2007.5 Dodge 3500

[mobilaltima]

Friend of mine has a seafood business, his father in law recently gave him his old hot shot truck, which my friend as of last week had a custom built aluminum cooler built for it and he'll use it to haul seafood all over the Gulf Coast. Being laid off last week, he asked if I wanted to work for him for now to which I happily obliged. He asked for me to do all the necessary maintenance on it before we start racking up miles, I'll be putting about 900 miles a week on it. Its a 2007.5 Ram 3500 cab and chassis, single cab, with the 6.7 Cummins, sitting at 525k miles. It has the 6 speed (I assume G56 Getrag), and its deleted. I'm pretty sure its 4wd but I'll check for sure tomorrow.

My plans are to
Replace trashed K&N filter (full intake is on it, not a fan of K&N but ill stay on top of keeping the filter clean)
Change fuel filter every 10-15k
Change oil and filter with either Delvac or Supertech 15W40 every 6-7k
Change coolant (Should I use Zerex G-05/distilled water? any special process to bleed air on the 6.7? EGR is intact but turned off, DPF is gone)
Change all belts if need be
Change gear oil in rear(Valvoline 75W90) (not sure what to use in front diff and t-case)
Inspect/grease ball joints
Change fluid in G56

The G56 fluid is what Im hesistant about, everywhere Im reading that I should use either Schaeffers SAE 50 or Delvac 50 instead of ATF 4, and to overfill it by a quart......the only way to overfill it would be to pull off the shifter and fill from the top? Multiple sources have said to use SAE 50 and to overfill.

Is the G56 the only manual tranny offered this year?

 

[The motor guy]

Yes the G56 is the only tranny they have for that model, it's been a while since I've been on the forums, but I heard the same thing. Something about that being a Mercedes transmission and that Chrysler just didn't feel like stocking another fluid, so they just make due with the ATF+4. Apparently Mercedes calls for a 50 weight in their vehicles and it's much smoother running, easier to shift etc with that fluid.

 

[The motor guy]

Wow 525k miles. Not bad I just read that. lol When I said G56 that's the only manual transmission for that truck, they also have an auto transmission that's called a 68rfe.

 

[dogememe]

Originally Posted by motor_oil_madman
Yes the G56 is the only tranny they have for that model, it's been a while since I've been on the forums, but I heard the same thing. Something about that being a Mercedes transmission and that Chrysler just didn't feel like stocking another fluid, so they just make due with the ATF+4. Apparently Mercedes calls for a 50 weight in their vehicles and it's much smoother running, easier to shift etc with that fluid.

Yeah but if it's worked with ATF+4 for 525k miles perhaps it's good to stick with what works?

 

[The motor guy]

I'd put what the manufacturer recommends, not the bean counters at Chrysler. What do they know?

 

[The motor guy]

Of couse at 525k it's going to go ka put any day now anyways, and you'll blame the fluid. lol

 

[The motor guy]

The 6.7 has a coolant stand pipe with a hex bolt, that you're supposed to open up when refilling, but we never could could get mine loose, so we didn't bother and just ran it at idle after filling it up and adding when necessary. I drove it around for about a week and I think I needed to add about a pint more.

 

[WyrTwister]

Check tires , hoses , wiper blades . Anything else rubber that is a maintenance item . And brakes & fluid . And battery & cables / clamps .

Does it have a 2 speed axle ? Or is the truck too " small " for that ?

Best of luck to you !