TheRudeDog
Senior Member
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2012
- Posts
- 236
- Reaction score
- 70
- Ram Year
- 2013
- Engine
- Hemi 5.7
I finally found sometime to post some pictures after installing the PPE on my ZF 8HP70. Of course the first thing was relocating my exhaust system (a major shout out to Mike’s Muffler Shop who did an amazing job!!! No bubble gum welding here with a factory appearance!!!).
And after giving it a lot of thought I went with Ravenol. This fluid and of course the factory fill is made exclusively for the ZF 8HP70 (apparently there is an additive like what you would add to a LSD, that has the disks slip in a precise manner). I looked at Shawn’s video and unless he’s towing houses (more like dragging them) his fluid has a lot of metal (I think he blew it adding Lucas to his fluid)! The other thing to keep in mind, is that whatever you choose to add if you drop the pan, you are only going to replace about half the fluid (another reason to go with the PPE so you can get an additional 2 quarts)!! That means you’re going to mix with the factory fill.
When we dropped the pan (also a big shout out to both Jimmy and Alfonso at Cerritos Dodge) it was so clean I could not detect any traces of metal (I dropped mine at 17,500), which I expected to see after breaking in my transmission. My filter was white and I could not detect anything on it. Clearly the ZF fluid is perfectly engineered for this transmission (I would not be surprised if Ravenol is the maker).
And finally, after towing my boat (about 2500 lbs. 65 Fahrenheit) for 20 miles mostly on a slight uphill and with some traffic. I never exceeded 194 (192 is about the average with this transmission without towing), which let me know the PPE rocks!!
And after giving it a lot of thought I went with Ravenol. This fluid and of course the factory fill is made exclusively for the ZF 8HP70 (apparently there is an additive like what you would add to a LSD, that has the disks slip in a precise manner). I looked at Shawn’s video and unless he’s towing houses (more like dragging them) his fluid has a lot of metal (I think he blew it adding Lucas to his fluid)! The other thing to keep in mind, is that whatever you choose to add if you drop the pan, you are only going to replace about half the fluid (another reason to go with the PPE so you can get an additional 2 quarts)!! That means you’re going to mix with the factory fill.
When we dropped the pan (also a big shout out to both Jimmy and Alfonso at Cerritos Dodge) it was so clean I could not detect any traces of metal (I dropped mine at 17,500), which I expected to see after breaking in my transmission. My filter was white and I could not detect anything on it. Clearly the ZF fluid is perfectly engineered for this transmission (I would not be surprised if Ravenol is the maker).
And finally, after towing my boat (about 2500 lbs. 65 Fahrenheit) for 20 miles mostly on a slight uphill and with some traffic. I never exceeded 194 (192 is about the average with this transmission without towing), which let me know the PPE rocks!!
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