Transmission smoother after fluid exchange?

[Ruger]

Checking that dipstick with a red hot exhaust is akin to playing that "Operation" game as a kid. Only this hurts like a mother ******.

If there is an alternative, I'm all ears. I'm about to drop the pan, and replace both the pan and the filter. Refilling the transmission when the pan has so much more capacity will involve multiple checks of the transmission dipstick. If there is an alternative, you have my absolutely undivided attention.

 

[Ruger]

INSTALLATION OF aFe TRANSMISSION PAN ON THE RAPTOR 6R80 TRANSMISSION

Tools Needed:
- A large capacity drain pan. Actually, probably more than one. It's messy. I used three!
- 8mm socket and appropriate ratchet to remove the factory transmission pan
- 5.0mm metric hex key socket to torque on the new cap bolts
- 3/8" torque wrench that will measure as little a 8 ft-lbs (96 inch-lbs)
- Thread lock for the little screw that holds the magnet in place in the bottom of the aFe pan that you transfer from the factory pan
- 4.0mm metric hex key to secure the little screw that holds the magnet
- Teflon tape for the 3/4" NPT drain plug and the smaller NPT plug for the temp sensor port in the new pan
- 1/2" drive ratchet to secure the drain plug
- Mercon LV transmission fluid, and a lot of it because the aFe pan increases capacity by 7 quarts. I needed 13 quarts.
- A funnel and a hose from 3 to 4 feet long, or a fluid pump. I wound up needing both. Used the funnel and hose for the initial milti-quart fill, but fine-tuning the fluid level at the end of the project is best done under the truck with a pump.

I discovered that there is a problem to overcome before you even begin to remove the factory transmission pan. Due to the extra capacity of the Afe pan, it's quite a bit deeper than the factory pan. Afe includes a filter tube extension and associated o-ring to provide uptake of fluid into the filter from the deep pan. I bought a Pro-King transmission filter, P/N FK-405 for the 6R80 transmission from Advance Auto, and discovered that the interior diameter of the aFe filter tube extension is too small to fit over the uptake tube on the filter. It's a good thing I discovered this before I dropped the pan. Chris at FreedomMotorsports couldn't get aFe to respond to his inquiries, and they ignored me as well. In the end it took an hour and a half of careful Dremel work to increase the ID of the filter tube extension enough to get it to fit over the filter tube. (It would have taken 5 minutes on a lathe, but I don't own one.) I can't believe that aFe expects installers and customers to have to go to that much trouble before the installation can be done, and their lack of responsiveness to both a vendor and a customer is worthy of catcalls. The first photo shows how the extension won't fit all the way over the filter tube, and the second photo shows how it's supposed to fit - but only after a ridiculous amount of careful modification.

 

[Ruger]

The part itself is a pretty part and seems to be well designed. It is cast aluminum, the mounting surface is machined flat, and the exterior is nicely finished. It has four posts cast in to support the filter, 3/4" NPT magnetic drain plug, provision for mounting the factory magnet in the bottom of the pan and a 1/8" NPT port for a transmission temperature sensor. For the Raptor installation you plug that with a supplied 1/8" NPT plug and Teflon tape. A gasket for the pan/transmission interface is NOT provided, but a very good step-by-step installation manual with clear B/W photos is included.

 

[Ruger]

There's really no good way to drain a transmission if there's no drain plug. There's only messy ways. You will have transmission fluid on the exhaust, front sway bar, and probably also on the front drive shaft. Chances are that the transmission filter will fall off the tranny and into the pan when the pan comes free. Here's what it looks like with the pan off.

 

[Ruger]

Because of the lack of a convenient dipstick and filler under the hood (where there damn sure ought to be one), I took the trouble to measure the amount of fluid that drained. As you can see from the photo, it was about 5 1/2 quarts. Actually a little more because not all the fluid made it to the drain pans.

The factory gasket is aluminum with a rubber seal and is reusable. I've decided to reuse it rather than use the all rubber gasket that came with the filter.

You can see that there was PLENTY of metal on the doughnut magnet that's in the factory pan. You can't see it in the photo, but the outside of the filter was coated with a fine layer of metal particles, too. That's with 47,000 miles on the odometer. The fluid was decidedly brown, too. I think that the factory contention that the transmission is good for 100,000 miles without service is a fiction. I am really glad I'm doing this.

 

[Vash]

Nice writeup, Ruger. Based on your experience having to do modification to the filter tube and the lack of responsiveness from aFe, I think I'll definitely wait for the Mag-hytec option even if there's no current ETA available from them. I sent them an email yesterday asking about it and they responded back immediately. Now, maybe I was lucky but the fact the aFe didn't respond back to you or a vendor speaks volumes. Also, I believe the Mag-hytec transmission pans come with the correct filter included at least if ordered directly from them so I wouldn't expect any fitment issues or modification required.

Last, are you planning to do a full fluid flush at some point or did you deem it not necessary? At this point I'm wondering if I'm simply better off getting a full flush done with new fluids and maybe skipping the transmission pan for now.

 

[Ruger]

Vash and others, there's a bit of inexplicable trouble with the installation. First, aFe saw fit to use two different fasteners. Some are knurled on the outside, and some are smooth. See photo.

I was having a bit of trouble bolting the new pan up to the transmission housing, and I thought maybe it was the different fasteners. So I switched them around and apparently they thread equally well. So why, when I have the new pan almost completely bolted up are the few remaining fasteners binding? Afraid that I might be cross-threading the few left, I unbolted the new pan and dropped it.

Then I found it. The holes in the pan do not match up with the aluminum factory gasket. If they don't match up with the gasket, they can't match up with the transmission housing. There are about a half-dozen that are off just enough to bind the fasteners. I even had a little trouble getting the pan off, and I hadn't even snugged the fasteners down - not even finger tight. There is no way to get a good torque reading on those fasteners as-is, especially when the recommended torque is only 8 ft-lbs.

My Raptor is my daily driver. It's now immobilized.

My options are to drill out the holes in the pan that don't match up (risky for several reasons), or send the damn thing back to Chris, bolt the factory pan back up, and write aFe a nastygram that they probably won't read.

 

[Ruger]

I wasn't going to do a flush, Vash. Not now, anyway. After you bolt everything back up, you can't move the vehicle until you pour in something on the order of 13 quarts of expensive transmission fluid before you can move the truck. Throwing brand new transmission fluid away in the flush is something I'm not about to do. The only option I can think of is to take the aftermarket pan of your choice to the dealer, and have them install it with a new filter as part of the flush job.

Here's a photo of the oddly dissimilar fasteners that aFe provided with the pan.

 

[Vash]

Dang. Hope everything works out.

Yeah, I was kind of thinking of having a dealership do this install plus flushing the fluid simply because it seems like a shame to do this and still have a good amount of old fluid left. Granted, I definitely won't be doing anything until Mag-hytec releases something. Although, I'm starting to lean more toward a full flush and forgoing the pan altogether. I'd love a drain plug, but if the main goal is cooling then you're probably better off adding an aux transmission cooler and fan.

Honestly, for the price of the aFe it should be plug and play. Anything else is unacceptable and I wouldn't bother trying to fix their product less something else goes wrong in the future.

 

[Chris@FreedomMotorsports]

Outstanding write up on this. I am absolutely in awe of the issues being had with it as aFe supposedly spent a lot of time developing the pan. I have also been told that others have not had the same issues with the installation, but because I have not personally installed one myself yet, I cannot speak to that one way or the other. As for the filter issue with the extension, something that came up while talking to others is that it is indeed a "possibility" that the filter itself was off a bit. Being mass produced like those filters are, they can in fact be out of tolerance a bit. Especially with aftermarket filter, while the inside diameter of the filter neck may be right, there is no given standard for the outside diameter of the filter neck, so since the aFe filter extension is designed specifically for the Motorcraft filter, it is designed to fit a particular outside diameter, so if the outside diameter of the aftermarket filter neck is larger than the motorcraft filter, that could very well be the issue there.

For the bolt holes not lining up. I would step back for a few minutes, then go back and in attempting installation a second time, ensure first that the holes in the gasket are lining up with the holes in the new pan. Then, when you begin install, start with the bolts at the four corners of the pan first, getting them only to the point where the threads are started and they can hold the pan in place. Then, starting from the center of each side, do the same with the rest of the bolts. I have replaced many pans (not on the Raptor) that have done the same thing during the first attempt at installation only to have them line up perfectly the second time.

ALL of that being said, I am NOT pleased with aFe at the moment, I have made several phone calls and left many messages about this issue and have not received any response whatsoever. I do however intend to raise some flags or whatever needs to be done to figure this out and get a response from them directly.

Russ (Ruger), I want to thank you personally for your staying in contact with me on this and allowing me the opportunity to try and get something figured out for you. I am here for your needs no matter what and we will indeed get something figured out for you.

---------- Post added at 01:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:18 PM ----------

I will also add, ANYONE attempting to perform an installation on an aftermarket product like this, please, NEVER make modifications to the product attempting to make it work unless you are prepared to take a loss on that product. Returns are indeed possible, but not on modified parts.