Benefit of 8 speed?

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Jordo

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I had a 2014 St with the 6 speed for 6 months and I traded in for a 2015 Sport with the 8 speed and gained 150km (93 miles) to my range with the same size tank. Right now I do a lot of country road driving and I get 800km + ( roughly 500 miles) to a tank or 19mpg! Way more responsive altho when I first got the truck the transmission would shift constantly but as it learned my driving style it smoothed out. Would not buy a 6 speed again.
 

Peter Nachtwey

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I have a 2019 3500 DRW 6.4 Hemi 3.73 that I use for hauling a truck camper. The camper is on the back 95% of the time. The 8 speed transmission is great on windy roads in the forest where one must always be speeding up and slowing down for turns. Shifting is smooth with the camper on and going up and down hills. My gas mileage does suffer a lot with the camper on. One the freeway, without the camper, I get 15.8 mpg measured at the gas pump and using a calculator. The lie-o-meter in the truck says I get 16.5 mpg. I usually drive to a spot and stay awhile so I couldn't justify the extra $10K for a diesel. I figured I would need to drive 150K miles to make the diesel pay off. I am glad I got the 8 speed transmission.
 

olyelr

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Reliable as well. I have 2014 tuned 500 TQ ecodiesel with 8 speed used commercially to tow TTs & boats to 9,200 pounds or CVW 16,000. 670,000 miles zero repairs. I change trans fluid every 100k and filter every 200k.


Damn!!!
 
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Same thing happened to me.
Turns out it was the "Tow/Haul" fonction.
Edit: Happened with the PowerWagon.

It make it seems like the engine is dying out.

"Tow/Haul" is not good in snow.
It cuts any wild driving like going up a snowy hill with a trailer, spinning tires.
( Happened with a 2017 1500 outdoorsman with 8 speeds)

And both these times, the abs fuse was removed.

Keep us posted!

:birgits_tiredcoffee
I tested it with cruise control on, off, and in tow/haul. All sucked when flooring it. They found no codes after testing it themselves. Now it's a 3-4 second lag before it begins to accelerate. I'm going to take it back and ask to flush it or change the filter.
 

Narg

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Real world....

My previous ride was a GM with a 6 speed. I _hated_ that transmission. I wouldn't say that then, but I do now. The 8 speed is so smooth and so much more in tune with the road, it's almost hard to discribe. Also, I have the eTorque system, which also smooths and helps the transmission a lot, so consider that. But, I'd recommend the FCA 8 speed hands down. And, the eTorque to compliment it, and make it so much better as the eTorque works to make shifting smoother and more powerful. Ignore the stop/start, because, well, you can as it is so forgettable once you don't care about it.
 

dexter

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Real world....

My previous ride was a GM with a 6 speed. I _hated_ that transmission. I wouldn't say that then, but I do now. The 8 speed is so smooth and so much more in tune with the road, it's almost hard to discribe. Also, I have the eTorque system, which also smooths and helps the transmission a lot, so consider that. But, I'd recommend the FCA 8 speed hands down. And, the eTorque to compliment it, and make it so much better as the eTorque works to make shifting smoother and more powerful. Ignore the stop/start, because, well, you can as it is so forgettable once you don't care about it.

And when they come out with the 10 speed people will say the same thing.

As they will with the:
10
12
14
100
speed
 

Sandevino

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There’s a trade off. I used to be a diehard 5-speed manual transmission fan. Then 6-speeds came out. At some point, I switched to autos for a host of reasons. Again, a die hard 6-speed auto fan as the 8-speeds hunted far too often for the “right” gear for my liking. In addition, anything with more than 6 gears got the auto start/stop garbage. I shopped Ford, GM and Ram and was set to buy a Ford and decided to drive Ford and Ram back to back. I’m not sure what magical unicorn dust they sprinkle on their transmissions, but they’ve got it sorted out.
 

crash68

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And when they come out with the 10 speed people will say the same thing.

Ford actually wanted ZF(designers of the 8HP line) to develop a ten speed transmission. ZF replied that the added complexity and weight didn't justify the return on efficiency. That why Ford and GM did the joint development of a ten speed transmission. Ford actually has a class action lawsuit over that trans, GM might not be too far behind.
You probably won't see a 10 speed come out of ZF any time soon.
 

TomB 1269

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This is my 1st RAM, 2019 1500 classic w/ 5.7L and 8HP ZF tranny. I can tell you that coming from a 5 speed Ford F150 this is a beautiful tranny. It is not just a nice driving tranny but smart and intuitive. For instance just cause you let up a little pressure on the throttle while towing it will not just shift up to top gear but actually understand the load on the truck and stay in the gear it is in (and this is wil or without tow/haul on). In addition the tranny will downshift itself under braking, and will hold a gears on a down hill without cruise control on. And should you need more speed control going downhill and give the brake another firm tap it will shift down another gear to provide even more engine braking. It also does not hunt gears, nor does it have to shift sequentially, i.e. your in top gear and step on it it does not have to step down to 7th, 6th to get to 5th. It can go straight to 5th. Finally the actual ratios do 2 things for it. 1st it takes a truck with a 3.21 rear gear and launches it like its got 4.11 gears (i.e. 15.063 seconds at 93 mph in 1/4 mile at 5800 lbs...I have time slips all stock on factory tires). 2nd the gear ratios it has will tend to keep it in a comfortable range under moderate / hard acceleration as well as keep it in its power band more than a 5 or 6 speed tranny, i.e. when it shifts to the next gear it does not lose substantial rpm so as to end up out of its power band and have to build back into it. In short once you give in the throttle it keeps you in your seat until you let off or it hits its speed limiter of 106. You never really feel a loss of power or planing off like you tend to have in other setups.............

Yes, I love my 1500 with the 5.7 and 8 speed. I thought an 8 speed tarnny would just shift a lot and you speed more time hunting gears and have less performance.........How wrong I was......... PS, it is my understanding the 8HP behind the 5.7L are actually the same transmissions behind the rear wheel based european drivetrains from Mercedes, etc. and built by ZF in Germany. Where the 8HP ZF behind the 6 cylinders is licensed by Chrysler to built in the US.
 

ALRedneck

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My six speed in my 2018 has been as good as any 6 speed I’ve owned. It sounds like the ZF just makes all the transmissions look bad. That must be one hell of a transmission and I am purposely not driving one so I don’t know what I’m missing!
 

RandomRam

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My six speed in my 2018 has been as good as any 6 speed I’ve owned. It sounds like the ZF just makes all the transmissions look bad. That must be one hell of a transmission and I am purposely not driving one so I don’t know what I’m missing!

This is exactly the case. ZF knows their stuff and the 8HP line is the best transmission on the market right now. Rolls Royce, Bentley, Aston Martin, Alfa Romeo, BMW, and Audi all use the 8HP. The shift quality of the 8HP blows the competition away.

The 66RFE is not bad at all compared to its competition. GM’s 6L90 is a lazy slug empty or loaded and they crippled their new gas engine with it. Ford’s Torqshift-G is probably the best gas 6 speed auto, but it still doesn’t keep the engine in the power band like the 8HP. The 6.4 Hemi with the 8HP holds gears and shifts like a sports car.

Hopefully ZF builds Ram an 8HP that will survive behind the Cummins. If they did that Ram would be way on top.
 

transpartsnow

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I have done many hours of research and made training materials on the 8 speeds and six speeds transmission. The six-speed is a better choice IMO
 

crash68

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Hopefully ZF builds Ram an 8HP that will survive behind the Cummins. If they did that Ram would be way on top.
They have been R&D an 8spd for behind the CTD, I've seen the test mules. It's the Powerline transmission and variants are intended for light to medium duty trucks.
There is a video of a early version in a 3500:
 

olyelr

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And I am not trying to be a **** about it, just seriously wondering how you came up with that. Sounds like you put a lot of thought into it.
 

Sandevino

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I have done many hours of research and made training materials on the 8 speeds and six speeds transmission. The six-speed is a better choice IMO

Link? Where can we find said material as I’m genuinely intrigued. Which transmission facility are you affiliated with?
 

Travelin Ram

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I don’t see it as more speeds are always better. If that was the case CVT’s would be taking the automotive world by storm, and they’re not. If you’ve driven one, then you know why. It’s just not satisfying or engaging to drive.

I was never impressed with the Chrysler six speed implementation, personally I like the Ford programming and response when it comes to a six speed.

I also owned a GM 8 speed truck, and while responsive, it was just annoying to drive. Constantly gear hunting, and the shifts were all quite perceptible. Programming by some boy racer wannabe maybe. But just irritating to me.

By comparison the ZF is always in the right gear, the shifts are crisp but seamless, it’s almost like it’s reading your mind and knows what you want. It’s a complicated thing to get all the mechanical and software components of a modern engine and transmission to work that well together, and Chrysler has pulled it off.
 

Scotts26

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I have done many hours of research and made training materials on the 8 speeds and six speeds transmission. The six-speed is a better choice IMO

Care to share the findings of your extensive research? Or your opinion on WHY the 6 speed is a better choice than the 8?
 

RVGuy

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Hopefully ZF builds Ram an 8HP that will survive behind the Cummins. If they did that Ram would be way on top.

I can't for the life of me find it again, but I remember reading an article about a year ago that hinted that ZF was already in the process of making an 8 speed transmission for the diesel heavy duty market. I would be not at all surprised if we saw an 8 speed Cummins in the near future.
 
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