8 speed transmission PPE pan install

[Wild one]

Thank you but this sounds a bit above my comfort zone, I'll need to do more research on this, and maybe a write up or video... I'll be afraid to break something

It sounds difficult,but it's actually easier to do then it sounds,lol. When my 8 speed went south i wasn't buying a new $900.00 (Canuck) A/C condensor,so i flushed and back flushed the cooler till everything coming out was new clean fluid,and i flushed the cooler lines themselves to,but with the tranny out the lines were easy to pull out of the truck and flush on the ground,in your case the lines won't be as easy to flush,but the cooler can still be easily flushed with a siphon gun on an air compressor. FYI if you do decide to flush the cooler stick with using the ZF fluid,as apparently the seals in the tranny don't like the solvent flushes that are available.

 

[Tim Garceau]

Test the truck out when the trans temp is 185+ from a stop at wide open throttle, any slip or extremely hard transitions through the first few gears?

 

[Burla]

It sounds difficult,but it's actually easier to do then it sounds,lol. When my 8 speed went south i wasn't buying a new $900.00 (Canuck) A/C condensor,so i flushed and back flushed the cooler till everything coming out was new clean fluid,and i flushed the cooler lines themselves to,but with the tranny out the lines were easy to pull out of the truck and flush on the ground,in your case the lines won't be as easy to flush,but the cooler can still be easily flushed with a siphon gun on an air compressor. FYI if you do decide to flush the cooler stick with using the ZF fluid,as apparently the seals in the tranny don't like the solvent flushes that are available.

So if I offered a trade with my rfe, you would still take your 8 speed?

 

[Wild one]

So if I offered a trade with my rfe, you would still take your 8 speed?

That made my day Mike,i'll go with the politically correct "no comment" lol

 

[Batt4Christ]

That's still a lot better than Stealership price!


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[SATCOM]

Interesting post but read it because I didn’t understand “I just got my PPE pan installed onto my 2013 hemi 8 speed”. First did they have a 8 speed transmission in 2013? I pretty sure that wasn’t an option. Wrong!! Next what part of the RAM is a PPE pan? So looking around I found out PPE is an after market manufacture. So after all I learned PPE makes a better pan for RAM 8 speed transmission, several good tips about cleaning 95% of old transmission fluid, and RAM introduced the 8 speed trans as an option in 2013.

 

[MRFREEZE57]

reviving a bit dated thread but curious, OP did the PPE pan include the filter, and where did you order it from?

 

[Wild one]

reviving a bit dated thread but curious, OP did the PPE pan include the filter, and where did you order it from?

The PPE pan comes with a filter.If you plan on changing the fluid and filter more then once,order an extra filter when you order the pan.

 

[69GWC]

Glad to hear this fits with the 5.7 and the crossover pipe.
This will be on my list of todo for next summer should be pushing 50k by then.

 

[RLJ10X]

If you crunch the numbers....

545RFE owner gets an average of 16.4 mpg
ZF8 guy gets 17.5 mpg, both paying $2.40 for 89 octane

@ 50,000 miles both guys do their own transmission service, the 8 Speed guy's fuel savings just went ****!

If you're lazy like I am, and just call the dealership to do the fluid change, as would our 8 Speeder (unless you enjoy getting ant bitten and 3 trips to the auto parts store) the difference is even greater.

That 8 speed is great. But it does come at a cost.

 

[Tim Garceau]

You can’t put a price on smiles per gallon for the engineering marvel ZF put together!

 

[RLJ10X]

^I totally agree. How do you put a price on a good time?

I think the ZF, especially when paired with the 3.21 rear end was adopted primarily for Carbon Credits in conjunction with better fuel mileage. Pressure
from the EPA. The added performance was a nice bonus.

But common sense tells you that thing runs too hot and handles too much power to have Lifetime Fluid.

I wouldn't think it'd cost that much for Chrysler to engineer a reusable pan with inexpensive replaceable filters, easier to drain, flush, and refil. Let the average guy be able to check the fluid level. Maybe do away with some of the other needless complexities.

 

[Rod Knock]

I just got my PPE pan installed onto my 2013 hemi 8 speed, it's at 105k miles right now. Truck was shifting very poorly and rough, now it's butter mooth like new!

I'm about to do mine, but I'm considering flushing it and going either with Amsoil ATL or Red Line D6. Amsoil is mostly PAO for sure, I have no idea what's in Red Line D6, however, I think it's similar. The Lifegard 8 fluid is a semi-synthetic made by Shell for ZF. It's very similar to Mobil 1 LV HP ATF that they make for GM. They're both made from Group III+ base stock, as in "Made from Natural Gas."

What you did there looks really good. I'm getting ready to order a PPE pan myself. How did you torque yours to the transmission? Any issue with those fragile bolts? How is the pan holding up?

Thank you for any information you can provide.

 

[EdGs]

I'm about to do mine, but I'm considering flushing it and going either with Amsoil ATL or Red Line D6. Amsoil is mostly PAO for sure, I have no idea what's in Red Line D6, however, I think it's similar. The Lifegard 8 fluid is a semi-synthetic made by Shell for ZF. It's very similar to Mobil 1 LV HP ATF that they make for GM. They're both made from Group III+ base stock, as in "Made from Natural Gas."

What you did there looks really good. I'm getting ready to order a PPE pan myself. How did you torque yours to the transmission? Any issue with those fragile bolts? How is the pan holding up?

Thank you for any information you can provide.

Drain and fill should be good for you. If you want to get more of the old fluid out, do another drain and fill after a few thousand miles.

If you use OE Lifeguard 8 or Mopar 8+9 speed atf, it runs about $20/qt., so be prepared for that.

If you decide to use one of the other compatible fluids (as others here have), your fluid cost will be a fair bit less. Your choice.

I personally went with OE fluid for my own piece of mind. YMMV.

When you do decide to do the deed, you will need to get the rear wheels up about 8 or 9 inches for the transmission pan rail to be level. @Wild one has posted the manufacturers instructions throughout this forum. FOLLOW THEM.

Good luck, and smooth repairs.

 

[Rod Knock]

Drain and fill should be good for you. If you want to get more of the old fluid out, do another drain and fill after a few thousand miles.

If you use OE Lifeguard 8 or Mopar 8+9 speed atf, it runs about $20/qt., so be prepared for that.

If you decide to use one of the other compatible fluids (as others here have), your fluid cost will be a fair bit less. Your choice.

I personally went with OE fluid for my own piece of mind. YMMV.

When you do decide to do the deed, you will need to get the rear wheels up about 8 or 9 inches for the transmission pan rail to be level. @Wild one has posted the manufacturers instructions throughout this forum. FOLLOW THEM.

Good luck, and smooth repairs.

Thanks for the helpful tips. Initially, I wanted to go with the OEM fluid as well. However, the Lifeguard 8 fluid is nothing special. It was designed to be cheap to manufacture and make the transmission as fuel-efficient as possible while providing adequate lubrication. However, both AMSOIL ATL and Red Line Oil D6 ATF are far superior fluids. Heck, even Castrol Transmax Multi-Vehicle Synthetic ATF is a better option than Lifeguard 8. It's going to be some work to flush it, however, a replacing it with a true synthetic fluid is worth it.

Here is the PDS for Lifeguard 8: https://aftermarket.zf.com/remoteme...feguardfluid-8/pds-zf-lifeguardfluid-8-it.pdf

Here is the MSDS for Lifeguard 8: https://aftermarket.zf.com/remoteme...guardfluid-8/msds-zf-lifeguardfluid-8-nzl.pdf

As far as the other magical unicorn fluids are concerned:

The original BW44-44 / BW44-45 was basically Dexron III fluid. To be more specific, Mopar 68089195AA is Shell Spirax S2 ATF A389.

In 2018 FCA decided that they should do something about all those overheating BW44-44 cases that are being worked hard during the winter, so they switched the fluid to Mopar 68049954AC, which is nothing more than Mobilfluid LT, or glorified Universal Tractor Fluid with friction modifier. This new fluid is colored Amber. Being the good people they are, they backdated the fluid for 2016+ BW44-44 transfer cases, thereby causing even more confusion. I bet that folks with 2016, 2017, and even 2018 trucks drained Red ATF fluid out of their BW44-44 transfer cases. Those that filled them up with Red Line C+ ATF were probably the smartest folks, it's really good stuff. Mobilfluid LT isn't that great, and can only be purchased in 5-gallon pails for around $150. That's about $7.50/quart. Anything from AMSOIL or Red Line is way better than that stuff.

I will do a more comprehensive writeup on all the fluids for RAM 1500 trucks so that they can be easily found in one place.