2021 Ram 1500 driveline service

[Zap1967]

All, coming up on my 50k axle/t case service. Manual doesn’t quite call for it yet but I tow a lot and every 50k is a nice easy interval to remember.

I was aiming to stay with factory fluids until the warranty period was up but you can’t get any Mopar fluids right now with the strike.

Front axle specs 75-85 GL-5 (dumb and 75-90 would probably work fine)

Rear axle specs 75-90 GL-5 meeting the current Chrysler standard

T case specs Mobilfluid LT (or the re bottled Mopar quart).

Considering switching the axles to redline all around. I may just bite the bullet and order a 5 gallon pail of the Mobilfluid LT and I’ll never need more again in the trucks lifetime. Can be had for 150-200 for the 5 gallon rig.

If anyone has any feedback on the redline in the axles info would be much appreciated

If anyone has a trick to get the Mobilfluid LT by the quart that would also be much appreciated. Have done plenty scouring so far and haven’t found a quart solution that’s a true cross reference to the Mopar/Mobil.

 

[racer12306]

Just did this on my 2019 Classic

I went with HPL in all 3. 75w90 front and rear. Although now I believe that if I wanted 75w85, HPL would've made it.

I did way too much research and it seems like the manually shifted transfer case is really flexible. However, if you have the automatic transfer case, it can be more picky about what's in it. I have the manually shifted case with push buttons and went with HPL Blue which is their standard viscosity ATF. I'm pretty sure it came with Shell Spirax S2 ATF A389, plus it smelled like ATF and that was my final ok to go ahead with transmission fluid in the transfer case.

 

[Zap1967]

Cool. Thanks for the info. Was pretty happy to just go Mopar and not need to do tons of research for at least another couple years. It stressed me out enough they quit making the tire I’ve ran for the past 12 years in the size I need ha.

It’s the auto case so it has to have the Mobilfluid LT or something similar.

I’ve got a 2200 mile towing trip coming up mid January so I want to get it all freshened up before I head out. Will be 4500 lbs and near max payload the whole time.

 

[racer12306]

Yeah, I wouldn't mess with fluids in that case. Personally, I'd give HPL a call and see if they have a competitor to that fluid.

My next concern is the changing the pan/fluid on the transmission. I really don't want to do it myself, especially since it seems the most efficient way is to drop the exhaust. One shop quoted me $1200 for a new pan, fluid and labor.

 

[Zap1967]

Yeah, I’m also not looking forward to that. Not touching it within the PT warranty period. After that I’ll likely go with the PPE pan that has the replaceable filter. Not a fun process but I’m planning on hammering miles on this truck.

 

[racer12306]

I’ll go with the PPE pan on the next one. We were fortunate that Chrysler covered a major repair with our van after warranty. Just in case, I figure it needs to be as OE as possible until 100k.

 

[MattPersman]

Been using redline 75w85 on rams just fine