Hey yall, I got a 1999 dodge ram 1500 5.9 v8 with the 46RE transmission. I dropped the pan and changed the fluid and filter last night. Haynes manual said 4 qts, so I bought 5 at the store to be on the safe side. Well, little by little as I began to refill it, I realize 5 wouldnt be enough. I have a total of a little over 6.5 quarts in it now. I drove 15 miles home, and chcked the fluid. It was at bit below the bottom hatch mark (kinda closer to the MIN hole on the stick), so I added just under a half qt. When I added that, the fluid level came up to the middle of the cross hatched area. I thought I was golden at that point. I shut the truck off, and about 30 minutes later I drove 5 miles to my parents house. When I got there and checked the fluid, it was kinda hard to tell exactly where it was, but the fluid is at or very close to the MAX line on the dipstick. The dips stick and trans lines to the cooler where hot to the touch, but the fluid wasnt extremely hot. Im worried that once the trans gets hot it might be overfilled. I havent seen any bubbles in the fluid that would make me suspect aeration, but being that close to the line makes me a little uneasy. What do yall think? thanks in advnace as always

 

The dipstick is a PITA to read. As long as you are checking it in neutral and it is in the OK zone, just add a little at a time and or leave it as is.

 

+1 on the dipstick being a PITA!

 

Yeah. It really is, that has to be one of the worst designs. Do you think I should try to suck a little of the fluid out of the filler tube? Its so hard to tell where the level is because the fluid is thinner the higher you go up the stick (I guess it runs back as you pull it out), but its surely very close to the max line I suppose. Im worried it might be past the max line when its heated up from towing. Do yall suppose im ok?

 

Leave it as is for now, way too much much over thinking going on here.

 

I'll be the first one to admit I'm pretty **** about things like this, but I just dont want to have a big problem. I'm gonna leave it be, I just wanted to make sure that its not gonna be too much when the fluid gets real hot and expands. Dont want a tranny rebuild to be in my near future...

 

So you have just under 7qts? Make sure when you check engine is at normal operating temp, tranny in neutral (do set the e brake), and on level ground. Give it another check. I would hope with either 6.5qt or 7qt after a pan drop and refill you'd be perfectly fine.

 

When I checked it, the water temp read just at 210, i was in neutral on level ground and it was at the max line. The worry that I had here is im not sure how hot the trans fluid actually was. it expands as it gets hot, am i correct? I tow a decent bit and i didnt want it to expand and become overfilled and aerate the fluid.

 

It seems you are really worried about it. Since you tow, do you know if your truck even has a worthless tow package? If not, since you do tow.

Remove the check valve. (look in the FAQ section)
Add a better tranny cooler(look in the FAQ section)
Don't tow anything in OD.

 

I think you'll be fine. And yes the fluid does expand but from what I've read it's an ignorable amount