Need some transmission details

APC9199 · **Posted:** Thu Jan 25, 2018 11:37 pm

I had the Jeep in the shop to check the front differential and asked them about pricing for swapping the torque converter, front pump and transgo shift kit. They were comfortable giving me pricing for the TC swap (about $600) if I provide the TC. As soon as I mentioned the front pump and transgo, the guy at the front desk back-pedaled little bit. He admitted that he was not a great transmission guy (their transmission guy wasn't there at the time) and started talking about probably needing to replace the clutch packs, etc. I think he was over-reacting, and I hope to settle him down by providing some more information and talking with their transmission guy.

What I need to know, is how much some of these services should likely cost and how much overlap is involved with each of them. Also, are those the 3 primary things to do when doing a transmission removal for service? I am basically regurgitating what I have read here 1000 times on this matter since I myself know nothing about transmissions, so I need some fodder to bring to the table. All I know is my TC shudders in lockup especially when I'm hauling gear and people to go camping, skiing etc. The front pump and transgo are always recommended along with the TC but how much work as added to the overall job when doing these things? I have no shift issues or lockup problems, so I see no reason to do anything other than replace the above mentioned parts and top it up with new fluid and filters. Anyone disagree? Anything to add?

EDIT: I googled as much information as I could before posting this, but can't seem to find much info on how involved replacing each part can be. I'm sure this has been discussed, but I can't find much on it. Sorry if this should be obvious...

GordnadoCRD · **Posted:** Fri Jan 26, 2018 2:25 am

Swapping the transmissions, I believe, books out at around 6.5 hours, and includes dropping the pan and changing the filters. (filters are extra) Shop rates vary.

Anything else involving disassembly and replacing internal factory parts with non-oem type replacements would be extra, and extremely hard to estimate. For doing any non-standard swap back in the day, I was always told to sit down and try to figure out a number that sounds reasonable, - then double it. If' it's not something you do routinely, triple it. If they still want to go ahead, you might have a chance to come out ahead. As a very wise man often told me. "There's Always Something. You won't know what or how or when, but There's Always Something."

I can understand their hesitation to get involved at all. If anything at all ever happened involving the transmission, they would be called upon to defend their liabiity for every single teeny tiny thing they touched. You may not think that way, but when insurance companies and lawyers get involved in these things, your wishes and opinions are meaningless to them.

Better to work with someone knowledgeable and do all that internal stuff yourself, then you know it's done right, and can bring the assembled transmission to them to swap. The deal would be straight forward, by the book, and if anything internal happened and caused some problem, their involvement would be minimal as no something they touched.

papaindigo · **Posted:** Fri Jan 26, 2018 8:37 am

Others may know better than I but any decent tranny shop should be able to price work on and handle service of the 545RFE that's in the CRD as it's one of the more common DCJ transmissions. $600 sounds reasonable to drop the tranny and install a new TC assuming you provide the TC although fluid (ATF+4 only) and filters might be extra but are part of dropping the tranny. Installing a new front pump and gasket (provided by you) is IIRC mostly a bolt on/off job which would not add more that 0.5-1 hrs labor. Transgo kit may or may not be worth doing if you are doing a front pump: the pump part of the Transgo is not needed but the valve body parts might be and if so say 0.5 hrs labor at most. Obviously if clutch pks are shot that's a separate issue which is impossible to know about until the tranny is open

flash7210 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 26, 2018 9:43 am

If there was a problem with the clutch packs you would know it.
Gears would slip or not engage completely.
The TCM would detect this and set a code.

APC9199 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 26, 2018 12:16 pm

So it sounds safe to walk back in and say that it should take no more than about 2 extra hours of labor to do the front pump and trans-go on top of the torque converter replacement, assuming I have provided all of the proper parts for the job. I shouldn't need to do anything else to the trans if I'm not having any problems with it right now (except the shudder)? Here is what I am thinking...

Torque Converter:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/545RFE-45RFE-L ... 1438.l2649

TransGo:
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/trg-45rfe-hd2

Front Pump:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/CHRYSLER-68009 ... 465ffc6efa

Filter Kit:
https://www.idparts.com/automatic-trans ... -3388.html

And 8 or 9 extra quarts of ATF+4...

I may not buy them all from those exact sources, but they should be the correct parts, yeah? Anything I am missing that needs to be included for this job?
Thanks for the help!

flash7210 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 26, 2018 12:28 pm

Quote:

And 8 or 9 extra quarts of ATF+4...

It will likely be at least 12 qts of ATF+4 when you refill the transmission.

APC9199 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 26, 2018 2:15 pm

flash7210 wrote:

Quote:

And 8 or 9 extra quarts of ATF+4...

It will likely be at least 12 qts of ATF+4 when you refill the transmission.

Right, but the IDParts kit comes with 5 quarts!

Need some transmission details

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