Diesel question

[Jay P]

Did you ever see those 50K pound plus motor homes steaming down the highways pulling a toad? They still run Allison 6 speeds.

Take this as you will but my son (I have five and two are in automotive) worked for ZF until a few weeks ago. I asked him about the long-rumored ZF behind the Cummins and he said it isn't happening. I asked him what will be the next transmission to compete with their rivals, he didn't know but would ask around. He, for a while, worked at Chrysler powertrain in the diesel group.

I hope the ZF 8-speed finds its way behind a Cummins, I do like the tranny and it doesn't seem to have issues, unlike the complaints you see about the Ford/GM 10-speed. I have the 68RFE behind the Cummins in my 3500 and I have zero complaints with it, towing heavy or unloaded, it does the job.

Just to be clear, the 10 speed that GM & Ford jointly developed is not in the 2500/250/3500/350. It's in the 150/1500s and some cars.

 

[2003F350]

Just to be clear, the 10 speed that GM & Ford jointly developed is not in the 2500/250/3500/350. It's in the 150/1500s and some cars.

Then what 10 speed is Ford putting in its 250/350? Because it's suffering the same problems as what's in the 150.

 

[mtnrider]

Then what 10 speed is Ford putting in its 250/350? Because it's suffering the same problems as what's in the 150.

Ford built 10R140 TorqShift®-G automatic transmission...

"The 10R140 TorqShift is not to be confused with the Ford 10R80 (GM 10L80) 10 speed automatic transmission co-developed between General Motors and Ford Motor Company, nor is it an adaptation of this lighter duty transmission. Both the gear spread and physical design of the two 10 speed transmission differs significantly and there are minimal, if any shared components. Additionally, the 10R140 is not related to GM's 10L1000 10 speed transmission, which is found in 2020 to current GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado applications equipped with the 6.6L Duramax diesel. "

 

[flashman252]

Ford built 10R140 TorqShift®-G automatic transmission...

"The 10R140 TorqShift is not to be confused with the Ford 10R80 (GM 10L80) 10 speed automatic transmission co-developed between General Motors and Ford Motor Company, nor is it an adaptation of this lighter duty transmission. Both the gear spread and physical design of the two 10 speed transmission differs significantly and there are minimal, if any shared components. Additionally, the 10R140 is not related to GM's 10L1000 10 speed transmission, which is found in 2020 to current GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado applications equipped with the 6.6L Duramax diesel. "

So what you're saying is they dont just have one 10 speed transmission that sucks, they have 3 that suck? Ill stick to my 6 speed 68rfe

 

[nlambert182]

Pretty much sums it up.

 

[2Tallguy]

Thanks for the quick replies. Still not happy Ram is still on a 6 speed while GM and Ford are using 10 speeds. But I do love the Cummins. Don’t like ford so may look at GM when the time comes to start shopping. Presume the Allison 10 speed really jacks up the price.

Get on the GM and Ram diesel sites for real world experiences. My buddy's company gave up on Duramax's with way too many sensor and electrical issues. The Powerstroke 6.7's have been largely problem free untill 100K.

 

[nlambert182]

Another thing to keep in mind.... Allison does not build the Allison transmissions in the GM trucks. They're Allison BRANDED, but built by GM.

 

[Ratman6161]

If you've ever owned that Ford 10-spd (which was developed in partnership with GM), you wouldn't be saying that. That 10 speed, at least behind gas motors, doesn't seem to hold up well.

Got my wife out of her 2019 F150 mostly because the transmission would 'hang' between 1st and 3rd gear (the skip-shift it does while empty) with increasing frequency at 60k miles. It would hit the shift point and just...hang...before slamming into 3rd. This wasn't under heavy load or heavy acceleration either.

My FIL's 2022 F250 (7.3 gasser) started developing the same issue at around 25k, which is why he now has a 2023 6.7 Powerstroke - I'm still nervous that he'll have issues but not my monkey not my circus.

I'll take this proven-out 6 speed over that 10 speed any day.

I can't speak to the Allison, but they've been building transmissions for decades...I would think they have their act together.

I haven't heard any issues from the Ram's 8-speed, so I'm hopeful my wife's new truck will be trouble-free.

Fyi: the 10 speed in the F150 is not the same as the 10 speed in the Super Duty.

 

[Ratman6161]

THIS!

Thank Ram for holding onto the 6 speed for so long. I don't have experience with the Aisin, but the 68RFE was a solid transmission in both my HD trucks.

The 10 speeds (at least in the light duty vehicles) in the Fords are absolute garbage. I won't repeat the saga with the 10-spd in my wife's previous 2019 Expedition here, but it did the same thing your wife's did until it grenaded itself at 80k miles.

I've had the 8 speed in a 2014 Durango, a 2019 Charger R/T, and my current 18 Ram and they've been solid thus far. I would assume that if/when Ram decides to install a version in the cummins that it will hold up ok (after a few model years).

From articles ive come across about when the 8 speed first showed up in gas engine HD Rams, it was supposedly designed to handle up to 1000 lb/ft of torque. If true, it would work for the standard Cummins but not the HO.

 

[Fjr vfr]

6 speed works fine in a big diesel truck with it's torque. 8 and 10 speed trannies are more useful to a gas motor that depends more on rpm's and revs much higher than a diesel.
I also parrot the comments about the 68RFE transmission. If you drive it "like you own it" and don't ad performance mods it will last as long as you own the truck.

 

[Dusty]

Both Ford and GM have pending lawsuits for their 10 spd transmissions. It's the one they co-developed after ZF basically told Ford it wouldn't develop a 10 spd for them.

In an interview with the head ZF engineer a some years back, he stated that in their testing the addition of two extra gear sets produced enough parasitic loss to reduce the benefit. In order to keep the transmission case short enough to fit in current platforms, the Ford/GM engineers developed a set of nested planetary gears set, which while a clever solution, produces most of the parasitic loss associated with the 10-speed.

Regards,
Dusty
2019 Ram 1500 Billet Silver Laramie Quad Cab 2WD, 5.7 Hemi, 8HP75, 3.21 axle, 33-gallon fuel tank, factory dual exhaust, 18” wheels. Build Date: 3 June 2018. Now at 96271 miles.