@horatio102:
So outside of drag racing and tractor pulls, the 68hfe is a good transmission for normal service duty within it's stock design/weight class (and assuming regular maintenance is performed to keep it as fresh as possible)?.

Another variable I just learned, that the 68hfe is pre '07 and the Aisin AS68RC is used on 2007-present Ram 3500/4500/5500.

Curious of what "tuning" options exist for either to accommodate a particular need (i.e. general use vs: towing or off-road). Is it chip programmable or physical mods required?

Apologize if I'm touching on previously discussed topics....I'll venture around the forums for a while to educate myself

 

I had a busy destroy his auto tray in my drive way with two foot of snow. He was not smart about spinning out. He learned the hard way. About 4000 to completely rebuild and beef it up for towing. He also put a trans temp gauge and a separate cooler on it. He has had no problems since, even when he plays in the snow. Ultimately, heat is what kill tranys. But even the week ones you can make better with a tow kit installed. I prefer manuals.

 

The 68RFE is worse than the 48RE, in my opinion.

And no, the 68RFE was NOT used prior to 07; ALL automatic trannies in Dodge diesels from 94-07 are basically the same 4 speed overdrive automatic; 47RH in 94-95, 47RE from 96-03, 48RE from 03-07. ALL automatics in a 2500/3500 non chassis cab from 07.5+ (6.7L diesel) are 68RFE's. ALL automatics in a cab and chassis truck from 07+ are the Aisin.

As for the Allison swap, why pay in the 10k range to put a STOCK Allison behind the Cummins that almost certainly WILL fail?? You can spend anywhere from roughly 3500 upwards of 8k+ on the Dodge auto and it will hold up just fine (as long as you don't go with a chit builder like I did...)

As for the stock unit being "junk", I beg to differ. Most of the problems I've seen are from trucks running a programmer or just from abuse/neglect. There are countless thousands running around on stock transmission with nary a hiccup.

 

Worse than the 48? There are no bands to go out of adjustment, a lot more clutches for power handling, and better gear ratios all around... how's that worse?

The 4xRE is failure prone at stock power levels no matter what engine it sits behind... the 46re behind 318 and 360s rarely see 100k miles without a rebuild, the 47 and 48 are no different when bolted to stock Cummins/v10 applications.

I'd take a stock 68rfe over a stock 4xre 10 times out of 10 times.



The 68rfe should be plenty strong/reliable for normal service. Mine was fine even doing the sled pulling w/44k pound sled. What killed it was power braking in 4-high. 1100+ lb-ft of torque just liquified the clutches and warped the steels. None of the shafts/drums/pistons were affected, it was JUST clutch destruction.

The ATF+4, according to allpar, was developed to replace ATF+3 with one major difference. ATF+3 has a ~30k mile life span, the ATF+4 was designed to last 100k miles. For severe duty though, I'd probably flush it on a more regular basis.

 

My dad has a 2001 cummins w/ automatic transmission. Had transmission rebuilt 3 times, and truck only has 92000 miles. He is looking into ATS Transmissions W/ heavy duty TripleLok® Torque Converter, and Co-Pilot transmission controller (he already has for exhaust brake. Anyone like or dislike ATS?

 

I'm a big fan of Suncoast transmissions.