I'm thinking of just having a local shop do my tranny and diff maintenance.

2005 1500 SLT 4x4 - 5.7 Hemi. 129,000 KM.

He's a good guy and hes suggesting the flush is the way to go. I have read that its not best to do a flush, but I trust the guy so its hard to say no to it.

He'll do a full flush, change both filters, all new ATF+4 fluid (Doesn't use the 3 + additive, uses real +4), both diffs with the friction modifier additive if its required and also do the transfer case. $634.00 all in. I figure thats a pretty good deal, considering the stealership is nearly $1000 and the guy I spoke to on the phone sounded like he didnt know what he was talking about when I asked him about the extra filter. On top of that, he couldnt give me a price on the spin on filter.

I was also thinking the plugs should be done and I have heard its a pain in the a$$ to do them for the most part? He said he would check them first to see if they need to be done, but with 129K on them he figures its been too long. He qouted me $287 all in for that.

Thoughts guys? I did my brakes myself last weekend, I'm just not sure if I am in the mood to tackle this stuff right now, if I run in to issues I'll be pissed.

 

A flush may not be such a good idea unless he knows how to do it using the cooling hoses. $634 is a lot of money for a $350 job. If he'll throw in the plug change, that may be an OK deal.

If you can do brakes, you can do the fluid changes.

 

thats a rip. just saying

Do it yourself. All those are very very simple.

Diff's - 4qts total, I used royal purple and it was $~68. Add some RTV $5
Diff Total = ~$73

Transmission = 2 Filters, RTV or gasket and I think 7 qts of ATF4 ~$80

Plugs 16 x $1.30-2.00 20-30$

At the very most $190. It is all very very simple to do. There are TONS of DIY Threads all over.

The diffs took me about 1.5 each. It takes 1hour for it to set. Took about 10mins to drain, 10 mins to clean, 10 mins to assemble and 3-5mins to add fluid per diff.

Tranny takes about 2 hours if you do it carefully.

I've never done plugs on these, heard they take anywhere from 2-4hours.

 

I just spoke to two other dealerships, one said to do a flush and it was definitley recommended, another said not to do the flush and its not recommended...

The shop guy (non dealership) that was doing the flush for $630, including parts labour, the diffs, tranny and transfercase does the flush with the cooling hoses.

If a guy does the change himself, then you're not changing all the oil obviously, is that a bad thing I am wondering? Also, what about the transfer case, that doesnt happen unless you do the flush right?

 

Umm, he did say full flush which is actually 17qts. Sure the pan has 7-8qts, but the torque converter holds more than the pan and the cooler/lines hold another qt as well.

People get misguided by the whole FLUSHING of a transmission. If the place is simply pushing the old fluid out with the new fluid, that is perfectly safe. If they are using a Chemical cleaner, then that is NOT safe.
I love it when guys feel the need to neglect a full system flush because they are misguided and too afraid to get it done. Not doing proper maintenance makes you worse off.
Doing a transmission flush can be as simple as this and is pretty much what the machine does.....Unplug your return line and put it in a bucket, Now start your truck and let the fluid pump out on it's own until is starts sputtering. Then re-fill up the trans pan(through the dipstick) and start the truck up to circulate the fluid and wait until it starts sputtering again. The third time, you'll watch for the fluid to become bright red and shut the truck off when it does. Then, top off the fluid in the pan and you have just essentially flushed out all the old fluid and the transmission pump did all the work for you. There is minimal mixing going on while your refilling and pumping out. You'll get 95% new fluid in there by doing it this way. This method is exactly what happens when the machine is hooked up to it besides the continuous flow where as you have to shut the truck off and re-fill the pan back up. This is why I get baffled when guys refuse to do this service. As long as there are no chemicals being pumped in, your 100% safe!
You can unplug your return line and pump the pan fluid out BEFORE dropping the pan to do the filters. This makes dropping the pan super easy and non-messy. Then you can do the fill and drain as stated above to get all the old fluid out.


Doing this all yourself can be a PIA and messy. All the parts together will only add up as such;
Trans=17qts ATF+4
Transfer case 3qts ATF+4
Front diff 2qts of 80w-90
Rear diff 3qts 75w-140

So thats 20qts of ATF+4. At $7/bottle that's $140
75w-140= 3 X $20 = $60
80w-90 = 2 X $15 = $30
RTV = $5
Trans filters no more than $50
Total = $285 plus tax

Now, labor is usually the same cost as the parts, even more so when you use special equiptment like a transmission fluid machine. So, $630 isn't all that high, although I think that he could do a radiator flush as well for that price.

Plugs are basic copper ONLY and are due every 30kmi. I think for the price of $2 per plug x $16....$32 total, you can save yourself $250. Matter of fact, you can buy a 6pack and save yourself $240..lol

 

I wouldnt do a full tranny flush. Thats why i just gave the amount to do a basic service.

 

So, your just gonna neglect your transmission then? Makes no sense! dropping the pan gets you a mix of 60%old w/40% new which is not much better than 100% old.
Your not being intrusive at all when doing a flush. Did you read what I posted above? Your trans flows all the fluid itself and circulates it out just like it does when you drive down the road. All the fluid goes through your filter just like normal. There is no backward flushing if that's what you are thinking.


Just to add, I've flushed every vehicle I have ever owned (32) and never once had a problem from flushing the trans like I described above.
I've also done flushes on customers cars with never an issue. ~150cars to date.

 

I've done the pan drop a couple of times in the past to my Ram. I learned the return line trick here and did it last week. Felt good to get all the old fluid out.

 

Dirty Dog, thanks for the break down, really appreciate it and it makes sense. I'll double check with the shop and ask them if they use any chemical cleaners or its just a fluid swap with the flush they do. If I did the flush myself, how long do you think a job like that takes, I dont have a lift so it will be done on my garage floor, and hoping it doesnt turn in to a ridiculously messy job. also with that amount of oil I'll probably have to dump it a few times.

My thought is that i could do the line method to evacuate all the oil. Drop the pan, replace both filters and the pan, then start running fluid through again which will evacuate even more old oil I take it and wait until it turns bright red?

With the diffs, do I have to put in any Friction modifier additive and is that conventional oil or should a guy be going to synthetic? Also, how hard is it to do the front diff?

Also, with the plugs, I'm sure I could do them myself, do them on my other vehicles. Only thing I am worried about is reading its a PITA to do the rear cylinders. Any idea what to tourqe them to or do you just do it by feel? My dad always does it the old way "by feel", where I tend to stick to the book, just not sure if I can get a tourqe wrench in there.

I suppose I could get the shop to the tranny and diff service and I tackly the plugs on my own. That would save a bit of coin.

 

The diffs specify synthetic fluid. You only need friction modifier if you have LSD. Apparently the front one is somewhat of a pain, but perhaps not horrible. Plug torque is 12-14 ft. lbs (or snug + 1/8). Don't forget the anti-seize and dielectric grease.

The tranny service is messy, for sure. Just make sure you have plenty of newspaper. A 5 gal. bucket should be sufficient to hold the old fluid. You may need to empty the catch-pan a couple of times.