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n4hwl's avatar
n4hwl
Explorer
May 25, 2017

Changing transmission fluid

I have an Allison 3000 Transmission in my 2004 Freightliner motorhome. It has synthetic transmission fluid in it now. I'm wondering how much trouble it would be to change the transmission fluid and filter myself on this motorhome. I changed the oil and fuel filter by myself. Any suggestions?
Thanks
Ken

18 Replies

  • Here is the link to the brochure on specs on the Allison tranny website, I can't make it a clicky because it has a percent sign in it and for some reason this webpage hates percent signs. Open the brochure and go down to the capacities and it says 29 and 26 quarts for the Allison 3000 MH.

    Okay, it won't even let me post the link at all because of the percent sign. So go here and the link at the top down loads the spec sheet:

    SPEC SHEET 3000 MH

    I don't see model years in this flyer so is this new tranny's that take 29 quarts and the older ones only take 19?
  • Ya, sorry, FAT FINGERS above.

    Five gallon pail= 5 time 4 quarts/gallon= 20 quarts.

    20 quarts minus one left over is, as others have posted 19, not 29.

    Sorry for the mis-key-- went back and edited it.
  • The info on the Allison website for the 3000 MH in the motorhome section shows 29 quarts for the deep oil sump and 26 quarts for the shallow oil sump. Like I said, Freightliner charged me for 8 gallons, so I assume mine has the deep sump. But I am going to check that and make sure otherwise they owe me a gallon and a half of fluid if mine is the shallow sump.
  • Careful now, the Allison 3000 MH with the 4" pan takes 19 quarts
    ( almost 5 gallons) with the oil and 2 filter change.
    DO NOT OVERFILL !
    Siggy
  • I changed mine out myself and it was quite easily done. Be careful when you install the new filters that you correctly torque the bolts down to the proper torque values.
  • Also, you made me do some research on my prices, they charged me $36.71 a gallon for the tranny fluid and it looks like they used Delvac Synthetic. I thought that was expense until I looked at Allison Transynd. The cheapest Internet price I see is about $43 a gallon. The labor portion of my $646 dollar bill was $298. So for me, the $300 is well worth having somebody else do it as I'm not a real do-it-yourselfer for a project like this.
  • I can tell you I just had it done at the Freightliner dealer along with some other maintenance, and the tranny part of the bill was $646.

    I see wolfe10 saying the Allison 3000 takes 29 quarts and to buy 5 gallons? They charged me for 8 gallons and my math says 29 quarts is 7.25 gallons.
  • Edited to correct "fat finger" quantity. 19 quarts for fluid and filter change is correct. Sorry.

    Very simple. Just did it earlier this month.

    From Allison, buy a 5 gallon pail of Transynd. Fluid change requires 19 quarts, so you will have one quart left over.

    Also, from Allison the appropriate filter kit (depends on sump depth). It comes with instructions.

    Also need a 3/8" drive torque wrench.

    Start by washing the bottom of the transmission so you don't get dirt in it.