Ram 1500 Transmission Fluid Change | ZF 8 Speed

[mfifield01]

I was just looking at the pan. There is one T40 bolt that sits above the exhaust pipe. I have a 3/8" T40 socket. How did everyone torque that bolt down. My socket won't fit with a ratchet.

 

[DILLIGAF]

Every toolbox needs these.

 

[joesstripclub]

I was just looking at the pan. There is one T40 bolt that sits above the exhaust pipe. I have a 3/8" T40 socket. How did everyone torque that bolt down. My socket won't fit with a ratchet.

I didn't torque any of the pan bolts. Torx socket on a 1/4" drive ratchet is plenty, the bolts will bottom out on the sleeves pretty easily. Lot of posts about people snapping these bolts from overtorque.

 

[joesstripclub]

Every toolbox needs these.


View attachment 575963View attachment 575965

I have all these bits and then end up using a 1/4" socket to hold the bits and curse when it falls out every time I use it. I need to grab one of these little ratcheting drivers.

 

[Wild one]

I have all these bits and then end up using a 1/4" socket to hold the bits and curse when it falls out every time I use it. I need to grab one of these little ratcheting drivers.

Put a small piece of black tape on the end of the bit before you push it into the socket,that usually holds them in the socket pretty good

 

[papaadams]

Hey all, I recently did a transmission fluid change on my ZF 8 speed in my 2016 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel. I was at 112K miles and figured it was high time to get it done. I wasn’t getting rough shifts or anything, but it felt a little more hesitant shifting into 6th compared to the others. Probably not abnormal, but every time it dropped into 6th, I’d think, “hmm, I bet I could make that better.” I also wanted to get it done simply for longevity.

I know there’s a fair amount of info on this already, but I figured I’d still share my experience.

Stuff I Got:

After reading around, I landed on a PPE deep pan with the extra 2 quarts of capacity. The site insisted the shallow pan wouldn’t fit the EcoDiesel, though I still don’t get why. I wanted the deep one anyway, so that’s what I went with. I also picked up two drain plug gaskets and an extra filter. ($600 CAD)

For fluid, I went with Valvoline MaxLife ATF, since that seemed to be what most people were happy with. I read most guys got about 5 quarts out with a drain, and the new pan would need another two, so I grabbed 8 quarts. Turns out this stuff isn't super easy to find locally where I’m at. ($100 CAD)

PPE says to reuse the old pan gasket, but I got a new one from my local dealer just to be safe. ($50 CAD)

To fill the fluid, I picked up a cheap hand garden sprayer and slightly modified it. Instead of the aluminum tip, I attached a ~6" piece of 3/8" hose to the trigger end. Worked great. ($40 CAD)

Procedure:

I drained the oil cold — if you start the process hot, it’ll be too warm for the fill procedure later.

First, I removed the fill plug with an 8mm hex. About a quart drained out. Then I pulled the drain plug (10mm hex). The plug is plastic, and I almost broke it loosening it — I was happy I was replacing it with an aluminum one. An entirely plastic pan just doesn't seem safe.

Draining and dropping the pan was straightforward. Lucky me — with my EcoDiesel, I don’t have the exhaust right underneath the pan, so I only had to squeeze by what looked like AC lines but must be transmission cooler lines.

PPE doesn’t provide the bolt flanges, so I reused the ones from the OEM pan — knocked them out with a punch and gently tapped them into the new pan. Honestly, for the price of the pan, I expected them to be included. That, and a new gasket.

The gasket actually impressed me — it really has to “click” into the pan. Took about five minutes just for that.

At this point, I jacked up the rear end to level the transmission. Used a floor jack under the diff and started lifting. I realized quickly that 9 inches is a long way up, so I ended up putting railroad ties under the rear tires, lowered the jack, then put the jack on blocks to get more height. I used a level on the bottom of the trans to get it level. Then I moved the ties over and set up jack stands on them under the axle — that part felt sketchy, but it was solid once the truck was sitting on them. If a guy had a better jack system, that part would be a lot easier.

I double-checked that the drain plug and filter screws were tight on the new pan, then installed it. After snugging the bolts, I followed the torque pattern from the instructions. They call for just 8–10 ft-lbs, so not much.

Then it was time to fill. I poured the fluid into my garden sprayer (felt weird, not gonna lie), pumped it up, and started filling. My younger brother helped by pumping the sprayer, and I just laid under there relaxing, waiting for it to overflow. Took maybe 10 minutes. About 5 quarts went in. Then I screwed in the fill plug.

Fill Procedure (Engine Running):

To get the fluid level right, the transmission needs to be between 30°C and 50°C (86°F–120°F) since ATF expands a lot with temperature.

I started the truck, crawled under, pulled the fill plug again, and resumed filling — tried to work quickly to stay within that temp range. Took about another quart and a half.

Then I hopped back in and went through the gear cycle:

• Reverse (hold brake 5 sec)
• Neutral, then Drive (hold brake 5 sec)
• Let off the brake, gently accelerated into 2nd and held for 5 sec
• Back to Neutral, revved to 2000 RPM for 5 sec
• Let it idle, then Park

Back under the truck — trans was still only around 30°C, so I kept going. Added about another ¾ quart until it started to trickle out. Put the fill plug back in and shut off the truck. Temp was around 43°C, so I was still good.

Then it was just letting the truck back down and cleaning up.

In all, I was just into my last jug of oil — so it took about 7 ¼ quarts.

Aftermath:

Driving it since, I think the shifts are a bit smoother overall — not a huge difference, but I notice the improvement most between the top gears. Just a tad softer, less noticeable shifts.

I did have a small leak afterward from one side of the pan that concerned me, but by the next day, it had stopped seeping. I still took it down to the shop, loosened all the bolts, adjusted them a bit, and re-tightened, hoping to help seat the seal. I've been checking it and it still seems good, so fingers crossed. Otherwise, I’m doing this all over again.

Glad I did it. Cost me about $800 CAD and a day in the shop, but it was worth it.

First Time Posting.
Want to express my gratitude for all the post on this thread. It has been most helpful in determining a course of action and selecting the parts and equipment I needed. The bolt tightening specs and diagrams were very helpful.

Ultimately I decided to change my trans fluid, filter and pan on my 2020 RAM 1500 3.0 Ecodiesel; had 65,000 miles in Dec when I did the change. I do a moderate amount of towing a 25ft travel trailer and felt it would be preventive action to change fluid(1 oz of prevention prevents 1 Lb of cure). I bought a Pacific Power Equipment (PPE) pan that provided an extra 2 quarts of fluid, resulted in a cooler fluid temp; thought that would be helpful when towing in Az, WY, CO, UT in summer time.

I bought MOPAR fluid off Amazon for $100 - 7 Qt; good deal with local dealer is selling it at $43/Qt. Because PPE pan calls for 8 Qt I bought a single QT for $23 from MOPAR store on amazon to have my 8 Qt needs. I also bought the PPE Pan on Amazon $288; and a Qt bottle pump. Spent total of $425 incl Tax. When filling the trans with fluid, it used 7 1/4 Qt of the fluid not quite 8 Qt but the extra Qt was needed.

Next time I change fluid and filter, just have to spend $50 for a PPE filter, not $288; plus the fluid. Already purchased the filter from PPE for next change.

I like this truck, hope to keep it for a long time. Doing as much preventive maintenance as possible to not have any issues I see posted on the forum.

 

[Ram Night]

Nope. Just with the hemi the exhaust will be crossing directly under your pan so it'll be a bit more fun for you I think

When I installed the PPE trans pan om my 8 speed with the 5.7, I had to remove the 3 nuts on the transmission mount and raise it 2 inches so I could slide in the new pan onto the transmission. Then lower the trans and put the nuts back on.

 

[jservay]

ZF's instructions are generic to pretty well every other chassis the transmission is installed in. "Only" the Ram trucks point the transmission downhill ,at quite an angle,the rest of the chassis's the transmissions are installed in,have the transmission sitting virtually level with the ground,and therefore don't need to have the transmission leveled,as the transmission is already levelled.They send the green sheet out with "brand new truck specific" 8 speeds,and that would over rule the generic instructions for the other applications utilizing the 8 speed. Take a look at how the transmission sits in a Challenger / Charger or Audi just to pick a couple,then look at how the transmission sits in the trucks,and then look at where the fill plug is located,the cars will definitely take more fluid then the trucks will ,"Unless" you level the trucks transmission,common sense will tell you that just by looking at a couple differant applications the transmission is being employed in.
I'm not sure why this even comes up,or is a question that needs to answered,a little common sense goes along ways to figuring out an issue,and if you look at how the 8 speed sits in a truck compared to how it sits in a car,there should be no question as to why the transmission needs to be levelled in a truck
BTW these are the instructions that come with a brand new truck specific 8 speed when bought through the dealer,and it appears like ZF figures it's pretty important to level the transmission,as they've definitely highlighted the first paragraph to the point it's hard to miss.

View attachment 572747

Would you by chance have a link or PDF to this document that you could share?

 

[Curmudgeon]

Would you by chance have a link or PDF to this document that you could share?

The "green sheet" instructions you are asking about are at the bottom of the post by Wild one you have quoted. Just click on the "View attachment 572747"

Just in case:

 

[Hanover Fiste]

provided an extra 2 quarts of fluid, resulted in a cooler fluid temp

Not necessarily. It may take longer for the fluid to heat up initially, but it also takes longer for it to cool down once it's heated up.