But what about having it flushed? Isn't that something that can't be done if I do it on my own. I called Aamco Transmission today and he quoted me $250 for a transmission flush and service, differential and transfer case servicing. He said he just drains the differentials though and doesn't take the covers off to clean inside the housing? For $250 that sounds pretty well worth it to have it professionally done. Should I have him take the diff covers off and clean the inside or is it not worth it with just 36,000 miles?

 

If you were in Missouri, Id offer to do a full flush for $50 labor, You buy the filters and fluid. I never saw a point in the flush. Sure you get the fluid out of the TC, But whats the point. As long as you keep your maintance up to schedule you pretty much keep all the fluid fresh anyways.

 

Flushes often do more harm than good. Shops also often do the flush and don`t change the filter which needs to be done. If it was me I wouldn`t do a flush but thats up to you. As for the differentials I would probably want the covers pulled and it all cleaned but i`m just picky about that stuff. I`ve also learned often when dealing with vehicles if you want stuff done right you are usually better off doing it yourself.

 

I am willing to do it if it saves me a worthy amount of money. Does anybody suggest a certain type of transmission fluid for the transmission and transfer case: Mobil 1, Amsoil, Royal Purple, Mopar? I know it takes 17 quarts for the transmission, but how many pints for the transfer case? Also, what kind of transfer case do I have? So how many quarts should I get to do the transmission and transfer case?

And for the differentials, is the front a C205F and the rear a 9.25? On the amsoil site it says I need 3.4 pints and the rear needs 4.9 pints.

Some pointers with what I need for the job would be helpful. Like I said, I've changed the fluid on my differentials on my 2001 Ram in the past, but I haven't done a transmission before. I'm just not sure how much fluid I need to get, and what kinds I need. Thank You.

 

17 quarts? Are you sure about that? I don't know the exact amount the 3rd gens take but 17 quarts is extremely high. That sounds more like the amount it would take to do a flush not a drain and refill.

As for the fluid I honestly like to run Mopar brand fluids in the transmission just because Dodges already don't have the best transmissions and their fluid seems to be pretty highly recommended. It's also already synthetic so no need to worry about that.

I just don't like flushes for transmissions. Chances are on a truck with as few as miles as yours it would be fine however, I'd not be willing to take that chance. If you start doing them when it's new and keep doing them you seem to have less problems however imo it's still an inferior method.

The problem seems to be that often it will unlodge a spec of dirt or sludge or something that will then go and mess up the transmission. This is not as often in newer vehicles however, it's just not really a good thing to do imo. Often times shops also flush it but don't change the filter so it flushes all that junk out of the filter into the transmission which you also don't want. Not to mention the filter really needs to be changed. Overall, it's a lot cheaper and usually a lot better to just drain the old fluid, replaced the filter, and refill the transmission.

Some guys like flushes but most all the people I've ever heard from don't like them and I've read quite a few reports of people having issues afterward. I do know when I was younger I worked in a shop for a little while and they did transmission flushes. Not sure if they ever had people that had issues afterward or not as I didn't deal with that part of it.

 

It's kind of weird because I keep getting mixed reviews from people on transmission servicing. Some shops advocate for the flush (probably because it's more expensive) while other shops advocate for just dropping the pan, changing the filter and gasket, and refilling it. The shops that are suggessting just the pan drop say it should be fine since it has such low miles. They also say the only time they would suggest a flush was if there was a problem with a transmission (which also confuses me because wouldn't that be the worse time to flush it since there would most likely be a contaminants floating around in the pan?).

Anyways, I've decided to just have it dropped, and it costs just $80 with a new filter and gasket. I told the shop I wanted them to use whatever the factory suggests. They also are going to do the transfer case and both differentials; totaling $210. They told me they are just going to drain the differentials and not take the covers off, he said it should be fine at such low miles. To me, it doesn't seem worth me doing it for such a low price like that. Once I complete this, my truck will be fully maintained up to do date and I can wait till 50,000 to do the differentials again.

 

I wouldn't take a chance with the rear diff if you have a limited slip. When you change, that is the fluid is a perfect time to inspect what is going on in there and see if there are any problems. Got to take the cover off to do that inspection.

 

I agree with you on that, I learned that whole experience with my previous 2001 Ram. Fortunately, this truck didn't come with a factory lsd.

 

The rear diff is extremely easy, With the tools and materials ready it is less than a 10 minute job.
Even if you do a flush, The pan ALWAYS needs to be dropped and the filters changed. There is no way a flush will ever get every peice of junk out of the filters and it will probably dislodge or loosen some of it.

I would have them remove the cover completely to the rare diff and check it out. Once you disturb the gasket material it needs to be replaced and it is an opotunity to check are known to fail LSD's.

Flushes rarely harmful on trannies with less than about 150K mile on them. Where they are harmful is in negelectied and real old trannies where the clutch material and gasket material has had a chance to degrade. I have pulled apart transmissions where the clutch material was just barely there, Once you touch or disturb it, it just sort of falls apart. However I have also had the benefeit of pulling apart newer and well taken care of trannies and the clutch material is alot more pliable and can withstand being disturbed.
If your trannie were to a point where a flush would harm it, I would recommend not even changing the fluid because it wouldn't have long to go anyways.

As far as what fluid to use, I swear by mobile 1 synthetic, RP is good to but to pricey for my blood and amsoil is good but pricey and hard to get without waiting.

 

Well here's my question; Aamco offers three different types of transmission services. The first one just drops the pan, changes the fluid, filter, and gasket and that's it. The second service just flushes the system without taking the pan off. And the third type of service takes the pan off, changes the filter, flushes the system, and changes the gasket. Should I just do the third one?

As for their 4x4 servicing, they service the front and rear differentials as well as the transfer case. For the differentials, should I have them remove both covers, clean it, and then fill it up? I know my truck doesn't have a LSD, so would a simple drain and fill be adequate or should I have them remove the covers, replace the gaskets, clean inside the housing, and then fill the differentials?

I apologize if I sound redundant, but I'm just very **** about stuff like this.