Hey Guys,

I just upgraded from a 96 1500 to an 07 1500 Hemi. Its a sweet ride and I plan to keep it a while. All I know that has been done is oil and filter change. Any recommendations on other preventative maintenance? Tranny fluid?

 

yes trans fluid.
fluids ranked in order of importance
-engine oil
-trans
-coolant
-diffs and tcase
-brake
-p/s
=
-perform a suspension check for worn tie rods, ball joints, wheel bearings
-check for exhaust manifold leaks...broken manifold bolts are common...if you can pull back the heat shields...the bolts are broken.
-inspect the brakes pads
-check rear rear axle seal leaks.

 

Check the maintenance schedule in the manual. If you don't know what has been done so far, assume it hasn't and do all of the recommended maintenance.

 

Pertaining to the tranny fluid, would you reccommend a flush or pan drop?

 

Pan drop only. Flushing leads to bad things.

 

old flushing machines were bad...new exchange machine do not reverse flow or pressure pulse. i've done my 3 used cars purchases; have not had any problems. My car was at 200 000kilometers and done with a exchange machine and 2 trucks; at 250 000 and 170 000 both of which were 545rfe trans...fluid exchange done manually/no machine. 70 000miles is pretty low mileage.... is around the trans fluid service interval so drop the pan and if only normal build up is seen i would not have issues changing the filter and running 10 -15 liters of trans fluid through it.

the concern is new fluid has detergents and could loosen crud build up from a dirty trans and go into the valve body. If that concerns you..do the pan drop.

there is a great thread on this site with all the info for doing your own driveway trans fluid exchange for this trans.