PPE Pan & 8-Speed Fluid Change

[VegasRob55]

I installed the PPE tranny Pan on my 19’ 1500 today. Ordered a new gasket to be safe and reused the factory bolts. Everything installed well. My Laramie with 68,000 miles took 7.5qts of Valvoline Extended Protection Full Synthetic ATF. I can’t believe how buttery smooth the transmission feels again. I feel like I got all my torque back. Crazy… I didn’t expect it to feel any different, as it always felt good and smooth. The guy who did it said my fluid smelled as bit burnt. I tow a 6,000 lb. trailer (dry weight) on camping trips, and with my wife & 4 kids with all our gear, we are right around 7500 lbs. When daily driving, I drive pretty hard/fast. Also, the truck is lifted a couple inches on heavier 35” tires. I live in Vegas, and usually cruise around at 80-85 mph on the freeway when commuting. My transmission normally ran between 185F-189F when fully warm with no load. It is now running steadily between 174F-176F. I wasn't expecting such a decline in operating temps with the aluminum pan, but here we are. I hope to have the same cooling results when towing my trailer and loaded with all our camping gear. We'll see how that goes in a few weeks. Been a few hundred miles of spirited daily driving now, and so far, no leaks or issues to report. Great purchase overall.

 

[Darksteel165]

This reminds me I want to change the fluid on my 13 Acadia. It's got oem fluid and just hit 100k miles. It's got a drain plug, a fill cap and a dipstick though. I got a long while before my ram needs fluid as I don't tow and just hit 16k miles lol.

 

[VegasRob55]

I did a fluid change on my wife's 17' Suburban recently. That had a more traditional spill & fill process and has a dipstick. I did that one at 52,000 miles, as we tow a 6,000 lb. trailer with the Burban often for camping trips. Refilled that one with the regular Valvoline Maxlife ATF and it's shifting smooth as silk. I guess these 6L80 transmissions from GM are not great, so I will do these more frequently than on my RAM.

 

[JF19Longhorn]

I bought the stuff awhile back and had my buddies lift lined up this past weekend. We were supposed to do the trans and the front, passenger stub shaft / CV axle / bearings / etc.. the CV axle and stub shaft was a nightmare and took FOREVER. So Trans is probably hopefully gonna get done next weekend.