BCM Community

Bus Discussion => Bus Topics ( click here for quick start! ) => Topic started by: mikke60 on May 23, 2014, 06:36:51 AM

Title: Tranny fluid
Post by: mikke60 on May 23, 2014, 06:36:51 AM
What type of transmission fluid do I put in my Allison 640
Thanks
Title: Re: Tranny fluid
Post by: lostagain on May 23, 2014, 07:01:58 AM
Dexron III, C4.

JC
Title: Re: Tranny fluid
Post by: mikke60 on May 23, 2014, 11:04:08 AM
Thanks
Title: Re: Tranny fluid
Post by: Dave5Cs on May 23, 2014, 04:14:29 PM
how about a HT 740
Title: Re: Tranny fluid
Post by: lostagain on May 23, 2014, 04:22:56 PM
Same
Title: Re: Tranny fluid
Post by: wg4t50 on May 23, 2014, 05:02:05 PM
Or the Allison Transynd ATF, (Not sure of the spelling)
Dave M
Title: Re: Tranny fluid
Post by: Lin on May 23, 2014, 05:08:08 PM
The Transynd is a synthetic made, I think by Castrol.  The definitely recommend it for newer transmissions.  Now, they retroactively recommend it for the older ones two.  There are probably some advantages to using it for the 600 and 700 units, but it is not really required and is very expensive.  I recently had transmission work done that required also changing the fluid.  The shop was willing to use Transynd if I wanted it but did not consider it essential for my 647, especially considering our minimal road time.  We went with regular Dextron.
Title: Re: Tranny fluid
Post by: Dave5Cs on May 23, 2014, 05:29:38 PM
Thanks how many gallons do I need for a 740. Is it 7?
Title: Re: Tranny fluid
Post by: lostagain on May 23, 2014, 05:48:52 PM
I replaced mine this last winter. It was a pail and some. What I remember is draining it, then measuring what I had, then measuring the same amount of new fluid as I was pouring it in. Then noticing how it looked quite high on the dip stick. But, as I suspected, the level was right on after it ran and warmed up. Your volume will vary depending on how much line you have to the filter(s) and cooler(s).

JC
Title: Re: Tranny fluid
Post by: luvrbus on May 23, 2014, 05:50:31 PM
Depends on the pan is yours 5,6,7 or 8 inch the 5 inch Allison calls it 4.5 inch it takes 7-1/2 gals the 8 inch takes 11 gals or close + the filters anyway you look at buy at least 10 gals
Title: Re: Tranny fluid
Post by: wg4t50 on May 24, 2014, 01:34:41 AM
Boy do I agree on the Transynd oil price @ $33.00 / gal, as I recall the MH4000R takes 11 or 12 gal when I changed it, then when changed just the filters about 50,000 miles later, it only took about 1+ gal to make the electronic level measuring 100% happy.  Am starting to forget how life was before the computer engine days.
Dave M
Title: Tranny fluid
Post by: Tikvah on May 26, 2014, 04:18:01 AM
Put 10w-30 in my 740
So far I like the smoother shifts.  Only a few thousands miles so far
Title: Re: Tranny fluid
Post by: Ed Hackenbruch on May 26, 2014, 05:37:13 AM
Since i did not know how long before i got our bus the tranny had been serviced, i took it into a shop to have it changed and some other work done on the bus.  This was back 7 or 8 years ago. The cost to change it over to transynd was only $200 more than the cost of a regular service. Higher initial cost, but because i could go 4 times as long without changing it again, it more than paid for itself.
Title: Re: Tranny fluid
Post by: luvrbus on May 26, 2014, 06:20:55 AM
How long is it going to take ED for you to drive 200,000 miles as you said it 4x times the mileage with the Transyad over ATF ?  which is 50,000 miles I never heard of running Transynd for 200,000 miles and the with the Transynd it still requires the filter changes at 25,000 miles the same as any oil used in the HT transmission

good luck
Title: Re: Tranny fluid
Post by: sledhead on May 26, 2014, 09:40:41 AM
I change the 2 trans.filters ( refill with new dexron 111 ) in the spring each year when I change the eng. oil , filter , change the fuel filters at the same time . Not sure when the last time the tran. fluid was changed  ( I think it was in 2005 ) But I change 3 ltrs a year with the filters .

dave
Title: Re: Tranny fluid
Post by: Ed Hackenbruch on May 26, 2014, 11:01:04 AM
Clifford, i just had it changed again a few weeks ago due to age rather than the mileage. Took the PO 20 years to put on 248,000 miles and we only put on about 65,000 in 10 years. But since i am now retired we will probably be putting more miles on in a shorter period of time.
Title: Re: Tranny fluid
Post by: Scott & Heather on May 27, 2014, 07:15:26 AM
Dave mentioned he put in motor oil? That intrigues me...
Title: Re: Tranny fluid
Post by: Fredward on May 27, 2014, 07:20:36 AM
The guys at Global Transmission told me I could easily run 15w-40 engine oil in the MT 644/647.
Fred
Title: Re: Tranny fluid
Post by: Lin on May 27, 2014, 09:26:19 AM
Fred, apparently that can be done.  When I asked at United Transmission exchange about that, they recommended against it.  I thought about switching but did not for two reasons.  First, it runs just fine with Dextron, so I questioned whether there was any reason to do it.  Second, I thought that different oil colors can make it easier to discern where a leak is coming from.
Title: Re: Tranny fluid
Post by: Melbo on May 27, 2014, 05:55:03 PM
I have a ZF which may not fit in this conversation BUT the company that rebuilt it for me told me to change the oil every year or every 10,000 miles whichever came first. I asked about synthetic oil and was told it would go 80,000 kilometers or one year whichever came first.

Change the oil every year.

They also told me that oil was probably the cheapest thing that I would ever put into the transmission. 

I change the oil every July no matter the miles and can only hope that it has a long life.

YMMV

Melbo