Add drain plug or buy aftermarket 65rfe

[Jasfish18]

I dont put alot of miles on my ram per year but I am (finally) going to do the service with upgraded filter and metal fitting.
My question is should I just buy a aftermarket pan like b&m or mag hytec? Or has anyone had good success adding a drain plug kit? If so which one?
I'm leaning towards b&m (price) and lube locker gasket. However the cheaper side of me is highly intrigued by the plug kit. Truck has 49000 miles

 

[kurek]

There's the inexpensive stamped steel pans that have drain plugs..

Also if you were hoping for an excuse to spend big dollars on a cast aluminum pan they do make the trans case more torsionally rigid which can extend the life of the transmission, in theory at least.

 

[mdc1990zr1]

I dont put alot of miles on my ram per year but I am (finally) going to do the service with upgraded filter and metal fitting.
My question is should I just buy a aftermarket pan like b&m or mag hytec? Or has anyone had good success adding a drain plug kit? If so which one?
I'm leaning towards b&m (price) and lube locker gasket. However the cheaper side of me is highly intrigued by the plug kit. Truck has 49000 miles

I've used the B&M on variouse GM pans and they worked well. I have one now and am cotemplating putting it on the metal pan for the 850RE that I want to put on the RAM.

 

[Jeepwalker]

I've put a couple on over the years. Homemade drain plugs. Really haven't used them a lot. I'm kind of swinging back to the "Why bother" mode on trans drain plugs. It takes a while to do & The fluid drains when ya undo the pan bolts (not very elegantly ..but it does drain out). But if you tow a lot and do 'rough service' duty on your truck and change the trans fluid more than normal, probably be nice to have.


I've done things a couple ways. One is to get a larger bolt ...1/2" fine thread hardware store bolt, or larger diameter, and cut down. Nicer if the bolt has a flange on it. Has to have threads all the way to the head. Or buy a few cheap drain plugs off ebay or Summit Racing, but not too long. Then I would drill a hole in a piece of 1/8" thick steel ...maybe 1" square, or maybe use a thick washer. Brazed it on the inside of the drain pan in an appropriate spot. Then threaded it to match the drain plug threads. Painted the outside of the pan where the paint burnt away. Install bolt with a fiber or plastic washer.

The last time I made a couple up at the same time, so if you have multiple vehicles, that cuts down on the overall work to make 3 bolts at once and put them somewhere where you'll forget ...LOL. I've still got one in my misc drawer.

Only cost a couple bucks that way.

 

[Jeepwalker]

There are kits on ebay, Summit Racing or Amazon. Do a search if a kit is more appealing to you.

 

[Hemi395]

So I tried a B&M drain plug on my stock 65 pan and it was ok for about a month and then started to leak. Pulled the pan off sealed the hole with bit of RTV and tightened. Lasted about another month and started leaking.

Got really tired of pulling the pan at that point and got a Mag Hytec pan with a Lubelocker gasket. That's been on my truck for several years now. Super easy to do drain and fills and the drain plug has a really powerful magnet. Never had one leak anywhere with that pan. It also adds some minor cooling as well as added fluid capacity. Well worth the money IMO.

Also another thing to consider is the B&M drain plug and just about any others out there sit higher than the bottom of the pan so you're not getting a complete drain...

 

[Jasfish18]

Thanks for the replies guys
I am adding to consideration dorman 265-870 pan. Could I use a lube locker gasket instead of rtv with it.

 

[Zoe Saldana]

I tow a travel trailer a lot and have 95K miles on my truck.
I've never dropped the pan on the transmission.

I suck out about 2 quarts of fluid out of the transmission every oil change. I always have fresh fluid in the transmission now.

Also, I use LUBEGARD for transmissions. it lowers fluid temperatures . It is great. No more hard shifts. It is quiet and smooth.

I dont put alot of miles on my ram per year but I am (finally) going to do the service with upgraded filter and metal fitting.
My question is should I just buy a aftermarket pan like b&m or mag hytec? Or has anyone had good success adding a drain plug kit? If so which one?
I'm leaning towards b&m (price) and lube locker gasket. However the cheaper side of me is highly intrigued by the plug kit. Truck has 49000 miles

 

[Burla]

Based on what? When it comes to transmission pans dorman isn't that popular here, it's just cheap making it attractive. How did you get a RFE with a 2017, classic? You have one of the last great trucks made by ram, you might want to consider the hytec pan. I get it though, it is probably near 300 bucks more, so dang on that. Do a search on those dormans before purchasing.

 

[Jasfish18]

Made for Canada i believe, I was just considering dorman due to the wild price difference.. but it does look to have mixed reviews at best.
Mag hytec may win out....but damn are they proud of those pans 375 bucks

 

[Zoe Saldana]

Made for Canada i believe, I was just considering dorman due to the wild price difference.. but it does look to have mixed reviews at best.
Mag hytec may win out....but damn are they proud of those pans 375 bucks

It is only a stamped pan with a drain plug. How happy will you be when that plug leaks?

I'd get one of the others.

It amazes me that when you consider the price a trucks these days people cheap out on parts and fluids.

I just changed coils and plugs after 95K miles. Some people say that there is no need to change the coils until there is a problem. But coils are good for 80-100k; they degrade over time.

 

[Hemi395]

I don't recommend the Dorman pan either. I tried that before the Mag Hytec pan I have and it wasn't formed right around the spin on filter. It bolted up but it dented the spin on filter where it was contacting the pan. Seeing as the spin on filter is attached to the valve body with a plastic fitting, I'm lucky it didn't break off.

I ended up running that pan for about a week because the drain bolt on that started to leak as well.

 

[Burla]

Made for Canada i believe, I was just considering dorman due to the wild price difference.. but it does look to have mixed reviews at best.
Mag hytec may win out....but damn are they proud of those pans 375 bucks

not always, but sometimes you get what you pay for.

"Lo barato sale caro

.

 

[Jasfish18]

Going with mag and c+
Thanks for replies everybody

Now just waiting on parts and decide if I'm going to try to pump additional fluid out or just do a drain a fill till I have primarily redline.

I found a li k on another site, calls it a diy flush

DIY Transmission flush - DodgeForum.com

4th Gen Ram FAQs, DIYs & How To's - DIY Transmission flush - Many of you are wondering how to do a transmission flush/exchange without hurting the trans. Most machines at garages are pressurized and use a cleaning agent to flush the system debris out. This is very bad and breaks free hardened...

dodgeforum.com

 

[mdc1990zr1]

Going with mag and c+
Thanks for replies everybody

Now just waiting on parts and decide if I'm going to try to pump additional fluid out or just do a drain a fill till I have primarily redline.

I found a li k on another site, calls it a diy flush

DIY Transmission flush - DodgeForum.com

4th Gen Ram FAQs, DIYs & How To's - DIY Transmission flush - Many of you are wondering how to do a transmission flush/exchange without hurting the trans. Most machines at garages are pressurized and use a cleaning agent to flush the system debris out. This is very bad and breaks free hardened...

dodgeforum.com

Put the B&M plug on there. I use them and they work as designed. If you’re worried about leaking, you can add some RTV. I use it as designed

 

[Jasfish18]

The steel adaptor i got from ebay through a link on this forum ended up working great, but the threads were not very good out of the package. I had to buy a die to run it through a few times.