The only rust on my entire truck was blistering at the transmission oil pan. Thought I would go ahead and pull/replace the filters, scrape the rust, coat the pan and be back to good. Wrong, after scraping the blistered paint & metal, there was a hole about the size of a bee-bee in the area over the exhaust cross-over pipe.

On my way now to the dealer for a new pan at $60 American cash. All-in-all I am not disappointed, if this is my only failure at 123k miles, it is not that much of an issue. I just wanted to give other owners a heads-up to plan on buying a new transmission oil pan if they see blistering over the exhaust crossover pipe.

 

Might want to check the trans lines too. I haven't had any issues with my trans pan yet, but one of my trans lines rotted through after about 100K

 

Trans lines..."check"

The new pan sure is purdy. Of course I will be the only person to ever see it Lol. This was a satisfying project. Draining the old fluid into a large catch can was fairly easy, no mess. All the fasteners are accessible. The pan slips out without issue. The spin-on filter was tight, had to use large channel locks to loosen it. Screwing the new filter on took patience in order to prevent cross threading. The pan filter is specific for 4X4 and the new style pan. Added fluid to the Full Cold holes at 104 degrees F. trans temp. At trans temp of 156 degrees F. The fluid level was at the Full Hot holes.

Road test complete.

 

Mine got dented a few years back???? Anyhow I replaced it with The Mag Hytec pan, it holds 2 more quarts in the sump, no issues probably keeps it a bit cooler between the fins, and added capacity, looks pretty trick as well; at least I know its there, lol.

 

That's the way I would have done it, with a Mag Hytec or PML. Always make a repair a MOD...

 

Mag Hytec pan is on my TO-DO list for this month. I had all Mag-Hytec's on my 01.5' CTD. Top notch stuff.

 

By the way, in the future if anybody needs a factory pan for the 99-11' 45RFE, they sell brand new in the Mopar box including shipping for $38.00 on Ebay.

 

That doesnt help when you have a hole in your pan and your truck is your only transportation..