Well boys and girls, today is the day I bite the bullet and take care of my tranny since I brought the truck home about 4 months ago. I shopped around, and no matter where I went, nobody could do a pan service (Gasket(s), Filter, top off with Dex-III) for less than $130 + tax. I am not experiencing any trouble at all, but at 140K miles, the fluid is starting to show a color slightly more orange than cherry red. It's still clean, smells fresh and not gritty. If it survives the pan service, I will take it in to have the system flushed out in another year/12k miles.
I went and got all of the materials, including a fully synthetic ATF Dex-III replacement fluid (Redline! Vroom baby!) Pan filter, gasket, and filter gasket, Permatex High Temp red sealant (Part # 26B for those interested) and some other nick-nacks I have been itching to own for a while now - for $60. Flat. No gimmicks, or tricks. I will be pulling the pan out of the truck and doing the swap and refill after a thorough cleaning of the pan - and I will post back. I figure we all could use some DIY experience to add to the already voluble information on tap here. Wish me luck guys! TTYL...
