65RFE need some tips

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Ndziy

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Hey guys so its coming to the time where I am starting to get a bit worried about my trans taking a beating now that I am putting some power to it. That being said, I know that line pressure and surface area of the clutches will make the strength as well as maybe some stronger shafts to handle up to about 500 rwhp (i want to shoot high on the trans build because after my cam and internals i want to put a turbo or an sc) so my question to you is that do you guys know of any places on the internet or if you are from canada anywhere i can go to buy internals for these trannys???:happy107: any help and info would be excellent
 

charonblk07

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The only place these days that's putting out 'built' 545/65s is True Street Performance but no matter what you do, the the 5/6 speeds are on borrowed time when it comes to holding power. I'm doing a 4L80 swap in the coming weeks because swapping out the trans is the only reliable way of knowing it'll hold power. The A518 swap is much cheaper, can hold up to 700hp when built properly, and is almost a drop-in on the 2wd but that swap hasn't been tried on the 4th gens, I'll be one of the first 4th gens to try the swap and seeing how the computer will behave.
 
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Ndziy

Ndziy

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I'm interested to see how that plays out. I've often thought of just dealing the trans out instead of dumping money into a power robbing toaster but if I'm going to do a trans swap like that I am going to see about finding a donor truck that is a 2wd because that opens up alot of options for me
 

gonzo1968

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I am having my 65 built locally to handle 800hp. They assure me it is possible. I will let you know the details.
 

charonblk07

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I am having my 65 built locally to handle 800hp. They assure me it is possible. I will let you know the details.

Mine was built to handle 1000hp, which it can do all day at WOT. The problem comes in daily driving when it has to downshift through the 2C clutch pack as it comes out of the OD gears. Jerry seems to be the only guy that's putting any serious research into the 545/65s but even his aren't holding long term without rebuilds. I had lightning fast shifts in mine, properly tuned, drastically increased line pressure, and all the best clutches and machine work done to it; my L&M built and tuned unit held 650hp for 3 years before it finally blew because I drove it properly, the F-1A was just too much for it in the end.
 

big13

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Southern Hotrod is looking into building the 6 speeds. They are on Facebook.
 

gonzo1968

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Mine was built to handle 1000hp, which it can do all day at WOT. The problem comes in daily driving when it has to downshift through the 2C clutch pack as it comes out of the OD gears. Jerry seems to be the only guy that's putting any serious research into the 545/65s but even his aren't holding long term without rebuilds. I had lightning fast shifts in mine, properly tuned, drastically increased line pressure, and all the best clutches and machine work done to it; my L&M built and tuned unit held 650hp for 3 years before it finally blew because I drove it properly, the F-1A was just too much for it in the end.

Who built your 1000hp tranny? What pasrts were used.
 

charonblk07

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Who built your 1000hp tranny? What pasrts were used.

Mine was built by Mike at L&M Customs in Delaware, he's got a dozen supercharged/turbo trucks running the trans now for several years. He uses single sided Red Eagle frictions and steels from the 68rfe, the O/D drum was machined to allow another set of frictions/steels to be added, the pump and valvebody are modified to run at a much higher line pressure, but most importantly there are tuning changes to try and eliminate the lazy shift schedule set by the PCM.

None of the shafts need to be replaced with billet because you can't put enough torque to the trans to shear anything before you fry the clutches. Even built, the weakness is still the 2C clutch pack and that's the one that fails in every trans that's street driven.
 

gonzo1968

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Mine was built by Mike at L&M Customs in Delaware, he's got a dozen supercharged/turbo trucks running the trans now for several years. He uses single sided Red Eagle frictions and steels from the 68rfe, the O/D drum was machined to allow another set of frictions/steels to be added, the pump and valvebody are modified to run at a much higher line pressure, but most importantly there are tuning changes to try and eliminate the lazy shift schedule set by the PCM.

None of the shafts need to be replaced with billet because you can't put enough torque to the trans to shear anything before you fry the clutches. Even built, the weakness is still the 2C clutch pack and that's the one that fails in every trans that's street driven.

Who took care of the tuning changes?
 

RysRam

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Mine was built by Mike at L&M Customs in Delaware, he's got a dozen supercharged/turbo trucks running the trans now for several years. He uses single sided Red Eagle frictions and steels from the 68rfe, the O/D drum was machined to allow another set of frictions/steels to be added, the pump and valvebody are modified to run at a much higher line pressure, but most importantly there are tuning changes to try and eliminate the lazy shift schedule set by the PCM.

None of the shafts need to be replaced with billet because you can't put enough torque to the trans to shear anything before you fry the clutches. Even built, the weakness is still the 2C clutch pack and that's the one that fails in every trans that's street driven.

And frying the 2C clutch pack occurs at WOT downshifts? I.e. it'll stay together through a track pass (upshift) but will break when shock-loaded through enough 4 to 2 downshifts (for example).....
 

charonblk07

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And frying the 2C clutch pack occurs at WOT downshifts? I.e. it'll stay together through a track pass (upshift) but will break when shock-loaded through enough 4 to 2 downshifts (for example).....

The downshift is what gets most people over time but upshifting into 4th does the same thing; depending on gearing this generally happens between 120-130mph but if you're running 28" radials you can potentially hit 4th gear at the end of the track. For track passes everything tends to stay together just fine if it's a dedicated track-only vehicle.
 

Bluto

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For guys with less high tq aspirations, why not swap in the 66?
 
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Ndziy

Ndziy

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For guys with less high tq aspirations, why not swap in the 66?
Well mind you that's not a bad idea but if I was going to swap to a 66 I would just drop more clutches and boost the line pressure in the 65 pretty much get the same thing


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charonblk07

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For guys with less high tq aspirations, why not swap in the 66?

The problem is the gearing, you can't flash the PCM and have it accept the new gear ratios. You'd need to flash the PCM to a 2500 profile with the 66rfe but then the computer is looking for a different set of sensors because the 2500s that had the 66rfe are SFA. If you plug a 66rfe into a 1500's PCM the computer will start throwing incorrect gear ratio codes and there's nowhere in either HPT or CMR to modify the transmission gear ratios because it's all part of the base code.
 

Bluto

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Thanks for that. So it could be done, but it could be a nightmare. I always buy the wrong year truck. The last Ram I had was an 02 with a tranny made of glass. This time I get the rehashed **** box in the 12.
 
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