In looking under my 1500/5.7 I see very little clearance between the transmission pan and the exhaust cross over pipe. Will the pan, once drained, slide forward for filter(s) change with no problem? Is MOPAR gasket goo essential or will Permatex black gasket goo be safe for pan re-seal? Thanks

 

Ya they gave ya barely enough room. Easier getting off than on,overall pretty easy job.

 

Must be 4x4. When I did my service, I had a gasket. I used just enough Permatex to hold the gasket steady.

You probably know: this is a messy job. Newspaper - lots and lots of newspaper.

 

as the others have said, yes there is enough room, no you don't need MOPAR specific RTV. Permatex or loctite RTV should work fine.

It's a messy job, and there really is no way to avoid getting trans fluid all over that cross over pipe (and everywhere else) with the stock pan. I have swapped out my trans pan to a mag-hytech that has a drain plug which should make next time much easier and cleaner. to help mitigate the mess i pumped as much trans fluid out via the fill tube and a hand held transfer pump. this reduced the amount of fluid that had to drain out the edge of the pad.

make sure you check the o-ring seal on the flat filter, and read the thread on the batch of faulty WIX transmission filters that had some drain back issues. I think they have it resolved, but it's worth a read so you know what to look for.

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/3rd-gen...blems-sos.html

nateroach