I drove a 6.7 with the 6spd Auto today, and I have to say that I'm pretty darned impressed with it. I know that the power ratings are not that muchhigher than those of the 5.9, but the truck feels like it has WAY more. Some of it may be the trasnmission, which is much smoother than the old 4spd auto, and the gears just feel like they are placed much better. Probably the biggest and most notable difference for me was the almost complete lack of turbo lag. There's no waiting for the turbo to spool up. She winds up almost as soon as you step on the throttle. Burn outs into 3rd gear are possible! This truck is going to go through some rear rubber.I was driving a 3500 witha limited slip rear end, and both tirescould still bebroken loose with very little effort.The range select feature on the new auto is almost like having a push button version of auto stick, and it works very well. My first impressions of this truck are 100%positive. Now I guess we'll just have to wait and see how the new engine and drivetrain do over the long haul.

 

Nothing like getting a few extra gears in the slush box! To tell you the truth, once my 48RE grenades I will be looking for an Allison 6 spd from Suncoast.

 

Someone looking for a new business opportunity
who has good mechanical skills and a garage
could begin retro-fitting the Aisin 6 speed
to 3rd Gen Dodge trucks (maybe even 2nd Gen),
since DCx engineers have done most of the
engineering of things like transmission mounts already,
and companies like BG Chrysler could do PCM flashes.

In Asia (Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, Japan)
there are wrecked, burned, junked
midliner commercial trucks and buses that have
this trans, so some can even be bought used.

Customers could be more than Cummins Rams,
as there already was a Mopar/Aisin bell housing
from Jeeps:
old post
---------
(concerning the manual transmissions used in early Dakotas)
Some of the 5-speeds are the AX-15's, which are on the weak side.
However, they share the same bellhousing bolt pattern with many other
transmissions made by Aisin-Warner. The stoutest of which is probably the
R-154 found in the late-80's to early 90's Toyota Supra turbos. They're FAT
transmissions, with a beefy cast iron mid plate that happens to fall very near
where the trans crossmember is in an A-body.

I'm mulling on that swap right now. The Dak bellhousing & flywheel are the way
to do that swap, as it's a near bolt in... once you have the space in the
trans tunnel. FWIW, the 4.7L and 5.7L v-8's have the same bolt pattern on the
back of the block, and even the 3.7L Jeep engine does too. The 6-speed behind
the Jeep Liberty turbo diesel looks interesting (also has the same bellhousing
bolt pattern), but I bet it's not a small trans, either.

Clair

 

the new asian 6spd will fit behind the 5.9, same bolt pattern for the bell housing, all you need to do is reprogram the PCM

 

Oh, another note. For some this will be a good thing. For me personally it's bad, but I'm more performance oriented. Anyway, this thing is VERY quiet for a diesel.

 

instead of 3 injection events of the 600, these new engines have 5 injection events to increase mileage, power, and reduce noise level. . .I wonder what one of these things would sound like with some stacks

 

I have always thought the stacks were cool on the big diesel trucks. I hear that modifications to the exhaust on this truck are going to be a bit of a pain though, due to the backpressure sensors.