Deep sump aluminum pan for 6L50 trans
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Updating this old thread, these are available from PML. I just installed mine.
The pan seems to hold another 2.5 quarts of fluid, maybe 3. I took a lotta fluid to complete the job, about 9 quarts.
I removed the plastic panels at the bottom of the radiator behind the grille awhile ago. Doing that dropped trans fluid temp about 15F. The in radiator trans cooler plumbs in at the bottom, and the panels block that off. Between the panel removal and this pan, trans fluid temps are running about 25 to 30F cooler now. I am gonna have to be towing in hot weather to get it to break 200F now I suspect
Used the Mobil 1 LV HP "blue label" fluid specified for the shuddering 8 speeds. The fully synthetic HP works a treat in our 6L50s, notably smoother and better in every way than the OEM fill Dexron 6.
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The pan seems to hold another 2.5 quarts of fluid, maybe 3. I took a lotta fluid to complete the job, about 9 quarts.
I removed the plastic panels at the bottom of the radiator behind the grille awhile ago. Doing that dropped trans fluid temp about 15F. The in radiator trans cooler plumbs in at the bottom, and the panels block that off. Between the panel removal and this pan, trans fluid temps are running about 25 to 30F cooler now. I am gonna have to be towing in hot weather to get it to break 200F now I suspect
Used the Mobil 1 LV HP "blue label" fluid specified for the shuddering 8 speeds. The fully synthetic HP works a treat in our 6L50s, notably smoother and better in every way than the OEM fill Dexron 6.
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Nice! Does the plug at the aft end have the same type of tube which is used to determine fluid level like in the OEM pan? Also, any concerns about clearances off road? I also don't see any issue with the two OEM skid plates I have. Anything else 'special' about this pan other than capacity and better cooling? I may want to do this when I have the transmission flushed again, whenever that may be.
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Yes, the aft plug sets the level with the fluid warmed up to the proper temp, same is OEM.
The pan is obviously deeper and has bosses cast in the bottom that support the trans filter. One thing that might be cool about that is the filter no longer draws fluid right off the bottom of the pan as there are a few inches of fluid beneath the filter and the pan. Seems to me that the filter could intake less debris that way, since it is not sucking fluid right off the potentially dirty bottom of the pan.
Speaking of the fluid, I can't emphasize enough about how well the Mobil 1 LV HP specified for the shuddering 8 speeds fluid works in our transmissions. Now that I have driven it more, I am just floored how awesome the combo of the trans tune and LV HP fluid are together. As it stands now, the trans would not feel too out of place in a Lexus luxury SUV at this point as it is buttery quick shifting, and smooth as a new baby's ass
The pan itself is pretty thick and heavy, it is basically a big aluminum heat sink for the trans fluid and it works really well at blunting the fluid temp increase. The bottom of the pan is about dead even with the cross member. I am not worried about clearance, as I do not off road my truck on anything more challenging than a dirt forest service road. Definitely not rock crawling with it!
The pan is a straight bolt on and comes with nice longer stainless fasteners. It will be sweet in the future to just pull the drain plug and add fluid through the fill hole.
The pan is easy to remove with a 10mm T-handle, might as well take it off on our diesels if you do this job yourself. The V6 has an exhaust cross member in the way, if I had a V6 I would skip pulling the pan.
The fill hole, now that I have worked with it, is quite easily accessible on these trucks from underneath on the passenger side. The hot tip to pull and install the fill plug with it's locking "plunger" thingie is to use one of these hook tools shown in the 1st pic, and to put a little ATF on it when installing.
The 2nd pic is my stock pan immediately after removing it with it being sucked out first. Do take a little time and suck the fluid out with a hand pump before removing the pan to avoid the "Red Sea Scenario". I was able to get most of the fluid and had no spilling. One could suck it out and replace the fluid without removing the pan at all, drive it for a bit, repeat the suck and fill process to pull the mixed fluid and get the fluid in the trans clean, and do a decent job.
The 3rd pic shows the intake on my filter after 40K miles. It was a waste changing it, the thing was clean. It is worth removing, emptying and resetting the filter if in there though, as it holds a decent amount of fluid.
If anyone wants to undertake this or just do a DYI service, let me know if I can help. Pretty good at it now, got a lot more pics
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Just ordered one. I’d like to get all the old fluid out. I am thinking of disconnecting the line to the radiator and pumping it out and filling until it is clean.
My question is does the fluid go from the pan to the cooler or from the “internals” to the cooler/radiator and then to the pan before it is picked up from the pan?
My question is does the fluid go from the pan to the cooler or from the “internals” to the cooler/radiator and then to the pan before it is picked up from the pan?
It goes from the trans pump to the cooler. I pulled the line filled a white clean mud bucket with 20 quarts of blue label mobile1 LV HP ATF. I used a second bucket to catch the supply side of the cooler line. Started the truck and watched one bucket go down as the other filled up. You could easily see the color change between new and old. I only did this because I changed out the pan for the PML and I wanted a little extra insurance for towing.....
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So there is definitely suction on the return side? It doesn’t need pump pressure to force the fluid back?
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I’m going to do the same thing. I believe one made for oil changes should work well.
Yup that's exactly what I used.....
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So wait a minute, you just used an extra $240 worth of fluid for a flush? Plus what it takes to fill?
I think I need to plan more.
Actually I think I ended up 4+ left over. Between dropping the factory pan installing the new filter and the PML which adds an additional 2.5 quarts to the sump I then did the flush. This being said I probably used an additional 4 to 5 quarts to do the fluid swap. All total I paid somwhere around $175 in total for the 4 cases. So to burn a few extra quarts for the flush to protect the TC clutch it was a no brainier. Plus the trans shifts so much smoother it was worth every penny.
I've done it the way you say for years now. I always pull the return line and idle the vehicle till the fluid runs clean. I haven't had a transmission failure in over 1,000,000 miles. Also it greatly extends the change interval since all the fluid is clean.
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