KEVININCHICAGO

Had the 10 speed 10R80 behind my 5.0 2018 truck redone at the dealer. Had a few issues in the past, shifting to 1st at highway speed once, lost it's mind trying to find a gear, ran hot and purged fluid towing a travel trailer once but then ran fine for a couple of years after reprogramming by Ford. Since it had 135,000 miles on it now I thought it would be a good time to check it out and have it torn down. Main purpose was to replace the CDF drum to the later updated unit to ward off catastrophic failure in the future. The CDF bushing had moved a bit, but not enough to compromise the Teflon seals on the shaft. The clutches were worn a bit but not burned at all. Steels were good. The main drum was replaced due to a score line on the inner teeth, probably from the shift to 1st event at speed one time and the solenoids were changed to a new set. Fluid was in good shape and I had it changed before at 50,000 miles on a pan drop and filter change. All else was good. My dealer has a really good transmission guy and that is all he does day in and day out. He added an extra shim to tighten up some clutch pack to get rid of any factory slop it may have had. Drove home and it runs absolutely perfect now up and down the gears. It was good before really but now you notice a solid change. I pull some heavy trailers with the 5.0 and 3.73 gearing and have a lot of extra weight in the bed. So much I added a leaf and airbags to the rear. I also snow plow with it just my own warehouse lot in Chicago. I was going to add an aluminum pan with a drain, but the Ford Tech said it was not needed and the transmission is made to run hotter and the cooling system works fine to pull heat. I had the plastic one put back. $6200 is what it cost, but had both axles oil changed and the transfer case too. Amsoil in both axles severe gear 75-140 and the transfer case takes Ford LV fluid and the transmission takes Ford ULV. I feel it is well worth the cost to know the transmission is solid and checked out completely now. I take some long trips and like doing things on my time and not on emergency middle of nowhere time. I know the 10 speed gets a bad rap at times, but with an expert it can be made solid. The only other thing I could have done was used some of the extreme duty clutches and steels and added a extra set here and there using machined drums for clearance for them, but I saw how it held up so far with 135,000 and with some regular fluid changes I should have no issues to over 300,000 miles now hopefully. From what I understand, the late 2023 and 2024 trucks and 10 speeds have the updated CDF drum. I know my 2022 F-350 with the 10R140 had the newer one from the factory. I had a 2021 in a F-450 get completely destroyed at 80,000 with a CDF drum failure and full of glitter on a 10R140 so maybe all is good after 2021 on both transmission types now. I have another 2018 F-150 and a 2020 Expedition I will also do this year as I know both have the bad CDF drums in them and I have access to an absolute expert on the 10 speed now to do them.