plessm

My truck is still under extended warranty. I use it for pleasure, around town, haul a load every now and then, and pull a 7500 lb trailer house camping 3 or 4 times a year. Truck is bone stock, no mods. (It does have 285/70-17 tires on stock wheels if you want to call that a mod.)

I'm around 30,000 miles now and see my manual says it's time for transmission service. In order for me to keep my warranty valid, what do I have to do for this service?

Can I drop the pan, change the filter, and refill fluid? Or do bands have to be checked and a full trans flush done?

I usually do all of my maintenance on my vehicles, but since this one is still under warranty, and the 48RE can be a weak link, I want to make sure and do it exactly by the book in case I have to take it in for tranny issues.

Thanks.

cincydiesel

I would do the full service. I fried my bands within 71,000 miles. All because I never adjusted like I was supposed to. The 48re takes a beaten from the mighty Cummins and I would consider it a weak link. Take care of it according to schedule.

plessm

Is this something I can do myself and still be covered under warranty, or do I need to take it somewhere and have a professional do it? If I have the procedures, I know I'm capable of doing the adjustments and fluid/filter change, but I want to be covered by warranty too.

Thanks.

quadman20

As a wise man once told me "if it aint in righting it never happened" Meaning you better have some kind of documentation to prove it or they will deny, deny, deny.

cincydiesel

Or you can do what I do. I made my own "Service Company" letter head and charged my own charges. They cant tell the difference.

07 ThunderRoad

Take it to a good Dodge dealer and have them do the trans fluid & filter change. This way thay can't tell you it was not serviced to Chrysler standards.

plessm

Any idea about how much this runs?

Thanks.

07 ThunderRoad

I payed out $125.00 in the spring. Also, Chrysler does not want the dealers to do the flush and fill. The pan must be pulled, the bands adjusted, and new filter installed. The service work order must show the filter and the trans fluid as charged out parts.

92'1stGen

I have an extend warranty on my truck until 60k and I do all my own maintenance as well. So far that has included fuel filter changes, differential services, trans fluid changes, transfer case fluid changes, and water pump replacement. The only thing I haven't done is oil changes because they are included in the warranty until 60k at 7.5k intervals. Honestly if your truck is only at 30k I would just drop the pan and replace the lost fluid with new. Don't touch the bands unless you have shifting issues. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Just exchanging fluid isn't going to hurt anything, and the 48re is a pretty reliable trans when serviced and used properly. Mis-adjusting the bands is easy to do and could grenade the trans real quick, but with common sense it can be completed confidently. Keep to doing your own maintenance and don't worry about loosing the warranty. You'll be fine.

Spooler

That's not true at all. If someone told you that, they were incorrectly informed or just wanted to push there agenda. There is nothing wrong with a fluid exchange at all. I just dropped the pan on mine yesterday since all of my mods were done to the tranny. Tranny looked like brand new. Only a slight bit of clutch dust on the magnet at 73,000 miles. I will do another fluid exchange at 80,000 miles. Our tranny system takes 16 quarts. Dropping the pan I only got 6 quarts out, that leaves 10 quarts of dirty fluid.

Bill M.

I have a 07 currently with 78000 on it. I have had the dealer service the transmission twice, once at 30 and again at 73000 ( I let it go over). Costs just under $300. The scary thing to me is the fact that the fluid was a little dingy looking and the transmission shifted much smoother after the service the second time. One of my friends with a dodge that tows pretty heavy came down to talk and I told him I had just had my transmission serviced. His comment was "mine sure feels better after I do that". I think the band adjustment is a good thing. If you do everything on the heavy duty cycle at 30,000 it runs close to a grand at the dealer, but you can probably do the differentials. I tow about 7000 lbs, but I tow it a lot. Probably 2/3 of the miles on the truck towing.

alboy

I did my own at 30000 miles, bands etc,now at 55000 miles,still shifts better than when new. My trans was only covered to 60,000 kil,so i didn,t want to give the money to the dealer.Ive heard of some techs overtightening the bands and burning them out,so you want too be very particular in doing it.Pretty easy to do.

pdogg

As far as flush vs pan drain goes, if you start early like you are at 30k miles with pan drain and refills every 30k miles, you'll be fine. Just like coolant flushes... if you start early and drain the rad and refill often.. you're fine.

.boB

IMO, the flush is the way to go. 6 qts of clean fluid + 10 qts of dirty fluid = 16 qts of dirty fluid.

I also believe that adjusting the band s with the fluid exchange is a good idea. If you don't feel you can do it properly, have a shop do it.

I take mine to a local trans shop and let them do it all. Only because it's a messy pain in the neck, and I don't want to deal with it. Trans fluid is like beach sand. Once you start messing with it, it's everywhere

plessm

Just called my local dealer, they charge $198 to do the service and adjustment. I made an appointment for next week. I would spend $100 on fluid and filter anyway. My time and having the receipt that says they did the service and adjustment if the tranny goes out under warranty is worth the additional $98 to me.

Thanks for all the comments.