2021 Chevy Duramax transmission pan replacement (PPE) and oil filter change

wwillson said:
Did you see a difference in trans fluid temps?
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I have seen it stabilize at a lower temperature. I don’t know that I can give you an accurate number.

I also have changed how I use my truck and I think that is the biggest factor. I usually only tow in 5th gear and keep RPMs above 2,000. This helps with EGTs and transmission temperature. The TC also stays locked up better and doesn’t shift as much.

Just my $0.02
 
the trick to draining tranny oil without any special tools or pumps is to look at the pan, and most tranny pans almost always have one short flat side while the other sides are curved or otherwise not a straight line.. you want to get yourself one of those throw away aluminum turkey sized cooking pans if you dont have any suitable draintainer... now identify which is the flat side of the pan... crack all the threaded fasteners loose.. but dont remove... now start removing all the threaded fasteners except on that one flat side of the oil pan.. take all out except the flat side, then put one bolt in the opposite side in a few turns... now crack the pan gasket loose if it hasn't already began dripping... now loosen the bolts on the one side of the pan not previously removed... and proceed from there.. you remove that lonely bolt and then start gradually removing the flat side of the pans bolt, this lets the pan tilt down... then shove the pan back to the trans case by hand, and remove the remaining threaded fasteners..... now get ahold of the pan and take it off.. it's not that bad once you get the hang of it.
 
wwillson said:
The truck (2021 Chevy 3500 Duramax) has 35,000 miles on the clock and I decided to change the trans filter and install a PPE trans pan. I do spill and fills on my transmissions. The 10 speed transmissions don't have drain plugs in their oil pans. This is highly annoying for those who do spill and fills, so I decided to put the PPE pan on because it has a drain plug. The added bonus is the PPE pan holds a gallon more than the stock pan.

The stock pan with the engine off holds about 8 quarts of oil. Rather than try to lower the pan and dump the oil into my drain pan, I used my Mityvac to remove the oil before lowering the pan. I left a couple bolts loose in the other side so I could lower this side enough to get the small suction hose into the pan.
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wwillson, curious if you gave any thought to using Castrol Transynd..? that is generally Allison's high end fluid... don't know if they actually recommend it for the baby Allisons in the GM pickups trucks
 
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MSCH said:
Wilson, curious if you gave any thought to using Castrol Transynd..? that is generally Allisons high end fluid... donm't know if they actually recommend it for the baby Allisons in the GM pickups trucks
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No, this isn't an Allison transmission, contrary to the GM marketing department. I'm sure Allison TES-295 would be good and TES-668 would be even better. However, the fluid I put in is a formula HPL blended based on an add pack that is designed for this transmission, by an add pack company that has a ton of data that shows this add pack works best for the 10 speeds. Would the Allison fluids work? I'm sure, but I'm going with a formula based on data and supplier reputation.
 
I hope @wwillson doesn't mind. I took his pic and one of my 10R80 and slapped them side-by-side for the curious. Keep in mind, that his transmission is the beefier version of the design, much more like the Ford 10R140 than my 10R80....but the similarities are, of course, all over the place.

1687742188381.webp
 
ctechbob said:
I took his pic and one of my 10R80 and slapped them side-by-side for the curious.
Click to expand...
Wow - lots of similarities with common and nearly common parts. I've read that GM and Ford co-developed the light duty 10 speeds and the HD 10 speeds and this seems to leave little doubt.
 
Great write up wwillson, you are making me rethink my decision to just do a spill and fill on my truck. I may just have to get one of those pans after all.
 
wwillson said:
The bottom line is that I only got not even a cup of additional trans fluid out of the trans when I heated the fluid from 145°F to 165°F. In the future I will just pull the level plug at 145°F and call it good enough. I see no reason to torque brake the fluid to 165°F, just to get an additional fraction of a cup of fluid out. My $0.02
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I agree with you about the fluid temps…

The 10r80 in my F150 specs the fluid level to be checked at something like 212° all while trying not to burn your arm reaching behind the catalytic converter.

I checked the fluid level around 185° or so and noted the level. Braked torqued it enough to get it up to the required 212° and the fluid level was nearly the same as before. There’s no way that small amount of fluid could possibly affect the operation of the transmission.

Those PPE pans are really nice.
 
2013ecof150 said:
I agree with you about the fluid temps…

The 10r80 in my F150 specs the fluid level to be checked at something like 212° all while trying not to burn your arm reaching behind the catalytic converter.

I checked the fluid level around 185° or so and noted the level. Braked torqued it enough to get it up to the required 212° and the fluid level was nearly the same as before. There’s no way that small amount of fluid could possibly affect the operation of the transmission.

Those PPE pans are really nice.
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Before I got my custom 10R80 dipstick I used the cold method (No, not the B&M one). All you do is check that the fluid is at the bottom end of the acceptable range with the trans cold. It only goes up from there.
 
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