That's sort of what I've been thinking. the 545 seems to hold up well (perhaps exluding whatever happened to DZL_LOU ) but the pump appears to unable to provide adaquate pressure to keep the TC from slipping at low rpm. When the TC fails, debris in the fluid then really wipes our the pump. When I spoke with the SM at my local dealer, he said there have been no tranny failures of the 545 if we exlcude the TC/pump relationship. Also, no pump failures that were not debris related.

Now granted that this is only one dealer with a only couple of dozen CRD's in service....plus SM are noted for selective memories...but still the 545 may be getting guilt by association.

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2006 Libery Sport CRD, Lt Kakhi, nicely equipped
*****GDE Hot Tune at 38,879 miles
*****Stock TC.....for the time being!!

From the dyno charts that I have seen, the Hemi is making roughly 325 foot-pounds of torque at 1600 rpm, according to the dyno chart on Dodge's web site. So the Hemi is making MORE torque at the same RPM as our diesel - I think it's an issue with both the software program and the torque converter.

From what I have read on the 545RFE, the front pump is a 2-stage design, which varies the pressure according to the TCM as needed. There are essentially 3 gears in the front pump; the drive gear in the center, and 2 driven gears which provide the oil pressure to the tranny. One gear most likely provides pressure all the time, while the other is bypassed until needed. They may not have the TCM programmed properly to provide the necessary pressure. Also, the cooler is inadequate (IMO) to keep up with the heat generated by the excessive slippage of the torque converter (due to the overly high stall speed).

Just my 2cents ....

LINK TO TORQUE CURVE OF THE 5.7L HEMI:
http://www.dodge.com/en/ram_1500/featur ... er_hemi_v8

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2006 CRD Sport 4X4, bought 6 July 2006, born 5/20/2006 1900 hrs.
Mods N Things:
235/70r16 Wrangler SilentArmor, ProVent, Gasser airbox, CAT filter, Kennedy lift pump, fuel cooler, Evic from wrecked 05 KJ, factory skidplates, towhooks, OME 2" CRD lift, Magnaflow 12256 muffler, Alpine stereo & XM "stealth antenna" install

The impulse torque from 2 cylinders firing once each revolution (4 cyl) might be higher than the impulse torque from 4 cylinders firing each revolution (8 cyl) with the same mean torque. A search turned up the following site:

http://www.epi-eng.com/ET-PistonExcit.htm

Based on this article the peak torque of a 4 cylinder engine is 300% above the mean torque. The peak torque on an 8 cylinder is 200% over mean torque. This is comparing apples to apples. A diesel engine may indeed have even higher peak torque than a gasoline engine. Using the information in this article the CRD engine would have a peak torque of around 900 lb ft not allowing for the fact that it’s a diesel, while the Hemi would have around 780 lb ft of impulse using this info. What really concerns me at this point is how F37 reduces torque. Is the maximum fuel output reduced related to rpm and load or is the impulse curve modified by changing the injection pulses and timing? It seems like the first case might not reduce fuel economy but the second case would.

The impulse torque from 2 cylinders firing once each revolution (4 cyl) might be higher than the impulse torque from 4 cylinders firing each revolution (8 cyl) with the same mean torque. A search turned up the following site:

http://www.epi-eng.com/ET-PistonExcit.htm

Based on this article the peak torque of a 4 cylinder engine is 300% above the mean torque. The peak torque on an 8 cylinder is 200% over mean torque. This is comparing apples to apples. A diesel engine may indeed have even higher peak torque than a gasoline engine. Using the information in this article the CRD engine would have a peak torque of around 900 lb ft not allowing for the fact that it’s a diesel, while the Hemi would have around 780 lb ft of impulse using this info. What really concerns me at this point is how F37 reduces torque. Is the maximum fuel output reduced related to rpm and load or is the impulse curve modified by changing the injection pulses and timing? It seems like the first case might not reduce fuel economy but the second case would.

Timmaah!
Interesting site. Too bad DC didn't study it before specing our TC I once owned a 1938 twin cylinder John Deer tractor. Looking at the charts I would guess a 2 cylinder would be half a single cylinder or about 700% per chug of each cylinder, WOW It also shows why I've put clutches in most of the older VW diesels I've owned. One of them, a 1992 ECHODiesel jetta, broke 4 clutch disks over the 350k miles I and a friend owned it. Someone here had a person refer to our crd's as a "tractor engine"

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Atlantic Blue 06 CRD Limited (his)
Joined by a 2000 XJ Classic (hers)

..........or a boat engine.

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2006 Sport CRD

Could the Aztecs have known, that in 2012 after a 4 year experiment, our country would cease to exist?