TXTad

Howdy!

I've got (only) 50,000 miles on my 2006. Most of its trips are quite short, as I work a quarter mile from the house, and my son's day care is two miles in the other direction. I do occasionally pull a 6,500 pound travel trailer, usually on trips of 200-300 miles, or a utility trailer around town. The truck is basically stock and will pretty much stay that way. I may eventually add a Smarty or Smarty Jr. Since I'm only interested in fuel economy, any such upgrade will only be run on a low setting.

As far as the transmission goes, I'm planning on dropping the pan and replacing the filter and the fluid that is lost when doing that. I was wondering, though, if I should adjust the bands. I've read the procedure, and unless I'm missing something, this sounds pretty easy. The other thing I was thinking about is getting a towing optimized valve body. This seems like an inexpensive upgrade. Any thoughts on this one?

Thanks for any input!

Tad

SBishop

TXTAD

For your usage, I would just replace the filter and fluid.

BroncoAZ

My truck is similar, but sees longer commutes and a heavier trailer (~9000 lb). Mine has 63K miles and I recently had the transmission serviced for the second time.

The first time was at 30K, I had them replace the filter, adjust the bands, and install a Mag Hytec DD trans pan for more fluid capacity. It seemed to shift a little better after the service. I supplied the parts and fluid, the shop charged $100 for labor. $100 well spent to not make the mess in my driveway.

The second time the tech (22 year Dodge trans tech) asked if I wanted him to do a few mods in addition to the band adjustment and filter replacement. He dropped the valve body and opened up a pressure port, swapped a plastic ball for a stainless one, etc. He made some adjustments to other parts that I really didn't catch the details on, but all in all the transmission shifts better (holds the gear longer before downshifting unless you give it some more throttle) and it runs about 100 RPM less on the highway than before (could help fuel economy). One of the adjustments he made was affecting the downshifting characteristics, he said post adjustment if I really stomped on the throttle the trans would go from OD to 2nd gear. He said that adjustment was 3 turns out of the spec according to the small chrysler tool he used to measure it. I asked him to take one turn back out of it as I don't drive that aggressively and don't want the truck jumping to second gear from OD. Dropping the valve body allowed the converter to partially drain, so it took 14 quarts to fill it. He said that judging by the number of threads showing on the band adjustment the band would likely need to be replaced on the 90K or 120K service. Labor on this one was $150, I think the tech lost some money on the deal as he spent 3 hours on it.

I will decide what to do on the next service. I'm thinking that by 90K I'll want to upgrade the converter and do a basic rebuild/upgrade. I plan on keeping the truck for a long time, so I don't mind spending some coin on upgrades.

I'm also considering a Smarty Jr for fuel economy, but the truck is still under an extended warranty until June 2013. The POD feature is attractive, as it the Quadzilla Scout II monitor interface that can limit the power until it reached operating temperature. I haven't done any gauges yet. I also have a PacBrake sitting in the garage waiting to be installed when I get time.

Shorts

TXTad, I'm just down the road from you and doing the filter and fluid change this week. I completely understand the driving conditions. It's the third circle of hell here at 114/121 in the 'vine.

I decided I'd leave my bands alone since the truck is driving fine. Knowing me I'll mess something up.

Lost Lake

Adjusting the bands can be the fast way to replacing them. You have to do it right, and there is some contention as to the right way. Make sure you tighten in inch pounds not foot pounds! The front band is a joke on these trannies.

A Transgo shift kit is a great improvement for the 48RE. If you don't want to go that route, a new valve body will help a lot too, it's just a lot more money. The valve body can be adjusted to allow fluid flow in park and firmer shifts.

The weak points are the bands, the band struts, and the converter. If you want to spend money before the transmission needs rebuilding, I'd pull it and put in a good TC, replace the front band with a solid one, upgrade the struts and actuators, and install a shift kit or good VB. With those changes you have a stout transmission. The problem is that once you pull the transmission you have to decide if you crack the case and change out clutches and essentially do a full rebuild, or just stick with these basic things.

TXTad

After reading here and consulting with my local transmission shop, I think I'll just drop the pan and replace the filter, then top off for now. I'm just going to drive it until it starts having problems, and then rebuild it right.

TXTad

I know the bands are weak on these transmissions. After adding better aftermarket parts, is the front band no longer a joke?

Tad

Fiftygrit

I exchange all fluid, filter and adjust the bands every 30k miles, I have 113k on it now and have towed probable 50k of that and my trany looks like new inside.

Shorts

heh fluids done today. What a mess! Then a screw up. Then a fix. The finally done.