8hp70 fluid

What fluid are you guying running in your 8hp70

  • Life guard/ mopar oem

    Votes: 23 48.9%
  • Amsoil

    Votes: 5 10.6%
  • Maxlife

    Votes: 18 38.3%
  • Mobil 1

    Votes: 1 2.1%
  • The bottle says atf

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    47

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Different Drummer

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Gohawks & ThunderMug,
Did you guys use the inserts from your OEM pan in the holes of the PPE pan or did you mount the pan without them? I know it has been done both ways.
I was disappointed when I did my service using an OEM pan as it arrived without a drain plug. ( solid pan, no provision to drain ) I wanted the capability to do frequent drain and fill procedure so will go the PPE route at the next service.
 

crazykid1994

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My current is mopar 8/9 speed fluid but at 36$ a bottle I’ll swap to something else when it’s time for my drain and fill with the filter swap. I’m bumping my filter swap up to 60,000 miles since I just drained 3qts and put fresh fluid in while doing my thermostat setup. I may order the ppe pan ahead of time just to have it in my parts pile. I’ve looked at 2 other pans and neither seem as good as the ppe pan. The hellraiser pan looks nice but their customer service blows so I scratched that one off my list pretty quick. Plus it’s a stock fluid amount. I’m looking for extra which the ppe pan is +2 quarts. Also tossing around the idea of relocating my coolant overflow to make space to move my thermostat over some.
 

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ThunderMug95

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Gohawks & ThunderMug,
Did you guys use the inserts from your OEM pan in the holes of the PPE pan or did you mount the pan without them? I know it has been done both ways.
I was disappointed when I did my service using an OEM pan as it arrived without a drain plug. ( solid pan, no provision to drain ) I wanted the capability to do frequent drain and fill procedure so will go the PPE route at the next service.
Yes, very important. Use oem bolts WITH the flange collars that you remove from the plastic pan. They fit in the PPE bolt holes with very little tolerance. When you read the directions it calls it out, but after all the work you do, it can be forgotten easily. I ordered a new gasket, so I had my gasket installed precisely in the pan…but telling on myself here…I forgot the flange collars on the install and only realized it after I pumped in fluid…I removed each bolt, inserted the flange and each one seated flush & re-torqued. I got lucky. If that gasket had shifted, different story.
You absolutely have to either unbolt the exhaust from the manifold or unbolt the trans from the crossmember and jack up the trans/Tcase by the mount to get the PPE pan on. Remember, your truck is already on stands with the wheels 10” off the ground…i built the ugliest “jack extensions” out of 2x4’s…rivaling the one I built to lift the bed on my body lift.
Wife and I are planning to buy land and build a new house. I WILL have a 2 post lift!!!!
 

HEMIMANN

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My current is mopar 8/9 speed fluid but at 36$ a bottle I’ll swap to something else when it’s time for my drain and fill with the filter swap. I’m bumping my filter swap up to 60,000 miles since I just drained 3qts and put fresh fluid in while doing my thermostat setup. I may order the ppe pan ahead of time just to have it in my parts pile. I’ve looked at 2 other pans and neither seem as good as the ppe pan. The hellraiser pan looks nice but their customer service blows so I scratched that one off my list pretty quick. Plus it’s a stock fluid amount. I’m looking for extra which the ppe pan is +2 quarts. Also tossing around the idea of relocating my coolant overflow to make space to move my thermostat over some.

Have you researched trans oils yet?
 

Gohawks

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That's damn cold. Do you still have the thermostatic valve and warmer hooked up?
Yep, not sure I'm going to do that, I think it's a great mod, I don't drive the truck a whole lot and rarely pull with it.
I do have long tube headers, fastman throttle body, Jay Green motor and trans tune, a long with some other tweaks so may consider that mod next summer.
 

1SLwLS1

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Maxlife here, on a used 8HP (swapped) that was either flooded or stored outside for a long period of time. Runs great but I have no frame of reference to the OEM printer fluid.
 

ultivssl

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I guess, I'm one of the few running redline and haven't had any issues so far. But after hearing all the stories, I'm going to be doing a couple of flushes with maxlife. Just haven't done it yet because it's -30C and F. When it gets this cold, the torque converter lockup doesn't work until it warms up a bit (usually a few blocks), so I can't really tell if it's slipping. What do tells you that it is? When warm, the engine RPM is the same as before.
 

Thebusdriver

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I serviced my 8HP70 using MaxLife about 4K miles ago. No problems and she’s shifting great.

Had an issue with the cheap
aftermarket pan I used and had to do the complicated drain and fill process *twice*. Lost about $20 in MaxLife. If I had used OEM That would have been $100 literally down the drain! Plus, I was able to get more at the nearby Advance Auto.
 
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Ram1683

Ram1683

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I serviced my 8HP70 using MaxLife about 4K miles ago. No problems and she’s shifting great.

Had an issue with the cheap
aftermarket pan I used and had to do the complicated drain and fill process *twice*. Lost about $20 in MaxLife. If I had used OEM That would have been $100 literally down the drain! Plus, I was able to get more at the nearby Advance Auto.
When I had the valvebody down 3 times on mine I wish I had known maxlife was an option. I was losing lifeguard each time and terrified of not having enough after the dealership closed
 

joesstripclub

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I did two or three drain and refills with redline first. I didnt have any specific issues but it did seem to want to flare or slip a bit more, could have been my imagination who knows. I think I did a couple more drain and refills with maxlife to get a good amount in there. I have almost 20k miles on the fluid so far including the revmax kit I installed. I towed my cargo trailer and SxS all over the mountains of Colorado last year without issue. Highest temp I saw on the trans was 165 climbing the Ike Gauntlet.

I think Burla posted the specs on the Lifegard vs Maxlife at some point and they are almost identical. Lifegard is also only a synthetic blend IIRC, so something like amsoil might actually be a higher quality fluid.
 
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Ram1683

Ram1683

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I did two or three drain and refills with redline first. I didnt have any specific issues but it did seem to want to flare or slip a bit more, could have been my imagination who knows. I think I did a couple more drain and refills with maxlife to get a good amount in there. I have almost 20k miles on the fluid so far including the revmax kit I installed. I towed my cargo trailer and SxS all over the mountains of Colorado last year without issue. Highest temp I saw on the trans was 165 climbing the Ike Gauntlet.

I think Burla posted the specs on the Lifegard vs Maxlife at some point and they are almost identical. Lifegard is also only a synthetic blend IIRC, so something like amsoil might actually be a higher quality fluid.
I love watch the TFL truck guys in YouTube do the ike gauntlet. Surprised the temp stayed that low. Somebody else on here had sad redline was a bit too slippery
 

joesstripclub

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I love watch the TFL truck guys in YouTube do the ike gauntlet. Surprised the temp stayed that low. Somebody else on here had sad redline was a bit too slippery
I do like watching their towing tests. After driving it myself, I suspect they have quite a bit of editing to do with their footage. Up until they repaved last year the road was in pretty terrible shape and full of ruts and potholes. Between that and the inevitable traffic in the way I'm impressed they are able to make good solid runs.

As far as temps go, the oil temp started to sky rocket, I think I slowed down when I started to see over 260 so the truck was definitely working hard.
 

MRFREEZE57

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I guess, I'm one of the few running redline and haven't had any issues so far. But after hearing all the stories, I'm going to be doing a couple of flushes with maxlife. Just haven't done it yet because it's -30C and F. When it gets this cold, the torque converter lockup doesn't work until it warms up a bit (usually a few blocks), so I can't really tell if it's slipping. What do tells you that it is? When warm, the engine RPM is the same as before.

I did a 3 time drain and fill with Redline, have run it 10k miles with no issues however the next time I do a fluid change will be with Maxlife not only do to good reviews but the lower cost.
 

DA Smith

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I never fool with transmission service until over 100k miles. I have my delar service department take care of the service. I have never had a transmission issue with any of my Ram trucks over the years. Been using my same dealer since 1976.
 

ramrod_2023

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I know Valvoline is popular, but not sure it has the additives ZF requires. According to ZF, "no other manufacturer is able to offer that".
 

MRFREEZE57

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I know Valvoline is popular, but not sure it has the additives ZF requires. According to ZF, "no other manufacturer is able to offer that".
It makes you wonder, is the transmission really that particular of what flavor of fluid that is used?
 

ramrod_2023

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Furthermore, see note from about Max Life from Valvoline: "It should be noted that Max Life Multi-Vehicle Transmission Fluid is not an OEM licensed product The respective vehicle manufacturers have neither evaluated or endorsed MaxLife in these applications."

On the other hand it says the following: "Use of MaxLife WILL NOT void the vehicles warranty." And goes on to say by law vehicle manufacturers are restricted from punishing you for using another brand or service as a condition of their warranty. (Which is the exact opposite of what the service rider at the dealership told me. He told me I could void the warranty if I change the filter/fluid EVEN IF I USE ZF FLUID/FILTER.)
 
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Ram1683

Ram1683

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I never fool with transmission service until over 100k miles. I have my delar service department take care of the service. I have never had a transmission issue with any of my Ram trucks over the years. Been using my same dealer since 1976.
I have a good friend that does something similar. He's got the old school train of thought.. Don't mess with it. If it blows, it blows. he'll just put a new unit in. But we're not dealing with th400's or TorqueFlite 727's anymore. That fear of changing the fluid and having it blow isn't really a thing anymore, Or at least anywhere near as much as it used to be. Some vehicles end up going to the junkyard with the trans fluid they left the factory with still in working order but I always saw those people as just lucky. I'm a mechanic and not changing fluids feels sacrilegious to me.. but I'm alittle bit of a nut. Between how well these things are built now and how robust the fluids are 100k under normal use should be completely feasible.
 

farout75

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Picked up a new unit. Seeing what people are using.
best to stick with MOPAR, its costs $36.10 a quart. Change the filter pan when you do service it. It's costly no matter how you do it!
 
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