# The 68RFE six-speed automatic transmission



## PLOWMAN45 (Jul 2, 2003)

the people that own ram trucks here how do you like The 68RFE six-speed automatic transmission paired with diesel ?


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## JustinPittsburg (Jan 11, 2019)

Pretty happy with mine. We just finished up a year long trip pulling a 10k travel trailer. 40k miles, pulling all over the west with zero issues. 70k on the truck with no issues. Getting a Boss VXT put on Wednesday for the northern NH snow so I can't speak to how it plows yet but I anticipate it'll do fine.


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

103K on mine, towing and plowing. No problems yet. Hate the push button thing to get it in first gear.


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## John_DeereGreen (Jan 2, 2011)

JustinPittsburg said:


> Pretty happy with mine. We just finished up a year long trip pulling a 10k travel trailer. 40k miles, pulling all over the west with zero issues. 70k on the truck with no issues. Getting a Boss VXT put on Wednesday for the northern NH snow so I can't speak to how it plows yet but I anticipate it'll do fine.


Unless you're plowing a ton of gravel, do yourself a favor and get the DXT instead of VXT.


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## Bighammer (Aug 20, 2003)

Just got mine a couple months ago. It's my first automatic and it seems decent, but it does feel different plowing. I had better control with my nv5600. The transfer of power is more precise and predictable with a clutch and throttle, over just a throttle.


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## cl733 (Jul 12, 2013)

I have put 110K km on my 09 68rfe, and most of the time its been pulling a 8000k lb trailer and pushing a 10ft blade, the 09 trans and previous were destined for doom after a 160K km, cross flow leaks in the valve body, but mine has 196K on it now and still shifts and drives beautiful, I did add the BD pressure fooler in the trans wiring harness to try and up the line pressure a little, and i also added a in series under the box trans cooler to help keep the trans temps down while im plowing


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## Hydromaster (Jun 11, 2018)

I have 150K on my 68rfe.
80% highway 20%towing our TT in the mountains. 
It shifts and feels to me the same as It did when it was new. 

I change both filters and most of the trans fluid every 64K.


Jmo
I think most of the transmission issues arose from guys treating their trucks like sports cars and racing them. 

( It’s my highway queen, I have another truck forrunning around town and Plowing with)


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## Blaster99 (Nov 15, 2015)

If you work this tranny it will fail eventually. Get the Aisin it will last longer. If you do the mods on the 68rfe it is a good tranny but that does come at a cost.


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

Blaster99 said:


> If you work this tranny it will fail eventually. Get the Aisin it will last longer. If you do the mods on the 68rfe it is a good tranny but that does come at a cost.


What mods?


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## PLOWMAN45 (Jul 2, 2003)

Blaster99 said:


> If you work this tranny it will fail eventually. Get the Aisin it will last longer. If you do the mods on the 68rfe it is a good tranny but that does come at a cost.


Yeah i see most are ordered with an asin


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## Kvston (Nov 30, 2019)

Aisin made the 68RFE...The 68 is better than the 47 or 48. Not an Allison, but you get a Cummins instead of a Duramax so its a wash.


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## PLOWMAN45 (Jul 2, 2003)

Well i saw this you tube channel i will get the name a ford with cummins and allison


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

PLOWMAN45 said:


> Yeah i see most are ordered with an asin


#1 You can't order these transmissions. Ram builds them with or without depending on the model.

#2 You can't get an Aisin in a 2500.

#3 You can get an Aisin in 3500 and up models even if it only has the 6.4 gasser.


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

PLOWMAN45 said:


> Well i saw this you tube channel i will get the name a ford with cummins and allison


No way!

These have been around for ages. Even in 250s and 350s. It all depends on how much money you have.


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## PLOWMAN45 (Jul 2, 2003)

i would only get a 3500 diesel at that


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## cl733 (Jul 12, 2013)

The real skinny is thats its basically a pretty good trans, its got a bad rap from people cranking up the power and taking out the overdrive/underdrive clutches, as they are weak. I just fried mine out pulling my travel trailer of 8600lbs up a logging road for 32km being in 1st-2nd gear and got it hot enough for the light to come on at 265degrees, My truck is an 09 and was bought with 80k km on it and has plowed up until its failure with 200k km on it, took it apart my self to find every other clutch pack in it in still as new condition except the overdrive clutch which is applied in 4th gear and on, sprag is supposed to be weak too but i never had a problem with mine and its done alot of plowing. 7.5- 09 trucks had an un anodized valve body that wore excessively and applied the overdrive as a result and a major cause of failures, 10 and on trucks used the anodized valve body and faired better, its not a problem transmission in lower gears , beat it up with a power increase or treating it badly will drastically shorten its life,


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## Bighammer (Aug 20, 2003)

I replaced my '03 with a '15, but it has an automatic. I've always had a stick so I'm new to autos. I might keep the trans and related parts from the old truck just in case. (I'd really love this truck with a swap)


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## H3lzsn1p3r (Nov 23, 2020)

Bighammer said:


> I replaced my '03 with a '15, but it has an automatic. I've always had a stick so I'm new to autos. I might keep the trans and related parts from the old truck just in case. (I'd really love this truck with a swap)


Terrible idea putting an nv5600 in a newer truck the g56 is a much better option found in the 06+ manual cummins trucks


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## PLOWMAN45 (Jul 2, 2003)

I'm seeing the Asin with Diesels now


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

PLOWMAN45 said:


> I'm seeing the Asin with Diesels now


Just now?


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## PLOWMAN45 (Jul 2, 2003)

2019-2020 build sheets


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## Bighammer (Aug 20, 2003)

H3lzsn1p3r said:


> Terrible idea putting an nv5600 in a newer truck the g56 is a much better option found in the 06+ manual cummins trucks


LOL, says who? The NV5600 is more solid and has better ratios. The G56 shifts more smoothly, but I would still prefer my 5600.


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

PLOWMAN45 said:


> 2019-2020 build sheets


Huh...had no idea this was a thing.


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## cl733 (Jul 12, 2013)

Bighammer said:


> LOL, says who? The NV5600 is more solid and has better ratios. The G56 shifts more smoothly, but I would still prefer my 5600.


 Well owning both the nv5600 and a g56 the nv5600 shifts way nicer and actually has a higher input torque rating than the g56


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## cl733 (Jul 12, 2013)

PLOWMAN45 said:


> I'm seeing the Asin with Diesels now


The 69 aisin was available as an option in 2014 and they used the 68aisin in 5500 back in 08


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

cl733 said:


> The 69 aisin was available as an option in 2014 and they used the 68aisin in 5500 back in 08


What????????


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## PLOWMAN45 (Jul 2, 2003)

when i built a truck online i picked the diesel aisin comes up as well


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

PLOWMAN45 said:


> when i built a truck online i picked the diesel aisin comes up as well


You know what's even more mind blowing? If you order a 3500-5500 with a 6.4 Hemi it comes with an Aisin.


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## H3lzsn1p3r (Nov 23, 2020)

Mark Oomkes said:


> You know what's even more mind blowing? If you order a 3500-5500 with a 6.4 Hemi it comes with an Aisin.


No it does not they run the 8 speed


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

H3lzsn1p3r said:


> No it does not they run the 8 speed


You're correct, used to be an Aisin.

Sorry, still not into the 2020 MY thinking yet.


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## H3lzsn1p3r (Nov 23, 2020)

Bighammer said:


> LOL, says who? The NV5600 is more solid and has better ratios. The G56 shifts more smoothly, but I would still prefer my 5600.


The nv5600 has its own problems but is an ok transmission, the g56 can handle more power and is much nicer for shifting the only way the nv5600 can compare to the g56 for shifting is if you pull the shift tower and add 1.5qts of extra fluid


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## cl733 (Jul 12, 2013)

Mark Oomkes said:


> What????????


Yep I have a 14 with the 69 it was like a 3200$ option over the rfe and one of the buddies 08 5500 has the earlier asrc68 aisin in it and is still plowing strong


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## cl733 (Jul 12, 2013)

Mark Oomkes said:


> What mods?


 My 09 failed this summer with the rfe68, it has plowed since 80k km failed at 209k km i took it a apart to see where it had failed, the whole transmission was clean and in great shape, the first 4 gears worth of clutches you could still read the lettering on the plates, sprag like new, but the under/over drive were wiped right out burnt and concave, best thing a person could do to preserve its life would be to run a plug in sonnax pressure booster, or bd diesel one, or what I am going g to try now is I bought an xrt pro and plan to install trans tuning which ups the line pressure to 170lbs the 68rfe is a double overdrive, and that combined with flimsy over drive clutches that should be twice their size, is their #1 failure


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## cl733 (Jul 12, 2013)

Kvston said:


> Aisin made the 68RFE...The 68 is better than the 47 or 48. Not an Allison, but you get a Cummins instead of a Duramax so its a wash.


I'm not so sure of that, aisin is made in Japan, and a 48 is just a beefed up pinioned 47 and a 48 will live alot longer under high hp compared to a 68, you can make a nice 68 with alot of money but overdrive is their death behind any large hp numbers


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## Hydromaster (Jun 11, 2018)

Jmo, on the 68
Issue with it was the accumulator getting stuck in the bore of the valve body and there may be a weak solenoid.
Installing the anodized aftermarket valve body seems to remedy this.

Where as the transmission is set up to work with the engine in stock condition, it doesn’t seem to have a lot of longevity when fooled s and boosters are used.

The best thing you can do for it is change the fluid and both of the transmission filters every 60,000 miles. Or 120mi If it’s just use as a grocery getter

Never had a problem with the overdrive when plowing as I always select first gear
And I seldom let it shift up...


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## cl733 (Jul 12, 2013)

Hydromaster said:


> Jmo, on the 68
> Issue with it was the accumulator getting stuck in the bore of the valve body and there may be a weak solenoid.
> Installing the anodized aftermarket valve body seems to remedy this.
> 
> ...


Overdrive isn't used plowing but in 4th gear you are into using od clutches 1st gear is on the weak sprag , I haven't broke one but they are weak and to be replaced with a roller clutch, and a pressure fooler only adds a max of about 15lbs ,and is variable, of which will extend trans life, accumulators start being a problem at 250psi , as well as valve body cross leaks, and blown accumulator plates. 150-170 psi line pressure will make the trans live ot longer


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## Hydromaster (Jun 11, 2018)

back In 09 I had direct contact with one of the engineers who designed the transmission.

His recommendation was to keep the fluid and both filters serviced regularly and look into installing an anodized valve body.

now I have 150k on mine, just atf and filters.


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## PLOWMAN45 (Jul 2, 2003)

I dont like the 6.4 active fuel management crap


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