hemihustlin
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2013
- Posts
- 1,585
- Reaction score
- 1,011
- Location
- Lower Southwest Quebec
- Ram Year
- 2021
- Engine
- 5.7 HEMI
I was looking for a thread to document my recent 8 speed oil change experience, where everyone can document their experience and discuss tips and tricks, special tools, procedures and oil/filter choices et cetera
I didn't readily find such a thread, so here it is!
I have been wanting to change the oil on my zf 8hp70 for a while now, but only started gathering tools and oil in the last month or so. like everyone says when they see the condition of the drained oil "why did i wait so long?"
2021 1500 classic warlock 5.7 112577km (69593 miles)
bought:
3 canuck gallons (5l jugs haha) of valvoline maxlife atf
a garden sprayer (made in usa nice!)
a 10mm allen key to sacrifice
already had 8mm allen key, floor jack and jack stands but had to call in my buddy with 7 ton Jack stands because 3t were no where close to being high enough to get the trans level
did not buy a filter/pan yet because ive going to do at least 2 drain/fill before changing filter
so for starters needed almost 20 inches under the diff to get the trans level. didn't have a real bubble level but used phone app and eye. made one correction (higher!) and it was looking good
now for the special tool part. i goofed up on this one lol. i bought a nice new 10mm key to sacrifice (i seem to remember reading people shortening allen keys to make it work)
so i started shortening it on the small end only to realize that it was not going to work like that. so i took one of the parts i cut off (a bit under 1/2") and taped it in a 10mm wrench and it was perfect
so i could have just taken that off the long end of my allen key and saved the working end lol oh well
the original oil as expected was definitely dirty, no extraordinary smell. transparent dirty green if you dipped your screwdriver in it and dark grey and murky looking in the tub
interestingly i only got 5 litres in and out. and i only measured at the end when i put the used oil in the container it was full to the brim and when i put the leftover fresh oil back in the second container it was full too.
admittedly i only let it drain for about 15 minutes. enough time to go get cold beer in the fridge and drink most of it haha
it was 30c 86f outside that afternoon. the fresh oil was sitting around outside all afternoon so it was already that hot when starting to fill. i got about 3.5l in motor off before it started flowing back out. put the plug back in and went and verified the trans temp before starting the level check procedure. 109f! holy ****! i had run the truck this morning but was parked at home before 11am and now its 3pm
so i said to my buddy well now its time for a break let that big girl cool down lol
he had errands to run in the next town over so we went and did that got back to my truck about 1.5h later
now 90ish degrees f so i said lets go!
put my buddy in the drivers seat and read him the green sheet instructions while i was standing next to him. as he was performing the procedure i told him once i jump under there keep it running until i say and give me a warning 10 degrees before 122
well as expected this was the most interesting part. it seems to take forever to pump the oil in when its running. the engine is pumping and the exhaust is rumbling and the temperature is steadily rising. it seems like youve been under there forever carefully holding the pump tube in the hole. now the exhaust is boiling hot and sweat is pouring off your forehead.
all of the sudden oil starts flowing back out the hole and you hear buddy yell something. keep pumping another 5 seconds as the oil continues to exit the fill hole. screw the plug in finger tight and crawl out from underneath
ask what the temp was when i crawled out. 120. alright we made it!
next time ill try to get cooler ambient temperatures, or keep the oil in the fridge or something lol
did a small 10 minute test drive last night and a bigger 30 min one today. everything is great. seems to shift even more smoothly and confidently than usual but it was already great, no complaints at all about its operation. im sure it will get even nicer again with another spill n fill and a filter and some miles on the fresh fluid.
all in all i would highly recommend this job to anyone that has previously changed transmission oil on another vehicle or a previous ram with rfe transmission. its literally as easy as jacking up the rear high enough and having a way to pump in the oil.
a little grinding of an Allen key and a buddy to stay in the drivers seat while you go under. as long as one of you can read English youre good to go!
oh and bonus pic of the nice plastic debris i found in the bottom of my new pump! that long curly piece and a bunch of plastic sawdust. i flushed it out with some old atf+4 i had lying around.
also changed my transfer case oil first to get used to pump. used new atf+4 but thats another thread haha
hopefully this information will be useful to someone, happy wrenching!
I didn't readily find such a thread, so here it is!
I have been wanting to change the oil on my zf 8hp70 for a while now, but only started gathering tools and oil in the last month or so. like everyone says when they see the condition of the drained oil "why did i wait so long?"
2021 1500 classic warlock 5.7 112577km (69593 miles)
bought:
3 canuck gallons (5l jugs haha) of valvoline maxlife atf
a garden sprayer (made in usa nice!)
a 10mm allen key to sacrifice
already had 8mm allen key, floor jack and jack stands but had to call in my buddy with 7 ton Jack stands because 3t were no where close to being high enough to get the trans level
did not buy a filter/pan yet because ive going to do at least 2 drain/fill before changing filter
so for starters needed almost 20 inches under the diff to get the trans level. didn't have a real bubble level but used phone app and eye. made one correction (higher!) and it was looking good
now for the special tool part. i goofed up on this one lol. i bought a nice new 10mm key to sacrifice (i seem to remember reading people shortening allen keys to make it work)
so i started shortening it on the small end only to realize that it was not going to work like that. so i took one of the parts i cut off (a bit under 1/2") and taped it in a 10mm wrench and it was perfect
so i could have just taken that off the long end of my allen key and saved the working end lol oh well
the original oil as expected was definitely dirty, no extraordinary smell. transparent dirty green if you dipped your screwdriver in it and dark grey and murky looking in the tub
interestingly i only got 5 litres in and out. and i only measured at the end when i put the used oil in the container it was full to the brim and when i put the leftover fresh oil back in the second container it was full too.
admittedly i only let it drain for about 15 minutes. enough time to go get cold beer in the fridge and drink most of it haha
it was 30c 86f outside that afternoon. the fresh oil was sitting around outside all afternoon so it was already that hot when starting to fill. i got about 3.5l in motor off before it started flowing back out. put the plug back in and went and verified the trans temp before starting the level check procedure. 109f! holy ****! i had run the truck this morning but was parked at home before 11am and now its 3pm
so i said to my buddy well now its time for a break let that big girl cool down lol
he had errands to run in the next town over so we went and did that got back to my truck about 1.5h later
now 90ish degrees f so i said lets go!
put my buddy in the drivers seat and read him the green sheet instructions while i was standing next to him. as he was performing the procedure i told him once i jump under there keep it running until i say and give me a warning 10 degrees before 122
well as expected this was the most interesting part. it seems to take forever to pump the oil in when its running. the engine is pumping and the exhaust is rumbling and the temperature is steadily rising. it seems like youve been under there forever carefully holding the pump tube in the hole. now the exhaust is boiling hot and sweat is pouring off your forehead.
all of the sudden oil starts flowing back out the hole and you hear buddy yell something. keep pumping another 5 seconds as the oil continues to exit the fill hole. screw the plug in finger tight and crawl out from underneath
ask what the temp was when i crawled out. 120. alright we made it!
next time ill try to get cooler ambient temperatures, or keep the oil in the fridge or something lol
did a small 10 minute test drive last night and a bigger 30 min one today. everything is great. seems to shift even more smoothly and confidently than usual but it was already great, no complaints at all about its operation. im sure it will get even nicer again with another spill n fill and a filter and some miles on the fresh fluid.
all in all i would highly recommend this job to anyone that has previously changed transmission oil on another vehicle or a previous ram with rfe transmission. its literally as easy as jacking up the rear high enough and having a way to pump in the oil.
a little grinding of an Allen key and a buddy to stay in the drivers seat while you go under. as long as one of you can read English youre good to go!
oh and bonus pic of the nice plastic debris i found in the bottom of my new pump! that long curly piece and a bunch of plastic sawdust. i flushed it out with some old atf+4 i had lying around.
also changed my transfer case oil first to get used to pump. used new atf+4 but thats another thread haha
hopefully this information will be useful to someone, happy wrenching!