Does my 03 Ram 1500 Hemi 4x4 have a drain plug on the transmission? i need to change the trany fluid but i wanted to know. and if they don't has anyone installed one?

thanks
justin

 

It's actually called a transmission, lol. At this point I would tell you to take it to the nearest repuable shop and let them do the work. JMO.
And no, the transmission pan does not have a drain plug. Do a search on here, there are a couple threads that will lead you through the steps. I just finished my filter change this morning.

 

oh yes, transmission, Must have misspelled it and spell check made it worse! Well that's what i thought... thanks!

 

you changed it, well now it's not as funny. Took me about 3 hrs taking my time and making sure everything was done right, longest part was getting the old rtv off the pan.

 

Too easy to do to pay someone for it, unless you don't have a place to work on your ride. It is a messy job, though. Nope, no drain plug. Just loosen all the bolts a bit and then the ones on the low side a bit more and let is slop over the rim. Many folks have made their own drain plugs (I'm not that brave) and some have bought pans with plugs in them. Generally, this adds capacity which is good.

 

This is the single biggest PIA of any maintenance job on a truck IMO. To the point that when my truck was due at 30,000 miles I just had the dealer do it. I did everything else and brought it to the dealer. Just impossible (for me, anyway) to not make a friggin mess when dropping the pan.
Since I do everything else myself (usually, although I have taken advantage of an oil change coupon from the dealer once in a while), it gives a good opportunity to have the truck on a lift and checked over for anything else might be an issue. Ball joints, tie rods, etc. are easy to check with the truck in the air. A second set of eyes is never a bad idea.

If I was going to do it myself, I would probably opt for a good aftermarket pan such as a Mag Hytec. You get a drain plug, a tap for mounting a temp gauge and the additional benefit of cooling fins and added fluid capacity for better cooling. Not cheap, but the cost of would be recouped after about 3 times paying the dealer for the change. A mag-hytec or equivalent start at about $225 and the one time I had it done by the dealer, they charged me $130.

For anybody who tows on a regular basis, one of these covers and a temp gauge would be a no-brainer mod anyway, even without the consideration of the drain plug...