I am in the process of changing my transmission fluid and filter. I have already taken down my pan and I am about to adjust my rear and front bands. How do I drain the fluid that is still say inside the torque converter. I thought that last time I did this I dropped the pan, changed the filter and filled the transmission up and then disconnected the lower supply line (with the check valve) that goes into the radiator. I then started the truck put it into neutral and kept the line disconnected till I started seeing clean fluid coming out. But it has been sometime and that might have been for a different transmission.

Ran multiple searches and came up blank. Anyone shed some light on the subject?

 

Don't worry about the rest of the fluid. You are changing around a third of it as is, that's adequate. (unless the fluid is burnt... in which case, flushing it will likely make the trans stop working.....)

 

No fluid is red. Does that mean I should change it sooner then 30k in the future? Any thoughts on the band adjustment? The front band looks like a major pain because of the spring etc. Rear band looks pretty easy.

 

Nope. 30K intervals are just fine, and I believe are what Dodge suggests.

Lots of opinions on band adjustment....... I have been going by MonteC's recommendation of torquing them to 72 INCH pounds, then backing them off two turns. According to popular theory, you CAN do the adjustment without dropping the valve body.

 

Do yourself a favor and get an aftermarket pan with a drain plug or put a drain plug in your factory pan. Also, if it doesn't have it already, go to a dodge dealer and get the nice reusable gasket. I love mine. It's never leaked since I went to the updated gasket.

All just recommendations. Things I'm glad I've done to my 46re over time and wish I had done them sooner

 

​​​​​​
Thanks, yup have a dorman with a drain plug and rubber gasket. Also a derale cooler and transmission filter and temp gauge 😊

Have you adjusted your bands? How many miles on your tranny?

 

Sweet! You have more than I do! And yeah I have. It's been a while though. She doesn't get driven much anymore. I did it by the book. I have a factory service manual. So whatever the factory process was is what I did.

I bought the truck well used and assume the tranny was likely rebuilt at some point before I bought it. The truck has 268,000 miles at the moment. I bought it with 215,000 miles and not a maintenance record one so unfortunately I have no idea if/when it was rebuilt. 215,000 leaves a lot on the table as far as possible maintenance that may or may not have been done. Everything leaks like crazy though so I think the majority of the truck is original and not well maintained