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I currently have a Ram and belong to a Ram forum. I asked on there why I should stick with Ram when it seemed Ford had several advantages for my particular application.
Several people mentioned problems with the 10-sp with links to articles etc about it. So I searched on here and couldn't find a single post about the tranny. Is it a matter of Ram owners' sour grapes, something "we just don't talk about" or maybe something that was a problem but has been addressed?
I think a majority of the 10R140 problems were on the earlier trucks. Several of these out there now with well over 300k on them. The biggest advantage is the fuel economy. Ram has had their fair share of transmission problems also. The only decent Ram transmission I would consider is the Aisin.
There have been no big reliability issues.
There have been issues with rough shifting, and those have pretty much been dealt with, with TCM updates.
And, many owners were not prepared for having to live with the trans learning mode, where some shifts, especially downshifts, were rough to begin with, but as the trans learned the driver's habits, it smoothed out. But, that is by design.
I had one issue with my truck's trans, but after a TCM re-flash, everything has been smooth.
No tranny issues with heavy towing too. One tip would be to NOT follow fords recommended service interval. I changed mine recently at 62K. Here is the magnet in the pan. you can see a layer of the break in materials on the magnet, otherwise it was fine.
There was a build date cutoff in 2022 when they updated the CDF drum. It would hang up and cause slamming shifts occasionally. A few people had too much fluid from the factory which caused the same issues. And for some reason the diesel trucks only had some TCM re-flashes that seemed to help them. There are a few cases of transmissions needing totally replaced or rebuilt but very few.
It seems like all of the issues were happening well within the warranty period and not on the 2023-24 trucks unless they just don't have enough miles on them to have problems yet but doubtful. 5th year building the 10spd now and a lot of people like it.
Put 100,000 miles on my 2020 F350 a lot of that towing my horses around the west. No problems. I think a lot of the problems you hear about trans have to do with deleted/tuned trucks
most of the Ford 10spd failure myths stem from issues with the F150's 10R80 not the Super Duty 10R140. ....there were also some early 10R140 issues that have dissipated since and I'd agree that most complaints have to do with the way the tranny operates rather than actual failures......that said, all transmissions with have some failures.
Dodge/Ram guys are sensitive because they've had a poor reputation for automatic transmission longevity over the past 20-30 years; 47, 47RE, 48RE. 68RFE.... the only automatic transmission I'd fully trust behind the Cummins would be the Aisin but Ram has made it hard to get buy making it an HO, 3500 only option. But even the Aisin is behind the times and 6 gears isn't competitive any longer. Ram needs to (and I suspect they will soon) have a 8 or 10 spd tranny behind the Cummins to compete with Ford and GM......a beefed up ZF8 would be great IMO.
Dodge/Ram guys are sensitive because they've had a poor reputation for automatic transmission longevity over the past 20-30 years; 47, 47RE, 48RE. 68RFE.... the only automatic transmission I'd fully trust behind the Cummins would be the Aisin but Ram has made it hard to get buy making it an HO, 3500 only option. But even the Aisin is behind the times and 6 gears isn't competitive any longer. Ram needs to (and I suspect they will soon) have a 8 or 10 spd tranny behind the Cummins to compete with Ford and GM......a beefed up ZF8 would be great IMO.
Cheers,
Dave
In 614,000 miles, the 68RFE in my 2015 RAM 2500 never gave me any issues, and was still working fine when I sold the truck.
Now, it was not a smooth transmission, but it never failed.
I maintained the POO out of it, pan fluid swaps every 60K, new filters every 120K, but every time I did that, the old fluid looked perfectly fine.
Only trans related issue I had was a bad harness, but that was external, not part of the trans, and a harness connector repair fixed that.
So, a 68RFE can be a very workable transmission, just has to be treated right.
But, yes, they will have to come up with a new trans for the RAM's if for no other reason than to catch up with the GM and Ford HD trucks.
But, yes, they will have to come up with a new trans for the RAM's if for no other reason than to catch up with the GM and Ford HD trucks.
When the 68RFE showed up in the 2007.5 6.7 Cummins powered trucks, the 6.4L nightmare was still a model year away, we were 4 years away from the 6r140, the US national debt was $9 trillion and I was still in college (with a lot more hair). To say it is long in the tooth is an understatement.
In 614,000 miles, the 68RFE in my 2015 RAM 2500 never gave me any issues, and was still working fine when I sold the truck.
Now, it was not a smooth transmission, but it never failed.
I liked the 6 speeds I drove with Rams too, they were smooth enough for me. My only complaint was its 1-2 gearing gap that could be dangerous on steep uphill on-ramps when towing a heavy trailer. But as far as shifting I venture to say it is on par with my 10R140, gear count and ratio differences notwithstanding.
There was a build date cutoff in 2022 when they updated the CDF drum. It would hang up and cause slamming shifts occasionally. A few people had too much fluid from the factory which caused the same issues. And for some reason the diesel trucks only had some TCM re-flashes that seemed to help them. There are a few cases of transmissions needing totally replaced or rebuilt but very few..
do you recall when that cut off was? I am curious if my mid march build 2022 has the old or new CDF drum
do you recall when that cut off was? I am curious if my mid march build 2022 has the old or new CDF drum
I read the letter and I'm thinking it was 5/31/2022 for some reason and my truck was built 6/6/2022 but when my truck was new I had some of the symptoms the CDF drum caused so I wondered what my trans build date was and if it was transmissions built by the date on the letter or trucks built by the date on the letter. I'll try to find it and post it
The CDF drum TSB was originally recognized in 2021 as models built by April 2020 that was TSB 21-2323
The same exact TSB was updated to all 2020 models in May 2023 and that is TSB 23-2160. I havent found the TSB with any models other than 2020 even though they didn't change the part until 2022 sometime.
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