, and front band strut\anchor. Failing to replace them and adding a shift kit is asking for trouble. What you will need to watch on the stock TC is that the flex plate bolts stay tight. They can work loose with the highe rpressures, higher power and certain usage.



Two other things you need to do for plowing. Get rid of the drain back valve in the trans cooler output line. It is useless with the circulate in park fixed and a major restriction to good cooling. Second, invest in a set of electric fans to push air thru the coolers. There is some pretty good evidence that doing that will help with the trans cooling AND save $250 per electronic fan unit that tends to get wiped out with that type of use.

 

[GSDiener]

Sounds Good... This is the type of direction I'm looking for can there parts be installed with the trans in placed while valve body out for shift kit? Where is best source for them.



Thanks to all for input



G

 

[cerberusiam]

Yes, most of the small parts to fix the OE weaknesses can be installed without dropping the transmission.



If you have a local transmission shop they can source all th eneeded parts, or, if you know what to look for and want to order online PATC has everything you need as do others. PATC 46RE 47RE 48RE Transmissions, Performance Transmission A518, 518

 

[GSDiener]

Thanks again. . another question. I was paging thought owners manual a found that my truck has trans over temp light. The manual states that as temp get higher truck changes program to reduce heat. If the control unit watches this temp will the new x gauge addition to scan gauge II monitor trans temp.



Gregg

 

[cerberusiam]

If it reads the data from the data port then it is reading what the ECU sees for pan temp, not the greatest place to monitor but its what OE decided they would do.