Lmao I was agreeing with you

 

Well, I can say that my 08 5.7L 545RFE has been tuned with a Diablosport tuner since almost new and at 105,5xx miles, I have never had 1 issue with the transmission. I don't always drive it easy and have done quite a bit of towing as well. My only complaint is that the 2nd prime gear engages on kickdown at slow speeds, which is annoying when towing. I have to manually drop it in 2nd to accelerate when loaded. Lots of myths mentioned in earlier posts for sure.

 

Haven't had a peep of trouble out of the 545RFE in my 03' Dakota. I've towed heavy over the years, sometimes 16 hours RT. It helps that I've got the tow package with the large tranny cooler. I also installed an aftermarket drain plug in the pan and been draining it every 25K. Filters have been changed a few times too. It's my DD with312,000 miles on it now. No rebuilds, same with 4.7L.

 

330,000 miles, no trans issues. 06 mega cab 5.7

 

LOL....good that you have a cooler, but that's not a "large" one. That's the standard 1500 size. Large would be this one:




When left bone stock, the RFE is fine. Problems arise when 345hp (or for the 09-13 4th gen, 390-395hp) isn't enough. Even at stock power though, it defines the word slush box. I wish to god I could take the TCM out of one my LX's and jam it into my 03. Supposedly there is hope, Sound German says their ZF retro harness will work but since it's kinda designed for CAN bus no one has been brave enough to try it in a PCI bus vehicle. 8HP70 out of a 4th gen would be nice.

 

That's NOT what she said!

 

I was thinking the same thing. The 1500 trans cooler is the size of my power steering cooler!