elvee

Hopefully someone can shed some light on this question for me. The truck is a 2001 2500 2wd auto. Up until now I have always had a shop do my tranny services (was too cheap to buy an inch pound torque wrench). Finally decided to do it myself. When I dropped the pan I found that the new filter didn't match the old filter. Old filter was held to the valve body via three Torx screws. The new filter only had two holes for screws. Upon further research, it appears that my tranny uses a filter that is listed for trucks up to 1997. Does anyone have any idea why my tranny would have this style filter instead of the newer style?

Also, besides the band adjustments, any other adjustments I should be doing while I have it open? Truck has 211000 miles on a stock tranny, and I really don't want to replace it anytime soon. It's beginning to hunt and slip more and more. Anything I can do to extend its life would be good.

Elmer