Apparently a certified tranny shop with a good rep can still get the new pump. Yesterday Bruce said he had a new pump on the way, and that he actually had an easier time getting it this go round than he did for Ranger1 and crdmike.
Either Bruce has a good rep now with Chrysler, after his conversation with one of their higher ups, or perhaps Chrysler is tumbling to the fact that by letting people go this route this can make most of their tranny problems disappear, without having to spring for warranty work and making some money selling the new pumps.
Word is the new pump is the same design that's going in the 68RE six speed tranny behind the 6.7 L Cummins diesels. If it's stout enough to hold up behind a Cummins.....
For that matter, it looks as though the 68RE is nothing more than an upgraded 545RFE. Perhaps this is what Mopar64 was alluding to when he said that the 545 was going to get a serious upgrade for '08. Word also is that the beefier 68RE parts can be easily transplanted into a 545, not just the pump. Who knows, if it's using the same case, you might be able to go as far as a complete swapout and drop a 68RE into our CRD's.
A Suncoast TC, a 68RE six speed tranny, and an Inmotion/Rocketchip tune. Pardon me while I wipe the drool off the keyboard.
When it looked as if the new pump might not be available, I e-mailed Ron at Suncoast. I asked him specifically if the original pump would be up to the task with their TC and a Transgo shift kit installed. The short version of his answer was yes, unless you had reason to believe that the pump had been damaged in some way (ie, debris from a TC failure going thru it), the original pump would work fine. Matter of fact, he noted that they had used the original pump on their test mule CRD for all their development and testing, and that's how it was returned to the owner, with the original pump.
So, it would seem that the minimum preferred mod in this case would be the Suncoast TC and a Transgo shift kit, with the new pump being a matter of owner preference and budget.
Mine will be having it done in 2 weeks time, along with the new pump. If the July 10th layoff goes thru, there is a possibility I will be spending the summer out in southwestern Wyoming, on a temporary summer crew for a company that contracts to BP Oil. If that's the case, I want that tranny to be bulletproof. Nearest decent repair facility would be 2 1/2 hours away in Salt Lake, and that would be one heck of a tow bill.
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