Trany etiquette

So guys please forgive me if this is a stupid post but since our tranys are so weak I figured it would be helpful to have a Do's and Don'ts for our trans. For example, I heard no WOT above 40 mph and to shift to 3 for 0-60 runs. If you have any tips on how to improve the performance or help the longevity of these transmissions then please post them.

Thanks,

Not sure where you get your information. But the mindset you are describing is totally insane to me.

If you can't go WOT anywhere, anytime in fear of breaking something, that vehicle is worthless.

If it is a 2012 model, it should be covered under warranty. If that is the case, my advice would be to drive it like you stole it. If it breaks, take it back and get one that operates properly and has a reasonable life expectancy.

Leave it in drive. Let it do it's thing. It knows best, and any "tricks" you are doing to manually over ride it's shift points and such are likely doing more harm than good. If not to the transmission, than to your performance and fuel consumption at the very least.

Sounds like you are sadly VERY influenced by some bad information.

I've been leaving it in drive and babying mine. So far, so good. LOL

maybe just a 3G thing.

Like a "3rd Gen Thing?"

My '07 has well over 100k miles, and never has even had the pan off once!

Off roaded, towed, daily driven in short hop stop and go around town action most of it's life. From high speed desert runs to Vegas, high altitude snow frozen drives up in Utah and beyond. So that is a temp spread from 117 to 7 Deg. Never missed a beat.

Not a single issue. The fluid still looks and smells like new. Never shied away from going full throttle for extended periods, and only used the "Tow / Haul" mode towing the boat up long steep hilly grades like over to Lake Isabella or up to Lake Tahoe.

I have NO reservations or reliability concerns about this platform.

Don't abuse it. Don't baby it. Just use it as intended and service as scheduled.

Coral Pink Sand Dunes / Dodge Ram 1500 - YouTube

Brakelate said:

Not sure where you get your information. But the mindset you are describing is totally insane to me.

If you can't go WOT anywhere, anytime in fear of breaking something, that vehicle is worthless.

If it is a 2012 model, it should be covered under warranty. If that is the case, my advice would be to drive it like you stole it. If it breaks, take it back and get one that operates properly and has a reasonable life expectancy.

Leave it in drive. Let it do it's thing. It knows best, and any "tricks" you are doing to manually over ride it's shift points and such are likely doing more harm than good. If not to the transmission, than to your performance and fuel consumption at the very least.

Sounds like you are sadly VERY influenced by some bad information.

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Start making some real power and see how long you can make a trans last, that's the point of this thread. We are not talking about stock power level where you can go WOT and down shift through 4th and not worry about the 2nd prime clutch slipping and burning up. The only bad information is from people who AREN'T making big power and think they know what's best for the glass cannon that is the 45rfe variants. It's not just a 3rd gen thing, plenty of 4th gens with the 545rfe and 65rfe have all been killed by power levels between 400-450hp and equivalent torque.

I will agree that you can drive it however you want to if you're at stock power, but making any real amount of power and you're into a whole different realm.

'07 Dodge 1500 QC 4x4 Sport with 5.7 factory 20" wheels, tow pkg. Bone Stock - 100k Miles +

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'nuf said

^well said!

So, what you're looking for Jay is fairly simple as long as you're looking at at least full bolt-ons with custome tune, nitrous, or supercharged.

The big no-no's are:

1) regular 60mph WOT downshifts; downshift to 3rd then hammer it, you can downshift to 4th and then WOT downshift and it's generally fine as you're not going through 4th. Getting it out of OD is the most important thing.
2) stalling the converter off the line with the torque management disabled, especially with a 2800+ converter; this shocks the drive train and if it hooks it really stresses the clutches, it's best to just leave straight from a dig and either feather into it or run DRs and expect to upgrade the trans when it finally gives out.

Do's:

You don't need to baby anything, but you do need to know what can cause issues and how to rememdy them.

1) keep traction control on, the torque management system is designed to keep the trans healthy,
2) if you're like 90% of us that hate the traction nanny and disable it from time to time, don't get all John Force and burn the rubber on uneven traction surfaces, last thing you want to do is have rubber spinning then grabbing all at once, which will jar the system.
3) keep an eye on your trans temp (and line pressure if you can)
4) drain fluid and change filters on a regular basis (I've seen some changed at 30K others at 60K) based on how hard you run it. Mine gets changed every 50K kms which is ~30K miles, but I'm hard on the trans with my power level.
5) build the trans to hold the power level you're currently making, this could be as simple as a valve body upgrade, line pressure booster, or going to a custom trans with proper tuning.
6) It's not WOT runs from a dig that kill these trans, it's the low line pressure situations and high torque demand situations that kill these, and they are the enthusiastic driving around town that typically does it, so look at ways to keep line pressure up before making shifts.

^^^ Agree. Weren't the 2007s rated at 350hp. Maybe that is the difference. My 2013 is rated at 395 stock and closer to 450 with basic mods. With just a little spirited driving my trans died in less than a year. Right now the dealer is fixing it under warranty but Im still walking for 3 weeks. I plan on a couple trans upgrades when I get it back and will hold back a little with my driving. It all depends on the power you are putting down and maybe the messed up trans tuning being put out by Ram to try and improve mpgs to meet CAFE standards. I believe Dodge is shifting the trans at very low rpms to get better mileage and slipping the clutches to reduce bogging but thats just a theory. I had the same trans in my Jeep and it was going strong at 250k miles but then again the Jeep on put down 225hp. If you push these newer Rams there is a good chance the trans will blow. Just hope you are covered under warranty and have a good pair of shoes.

charonblk07 said:

2) stalling the converter off the line with the torque management disabled, especially with a 2800+ converter; this shocks the drive train and if it hooks it really stresses the clutches, it's best to just leave straight from a dig and either feather into it or run DRs and expect to upgrade the trans when it finally gives out.

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Good info, thanks. Could you elaborate on this, please?? Or maybe give a scenario?

Jerseymike said:

^^^ Agree. With just a little spirited driving my trans died in less than a year. Right now the dealer is fixing it under warranty but Im still walking for 3 weeks.

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@ JerseyMike - Wow, so it did go out... I hadn't heard the update on that. Sorry about that.

Did the dealer give you any grief about your mods, tuner, anything???

charonblk07 said:

So, what you're looking for Jay is fairly simple as long as you're looking at at least full bolt-ons with custome tune, nitrous, or supercharged.

The big no-no's are:

1) regular 60mph WOT downshifts; downshift to 3rd then hammer it, you can downshift to 4th and then WOT downshift and it's generally fine as you're not going through 4th.
2) stalling the converter off the line with the torque management disabled, especially with a 2800+ converter; this shocks the drive train and if it hooks it really stresses the clutches, it's best to just leave straight from a dig.

Do's:

You don't need to baby anything, but you do need to know what can cause issues and how to rememdy them.

1) keep traction control on, the torque management system is designed to keep the trans healthy,
2) if you're like 90% of us that hate the traction nanny and disable it from time to time, don't get all John Force and burn the rubber on uneven traction surfaces, last thing you want to do is have rubber spinning then grabbing all at once, which will jar the system.
3) keep an eye on your trans temp (and line pressure if you can)
4) drain fluid and change filters on a regular basis (I've seen some changed at 30K others at 60K) based on how hard you run it. Mine gets changed every 50K kms which is ~30K miles, but I'm hard on the trans with my power level.
5) build the trans to hold the power level you're currently making, this could be as simple as a valve body upgrade, line pressure booster, or going to a custom trans with proper tuning.

Click to expand...

charonblk07,

Thanks for the info, that is exactly what I was looking for. I've got almost all the bolt ons you can get for the ram to include a HF tune. Unlike all the ballers on here I have to live off of a military salary so I can't, as much as I'd love to, buy a built trans right now. Because of that, I wanted to get info on what I can do to keep my stock one alive for as long as possible while still having fun. Thanks again for your post and I appreciate your help!

OP - my apologies. Not trying to thread jack. I hope my questions might be one's you would have, too.

jay c said:

charonblk07,

Thanks for the info, that is exactly what I was looking for. I've got almost all the bolt ons you can get for the ram to include a HF tune. Unlike all the ballers on here I have to live off of a military salary so I can't, as much as I'd love to, buy a new trans right now. Because of that, I wanted to get info on what I can do to keep my stock one alive for as long as possible while still having fun. Thanks again for your post and I appreciate your help!

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I would still highly recommend at least a VB upgrade as it's cheaper insurance and is around the $300 price range vs the $3,000 range for a trans.

DavidRam said:

OP - my apologies. Not trying to thread jack. I hope my questions might be one's you would have, too.

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No apologies needed DR, I'm on here to learn. Please keep the info coming.

charonblk07 said:

I would still highly recommend at least a VB upgrade as it's cheaper insurance and is around the $300 price range vs the $30000 range for a trans.

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I will definitely look into the valve body, thanks.

2) stalling the converter off the line with the torque management disabled, especially with a 2800+ converter; this shocks the drive train and if it hooks it really stresses the clutches, it's best to just leave straight from a dig and either feather into it or run DRs and expect to upgrade the trans when it finally gives out.

Click to expand...

DavidRam said:

Good info, thanks. Could you elaborate on this, please?? Or maybe give a scenario?

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Picture burning it out around a corner then having it grab and take off when you hit the straights, or even just reving it up to 2000rpm and taking off from a light at full throttle when the TC isn't locked up and it's just free spinning and heating up fluid. Mind you, this is specifically with the torque management disabled with a tuner, pushing the stupid button in the cab does SFA for disabling TM.

charonblk07 said:

I would still highly recommend at least a VB upgrade as it's cheaper insurance and is around the $300 price range vs the $30000 range for a trans.

Click to expand...

Hey bro, it looks like the price of trannys has gone up ten fold

1. What valve body do you recommed??? That is my next mod.

2. How is the install, DIY, or tranny shop??? (remember, I have never even taken the pan off a transmission before)

charonblk07 said:

Picture burning it out around a corner then having it grab and take off when you hit the straights, or even just reving it up to 2000rpm and taking off from a light at full throttle when the TC isn't locked up and it's just free spinning and heating up fluid. Mind you, this is specifically with the torque management disabled with a tuner, pushing the stupid button in the cab does SFA for disabling TM.

Click to expand...

Ok cool, so what is the safest (for the tranny I mean), and most effective way to launch off the line??

DavidRam said:

Hey bro, it looks like the price of trannys has gone up ten fold

1. What valve body do you recommed??? That is my next mod.

2. How is the install, DIY, or tranny shop??? (remember, I have never even taken the pan off a transmission before)

Click to expand...

Good questions, interested as well.