I am somewhat mechanical, but was just curious if I can change all of the fliuds myself or if I should prepare my leg for the dealers removal? I am mainly talking about differential & transmission. I know I should be fine w/ coolant & oil. Anything I'm not thinking of?

 

front and rear differentals should also be changed. i changed mine the first 3000 miles and put in ams oil 75-90wt severe gear lube, then at the 15000 mark. but i pull trailers quite a bit. its fairly easy to do if you got the time, takes bout 30-45 minutes each, with time to spare. would recommend getting a bottle pump to pump the fluid in rather than trying to pour it. just my thoughts

 

How hard is it to do this service? Never changed the differential before - always had it done in the past on other trucks. What about the tranny? W/ it being so expensive to replace, will warranty give me additional trouble if I am doing this service instead of the dealer.

 

As for warranty make sure you keep good records. TBTW, this is what the dealer told me in a letter after I bought mine in April and I quote: "Whether performed by us or you, the service should be properly documented. This will insure that the factory warranty coverage requirements are met."

Charles

 

Differentials are not that hard. You just take the entire cover off (get a pan to catch all the fluid and just loosen the top bolt enough so when you crack the seal, the bolt holds the cover in place until all the fluid is gone and you don't have to catch it), do a general wipedown, clean the sealing surfaces, apply new RTV, and bolt the cover back on. Then refill it. If you can, let the RTV cure before filling it. And with the tranny, I've only done manual trans, which is super easy. I've never done any automatics.

 

Do you know what /how much fluid to use? What's the best?

 

Do you have and owners manual, if so it's in their and if not ask a part house or your local Dodge dealer.

 

hmmm. who'd a thunk it.

 

My owners manual for a 2000 model did not provide the fluid capacities for the auto trans or front differential.

I changed my auto trans fluid and filter and flushed the entire system. It took about 16-17 quarts to complete. Do a search on this forum and you'll find the post.

If you have a limited slip differential make sure to get the proper additicve or buy a lube which already contains it.

If yuo can afford to go with synthetics, go for it. Amsoil is good but there's some question in my mind at least whether Amsoil meets the ATF-4 spec.

Regards, Glenn

On edit, info from my previous post on this subject. Note this is for a 47RE trans in a 2000 model.

It took a total of 16 quarts to complete the filter replacement and flush. Six quarts after the filter was changed out, then 10 during the flush. I suppose you could use more if you let the the flush go longer than I did, it comes out pretty quickly. I stopped it as quickly as I could once I saw the noticable color change in the fluid.

Also drained and refilled the transfer case, took 3 quarts.

 

as soon as I finaly get gutters on my house[:@]

I'll hopefully have a how to on the diffs tranny transfer and engine oil

just gotta get the oil first and right now I need gutters. the wifey wont like the bill from amsoil since I'm ordering oil for a year but she'll understand when she runs out of coupons on her car for free oil changes