The 8 speed oil change thread

[hemihustlin]

I was looking for a thread to document my recent 8 speed oil change experience, where everyone can document their experience and discuss tips and tricks, special tools, procedures and oil/filter choices et cetera

I didn't readily find such a thread, so here it is!

I have been wanting to change the oil on my zf 8hp70 for a while now, but only started gathering tools and oil in the last month or so. like everyone says when they see the condition of the drained oil "why did i wait so long?"

2021 1500 classic warlock 5.7 112577km (69593 miles)

bought:
3 canuck gallons (5l jugs haha) of valvoline maxlife atf
a garden sprayer (made in usa nice!)
a 10mm allen key to sacrifice

already had 8mm allen key, floor jack and jack stands but had to call in my buddy with 7 ton Jack stands because 3t were no where close to being high enough to get the trans level
did not buy a filter/pan yet because ive going to do at least 2 drain/fill before changing filter


so for starters needed almost 20 inches under the diff to get the trans level. didn't have a real bubble level but used phone app and eye. made one correction (higher!) and it was looking good



now for the special tool part. i goofed up on this one lol. i bought a nice new 10mm key to sacrifice (i seem to remember reading people shortening allen keys to make it work)
so i started shortening it on the small end only to realize that it was not going to work like that. so i took one of the parts i cut off (a bit under 1/2") and taped it in a 10mm wrench and it was perfect
so i could have just taken that off the long end of my allen key and saved the working end lol oh well



the original oil as expected was definitely dirty, no extraordinary smell. transparent dirty green if you dipped your screwdriver in it and dark grey and murky looking in the tub

interestingly i only got 5 litres in and out. and i only measured at the end when i put the used oil in the container it was full to the brim and when i put the leftover fresh oil back in the second container it was full too.
admittedly i only let it drain for about 15 minutes. enough time to go get cold beer in the fridge and drink most of it haha
it was 30c 86f outside that afternoon. the fresh oil was sitting around outside all afternoon so it was already that hot when starting to fill. i got about 3.5l in motor off before it started flowing back out. put the plug back in and went and verified the trans temp before starting the level check procedure. 109f! holy ****! i had run the truck this morning but was parked at home before 11am and now its 3pm

so i said to my buddy well now its time for a break let that big girl cool down lol
he had errands to run in the next town over so we went and did that got back to my truck about 1.5h later
now 90ish degrees f so i said lets go!
put my buddy in the drivers seat and read him the green sheet instructions while i was standing next to him. as he was performing the procedure i told him once i jump under there keep it running until i say and give me a warning 10 degrees before 122
well as expected this was the most interesting part. it seems to take forever to pump the oil in when its running. the engine is pumping and the exhaust is rumbling and the temperature is steadily rising. it seems like youve been under there forever carefully holding the pump tube in the hole. now the exhaust is boiling hot and sweat is pouring off your forehead.
all of the sudden oil starts flowing back out the hole and you hear buddy yell something. keep pumping another 5 seconds as the oil continues to exit the fill hole. screw the plug in finger tight and crawl out from underneath
ask what the temp was when i crawled out. 120. alright we made it!
next time ill try to get cooler ambient temperatures, or keep the oil in the fridge or something lol

did a small 10 minute test drive last night and a bigger 30 min one today. everything is great. seems to shift even more smoothly and confidently than usual but it was already great, no complaints at all about its operation. im sure it will get even nicer again with another spill n fill and a filter and some miles on the fresh fluid.

all in all i would highly recommend this job to anyone that has previously changed transmission oil on another vehicle or a previous ram with rfe transmission. its literally as easy as jacking up the rear high enough and having a way to pump in the oil.
a little grinding of an Allen key and a buddy to stay in the drivers seat while you go under. as long as one of you can read English youre good to go!



oh and bonus pic of the nice plastic debris i found in the bottom of my new pump! that long curly piece and a bunch of plastic sawdust. i flushed it out with some old atf+4 i had lying around.
also changed my transfer case oil first to get used to pump. used new atf+4 but thats another thread haha

hopefully this information will be useful to someone, happy wrenching!

 

[EdGs]

Sounds like you did a fine job!

 

[EdGs]

@hemihustlin, how tight was your fill plug on the side of the trans? Hercules was on the line when mine was put in, I had to use a cheater pipe to crack it loose.

 

[Wild one]

@hemihustlin, how tight was your fill plug on the side of the trans? Hercules was on the line when mine was put in, I had to use a cheater pipe to crack it loose.

They substitute Hercules every once inawhile for a steriod hopped up Gorrilla,lol

 

[EdGs]

They substitute Hercules every once inawhile for a steriod hopped up Gorrilla,lol

Roidy Kong!

 

[hemihustlin]

@hemihustlin, how tight was your fill plug on the side of the trans? Hercules was on the line when mine was put in, I had to use a cheater pipe to crack it loose.

yes definitely hero level tight. i used the Allen key and a 1/2 wrench over the end as a cheater

 

[Wild one]

They move Hercules and the Gorilla around,some days they're on fill plugs,and some days they're on oil filter detail,

 

[ADWarlock20]

Nicely done! Similar results when I did it at 55k. Dark green fluid out, bright green fluid in. I used my slanted driveway to my advantage so I didn’t have to raise the rear as high. For whatever reason, the Dorman pan must have been slightly thicker than OE because I didn’t have enough clearance between the exhaust and the valve body get it low enough to be able to get the pan back in its place. Had to wrestle the original pan back in (after cleaning it of course)

 

[Atcer2018]

Outstanding write up! I’ll offer two tidbits of info. For the V6 guys, the 845RE transmission uses the same pan as the 8HP70. Second is the pan mounting holes do not terminate inside the transmission case. If you run your finger around the case lip at the top of the pan mating surface you find the mounting bolts slightly protrude out the top. Since the pan mounting holes are open to the elements you may find some corrosion on the mounting bolts or inside the threads. Even though the torque spec is about 85 inch pounds it’s enough to snap a pan mounting bolt if corrosion is present. Strongly suggest chasing the threads with a tap and having a few extra mounting bolts on hand just in case. The mounting bolts are cheap on Rock Auto or eBay.

 

[hemihustlin]

Nicely done! Similar results when I did it at 55k. Dark green fluid out, bright green fluid in. I used my slanted driveway to my advantage so I didn’t have to raise the rear as high. For whatever reason, the Dorman pan must have been slightly thicker than OE because I didn’t have enough clearance between the exhaust and the valve body get it low enough to be able to get the pan back in its place. Had to wrestle the original pan back in (after cleaning it of course)

yea when I was looking at the pan I was thinking about that. might have to unbolt the transmission mount and jack it up a bit to pass the pan through.

 

[ADWarlock20]

I wanted to do that but I didn’t have enough jack/jackstands on hand since I had them all set up holding the rear of the truck up. I already had the pan off once I realized I was in danger, lol. So I’m sending it with the original pan for now. Now I’ll know to either get more tools for when I do it again at 100k or just get a new OE pan.

 

[EdGs]

When I serviced my 8HP at a little more than 100k miles, I replaced the OE pan, but the filter didn't appear to be clogged up when I broke it out of the housing to take a close look.

I'm seriously considering the Valvoline MaxLife this go. Just might do 2 or 3 drain and fills at very short intervals w/out changing the OE pan this time. At 191k miles now.

 

[Wild one]

yea when I was looking at the pan I was thinking about that. might have to unbolt the transmission mount and jack it up a bit to pass the pan through.

You're better off unbolting the exhaust at the manifolds.The exhaust still goes up with the transmission when you lift the transmission,and you don't get much more clearance for a pan swap.

 

[JHoward]

I was looking for a thread to document my recent 8 speed oil change experience, where everyone can document their experience and discuss tips and tricks, special tools, procedures and oil/filter choices et cetera

I didn't readily find such a thread, so here it is!

I have been wanting to change the oil on my zf 8hp70 for a while now, but only started gathering tools and oil in the last month or so. like everyone says when they see the condition of the drained oil "why did i wait so long?"

2021 1500 classic warlock 5.7 112577km (69593 miles)

bought:
3 canuck gallons (5l jugs haha) of valvoline maxlife atf
a garden sprayer (made in usa nice!)
a 10mm allen key to sacrifice

already had 8mm allen key, floor jack and jack stands but had to call in my buddy with 7 ton Jack stands because 3t were no where close to being high enough to get the trans level
did not buy a filter/pan yet because ive going to do at least 2 drain/fill before changing filter

View attachment 547152View attachment 547153
so for starters needed almost 20 inches under the diff to get the trans level. didn't have a real bubble level but used phone app and eye. made one correction (higher!) and it was looking good

View attachment 547154

now for the special tool part. i goofed up on this one lol. i bought a nice new 10mm key to sacrifice (i seem to remember reading people shortening allen keys to make it work)
so i started shortening it on the small end only to realize that it was not going to work like that. so i took one of the parts i cut off (a bit under 1/2") and taped it in a 10mm wrench and it was perfect
so i could have just taken that off the long end of my allen key and saved the working end lol oh well

View attachment 547155View attachment 547156

the original oil as expected was definitely dirty, no extraordinary smell. transparent dirty green if you dipped your screwdriver in it and dark grey and murky looking in the tub

interestingly i only got 5 litres in and out. and i only measured at the end when i put the used oil in the container it was full to the brim and when i put the leftover fresh oil back in the second container it was full too.
admittedly i only let it drain for about 15 minutes. enough time to go get cold beer in the fridge and drink most of it haha
it was 30c 86f outside that afternoon. the fresh oil was sitting around outside all afternoon so it was already that hot when starting to fill. i got about 3.5l in motor off before it started flowing back out. put the plug back in and went and verified the trans temp before starting the level check procedure. 109f! holy ****! i had run the truck this morning but was parked at home before 11am and now its 3pm

so i said to my buddy well now its time for a break let that big girl cool down lol
he had errands to run in the next town over so we went and did that got back to my truck about 1.5h later
now 90ish degrees f so i said lets go!
put my buddy in the drivers seat and read him the green sheet instructions while i was standing next to him. as he was performing the procedure i told him once i jump under there keep it running until i say and give me a warning 10 degrees before 122
well as expected this was the most interesting part. it seems to take forever to pump the oil in when its running. the engine is pumping and the exhaust is rumbling and the temperature is steadily rising. it seems like youve been under there forever carefully holding the pump tube in the hole. now the exhaust is boiling hot and sweat is pouring off your forehead.
all of the sudden oil starts flowing back out the hole and you hear buddy yell something. keep pumping another 5 seconds as the oil continues to exit the fill hole. screw the plug in finger tight and crawl out from underneath
ask what the temp was when i crawled out. 120. alright we made it!
next time ill try to get cooler ambient temperatures, or keep the oil in the fridge or something lol

did a small 10 minute test drive last night and a bigger 30 min one today. everything is great. seems to shift even more smoothly and confidently than usual but it was already great, no complaints at all about its operation. im sure it will get even nicer again with another spill n fill and a filter and some miles on the fresh fluid.

all in all i would highly recommend this job to anyone that has previously changed transmission oil on another vehicle or a previous ram with rfe transmission. its literally as easy as jacking up the rear high enough and having a way to pump in the oil.
a little grinding of an Allen key and a buddy to stay in the drivers seat while you go under. as long as one of you can read English youre good to go!

View attachment 547215View attachment 547216

oh and bonus pic of the nice plastic debris i found in the bottom of my new pump! that long curly piece and a bunch of plastic sawdust. i flushed it out with some old atf+4 i had lying around.
also changed my transfer case oil first to get used to pump. used new atf+4 but thats another thread haha

hopefully this information will be useful to someone, happy wrenching!

Thanks for doing this. I'm currently gathering up a few tools(3/8" torq wrench, 3/8" drive metric/sae allen head sockets).

I've most of the stuff to do the job as you have shown in the pics, my jack stands are old and I should most likely update those.

I made an "oil catch all" from an empty one gallon anti-freeze jug with a plastic open/close valve(from O'Reilly's)that screws on to the anti-freeze jug with 3/8" vinyl tubing attached that is long enough to lead into the drain pan.

I modified the one gallon anti-freeze jug to be able to slide it up and in-between the transmission pan and cross over exhaust pipe to catch the transmission fluid when draining... idk if it's going to "pan out", but it might just do the trick without creating much of a mess.

I'm still procrastinating doing this, but will eventually get around to doing the this.

Nice write up, again thanks.

 

[Wild one]

Thanks for doing this. I'm currently gathering up a few tools(3/8" torq wrench, 3/8" drive metric/sae allen head sockets).

I've most of the stuff to do the job as you have shown in the pics, my jack stands are old and I should most likely update those.

I made an "oil catch all" from an empty one gallon anti-freeze jug with a plastic open/close valve(from O'Reilly's)that screws on to the anti-freeze jug with 3/8" vinyl tubing attached that is long enough to lead into the drain pan.

I modified the one gallon anti-freeze jug to be able to slide it up and in-between the transmission pan and cross over exhaust pipe ... idk if it's going to "pan out", but it might just do the trick without creating much of a mess.

I'm still procrastinating doing this, but will eventually get around to doing the this.

Nice write up, again thanks.

A modified 1 gallon garden sprayer also helps to get fluid back into the transmission J.

 

[JHoward]

A modified 1 gallon garden sprayer also helps to get fluid back into the transmission J.

Yep, I bought one and modified it, sorta like how you did yours.

 

[hemihustlin]

Thanks for doing this. I'm currently gathering up a few tools(3/8" torq wrench, 3/8" drive metric/sae allen head sockets).

I've most of the stuff to do the job as you have shown in the pics, my jack stands are old and I should most likely update those.

I made an "oil catch all" from an empty one gallon anti-freeze jug with a plastic open/close valve(from O'Reilly's)that screws on to the anti-freeze jug with 3/8" vinyl tubing attached that is long enough to lead into the drain pan.

I modified the one gallon anti-freeze jug to be able to slide it up and in-between the transmission pan and cross over exhaust pipe to catch the transmission fluid when draining... idk if it's going to "pan out", but it might just do the trick without creating much of a mess.

I'm still procrastinating doing this, but will eventually get around to doing the this.

Nice write up, again thanks.

I like the idea and if you had no drain plug your catcher would be perfect when tilting the rear of the pan first it would catch the big pour
but i have to say i have the stock under-transmission crossover exhaust and there is very little room to work between the pipe and pan, even with the nice little flattening on the top of the pipe. i feel like i would have a hard time getting the drain plug out of the way quickly and efficiently with another thing in the way.
maybe just me but i would probably make more of a mess than just letting it drain on the pipe.
like you can see in my photo of the plugs (almost done draining at that point) the oil never went futher than a few inches past the side of the pan on each side. i layed a carpet of old cardboard boxes to be 1 foot wider than the very standard round black plastic drain tub and almost all the oil went in the pan! worked out well.
a quick brake cleaner hose down on the pipe after i cant say i saw or caught the odour of any smoke.

 

[JHoward]

I like the idea and if you had no drain plug your catcher would be perfect when tilting the rear of the pan first it would catch the big pour
but i have to say i have the stock under-transmission crossover exhaust and there is very little room to work between the pipe and pan, even with the nice little flattening on the top of the pipe. i feel like i would have a hard time getting the drain plug out of the way quickly and efficiently with another thing in the way.
maybe just me but i would probably make more of a mess than just letting it drain on the pipe.
like you can see in my photo of the plugs (almost done draining at that point) the oil never went futher than a few inches past the side of the pan on each side. i layed a carpet of old cardboard boxes to be 1 foot wider than the very standard round black plastic drain tub and almost all the oil went in the pan! worked out well.
a quick brake cleaner hose down on the pipe after i cant say i saw or caught the odour of any smoke.

Thanks for that ... but, I've been known to make things that seem impossible ... "work".

 

[EdGs]

Thanks for that ... but, I've been known to make things that seem impossible ... "work".

Necessity is the mother of invention.

I've seen something similar on here for the oil filter to keep from getting all over the EPS unit.

 

[Daniel Ortiz]

You're better off unbolting the exhaust at the manifolds.The exhaust still goes up with the transmission when you lift the transmission,and you don't get much more clearance for a pan swap.

Hi Rick, I'm likely going to have to do this for my next transmission service, as I had to gingerly wrestle my PPE pan back in the first time, more than I was comfortable with around those valve solenoids. I've never disconnected the exhaust before. What should I expect to encounter disconnecting and re-connecting the exhaust from the manifolds? I presume I'll need new gasket maker, and probably new bolts as well? Are snapped bolts a common problem there? Thanks for any heads-up.