65RFE good for Minor Cam Swap?

[Tony5587]

Just wondering if anybody has any experience with 65rfe handling a small cam swap. I had my cam and lifters fail in my 2012 Ram so replaced my cam with a comp 216/222 truck cam, the truck was at 215km when I did the cam swap. I’ve been using it steadily for the last year as a daily driver and am now having issues with the trans. Did a fluid change and had a look, looks like the valve body has warped and might be cross leaking, there’s a bunch of hairline cracks. It’s hard to explain but it feels like the torque converter stays locked, and feels like it’s slipping going uphill. My question is, will accumulators, shift kit, higher line pressure, torque converter be enough for this cam or do I need to start planning for 8 speed swap, because I think this cam will probably be as far as I go for performance.

 

[Fast69Mopar]

Just wondering if anybody has any experience with 65rfe handling a small cam swap. I had my cam and lifters fail in my 2012 Ram so replaced my cam with a comp 216/222 truck cam, the truck was at 215km when I did the cam swap. I’ve been using it steadily for the last year as a daily driver and am now having issues with the trans. Did a fluid change and had a look, looks like the valve body has warped and might be cross leaking, there’s a bunch of hairline cracks. It’s hard to explain but it feels like the torque converter stays locked, and feels like it’s slipping going uphill. My question is, will accumulators, shift kit, higher line pressure, torque converter be enough for this cam or do I need to start planning for 8 speed swap, because I think this cam will probably be as far as I go for performance.

With a camshaft and some proper tuning you can make the 65RFE survive. I would definitely install the bullet accumulators and cover along with the Transgo Shift Kit. One thing that will help the RFE live is a higher stall converter. If this is a daily driver I'd stick with a 3000rpm converter with a large trans cooler that is cooled by a fan like this...

 

[Tony5587]

Thanks for the input, really appreciated

 

[kurek]

Daily driving with a high stall torque converter isn't a lot of fun, for the most part high rpm stall speeds are only useful in actual racing they don't make more power they just let you launch or hole shot from a corner at a higher RPM. High RPM stall in traffic will spill your tea and make your passengers seasick.

I know from experience that literally any statement about anything mechanical will have somebody else say "nuh uh" so I guess just take it as a data point and take the inevitable "nuh uh" as another data point. Don't say you weren't warned.

The 65RFE is rated up to 410 ft-lbs of torque which puts it pretty much at its limits with a stock Hemi but it's just like anything else that has a meatbag in the circuit - how you drive will determine everything about the load the transmission actually sees. A jackwagon could blow up a RFE behind a lawnmower engine and a particularly sympathetic driver could double the rated capacity by avoiding shock loads and staying well below maximum GCW. Obviously most people who alter the performance of their engine do that with the intention of being a jackwagon so.. pay to play.

If you blow up your transmission it won't be from a cam so you can rest easy on that, anyway.

The Transgo shift kit is great but if your valve body is somehow cracked you need to replace that too. Part of the Transgo kit requires you to remove the transmission from the vehicle, you can install just the valve body part if you want.

The part that requires transmission removal is a snap ring that holds the input drum in place supposedly better than stock which implies that sometimes the stock one fails.. if that's yours, well you have to drop the transmission. I don't know how to diagnose that, never experienced it personally.

 

[Tony5587]

Yeah I have another 65rfe waiting on standby, was just trying to see if beefing it up a little bit was worth while at all, thanks. Is there any reason why the higher stall would be better from a reliability standpoint? Or would that be just because they’re made better then stock?

 

[kurek]

Converters with higher stall speeds aren't really stronger or less strong it's just like when you run different gear ratios in your axle there isn't a universally applicable answer. When you have a higher stall speed the converter spends more time in slip (when the lockup clutch is not commanded) and that means more heat in the transmission in normal street driving, but that additional time in slip also can mean somewhat lower peak shock loads most of the time (except launch from 0mph) since the engine has to build up to stall speed.

I think the reason a lot of people leap to high stall RPM converters is because racecar.. same reason kids put 5 point racing harnesses in the Accord they inherited from their older sister, same reason suburban homeowners buy diesel F-two-fittys (because semi trucks are diesel so I definitely need a diesel engine to get flower pots from Ace Hardware!). High stall RPM lets you launch while the engine is at a higher-HP part of its power band and hole shot out of corners at a higher-HP part of their power band. In exchange for this they're lurchy in stop and go traffic and can put a little more wear on the lockup clutch in rural/secondary road driving. Better or worse only relates to how you use the truck, not to anything universal.

 

[DILLIGAF]

My 65rfe only lasted 2y with my set-up, 8 speed swap solve that issue

And a high stall converter is hella fun for Daily driving.

 

[Tony5587]

Yeah I seen your thread about the 8 speed swap, definitely wish I had the budget for that.

 

[Sherman Bird]

Yeah I seen your thread about the 8 speed swap, definitely wish I had the budget for that.

The Family of the "RFE" transmissions are very high quality and are under rated by my own experiences. The Transgo kit includes details upon details as to what mods to make, and WHY. One is that they include valve body gaskets to install where the factory didn't do so. They show photos of where the long term use (I.E. high mileage) results in eventual cross leakage due to the SLIGHT warpage of the surfaces. I use a machinist's straight edge and make sure the warpage is under .003".

They give DETAILED and CLEAR instructions, and, with photos. even a DIY'er can handle the job. They also instruct to raise the torque of the valve body bolts by 10 inch pounds to aid in sealing the gaskets better. Also to retorque them at LEAST three times throughout the build. I do the valve body first, and store it in a large clean plastic bag until I'm reassembling it to the unit!

THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING is to follow, to the nth degree ALL end play specs and clutch pack clearance specs. Inasmuch as Chrysler uses "CVI" algorithms in transmission control programming, these clearance specs ARE CRITICAL!!!!

I was an automatic transmission specialist For GM and Ford for 27 years. Observe specs down to the tiniest bit.

Regardless of my expertise, I recently rebuilt that unit (45RFE) in a 2002 Ram 1500 4.7L) on December 5th. I bought the ATSG Manual and downloaded it onto a thumb drive... it cost me about 45 or so dollars! What a bargain! It was a lifesaver in the minutiae of those itty bitty details that can and do get lost when one is distracted by life and one returns after a night of rest and says "Now, where was I" and a reminder of what goes where first, and in which direction. I did install the Transgo... and my customer says the unit shifts "like butter"!

As far as the torque converter goes, STICK with STOCK unless you just thrive on melodrama. The NUMBER ONE source of high temperatures in a transmission is the torque converter. A stall converter adds a lot more heat than you would want IF you want dependability.

 

[DILLIGAF]

The Family of the "RFE" transmissions are very high quality

 

[DripJust]

My 545 rfe on 2009 1500 has an intermittent hard shift issue into I think 4th gear.
Depending on the rpm speed it kinda bucks into 4th, I don't have any codes though.
Do you think this could be an issue with the SSV ?

 

[Sherman Bird]

My 545 rfe on 2009 1500 has an intermittent hard shift issue into I think 4th gear.
Depending on the rpm speed it kinda bucks into 4th, I don't have any codes though.
Do you think this could be an issue with the SSV ?

"SSV"?

 

[DripJust]

Solenoid switch valve, it's located inside valve body.