At 85000 miles, the transmission failed, slipping. According to dealer. Quoted $9000 for a new one. Anyone else have this issue?
Welcome to the forum and sorry you are having to deal with this…
Your vehicle came with either a 6 speed (66RFE) or 8 speed auto, and depending on V6 or V8 2 different 8 speeds (V6 = 845RE (ZF8HP45) or V8 = ZF8HP70), basically the same 8 speed but one stronger then the other… Most builders don’t have the tools or expertise to build a 8 speed transmission so they just replace them… Dealers probably just replace as well or that one doesn’t have a builder that can build one at this time…
You could call other Dodge dealers and ask them if they can build it or replace only…
You could also call Jasper engine/transmissions and ask them for a price, or call around to different transmission shop to see there prices…
I know a guy in Nashville area that even builds stock to high performance 10 speed transmissions and WILL NOT short cut anything, he builds 2,3,4,6+ speeds that can handle 1500 HP+ and live on the street… He has customers ship him transmissions for rebuilds and upgrades… Don’t know if he could help you or not due to the TCM controls, he might need to flash the TCM or something….
Casey is super nice and willing to help, comes highly recommended…
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That’s excellent advice @davesmopar , just curious if you have a theory for the cause of the slipping? Transmission clutches? Or could it be something else, like a faulty electric solenoid, just a faulty seal in one of the internal hydraulic valves, master pump not creating enough pressure, or the problem isn’t the transmission itself, confined to the torque converter?
About the only thing I know about the 8 speeds is some of the gear ratios and they shift a whole bunch of times… lol
The ZF 8 speeds with heavy vehicles, includes towing have had lots of torque converter issues… If the stator in the converter is not spinning the input shaft the vehicle ain’t moving…
Would have to know the codes to even begin to have a clue what is going on in there…
The impeller hub, the (converter hub) snout that splines into the pump, is known to break…
They have some valve body issues…
Not servicing the transmission normally even though the OEM’s say not to sometimes seems to be very bad for the ZF 8 speeds, the dirty ATF and high temps cause solenoid failure… The O-Rings that seal these solenoids to the valve body are notorious for beginning to leak as well as tearing…
As I understand it, the ZF 8 Speed’s TCM is manufactured internally to the transmission. This adds a massive amount of complexity to the gearbox itself, as well as exposing it to sustained high temperatures. another reason to service the transmission normally…
Then you have some clutch issues to complicated to get into here…
Looks to me like there are some known failures and permanent repairs that can make this transmission last a lot longer with a rebuild and of course regular fluid changes IF the builder upgrades some prone to wear out hard parts instead of dealer parts that will be just as unreliable, instead you need some upgrades such as utilizing a CNC Machined Billet Aluminum or Billet Steel hub for the E clutch hub as these are used for gears 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 and are known to fail…
It is an extraordinarily complicated transmission that discourages the majority of transmission experts from providing internal repair services for them…
I would love to open one up one day, but without a proper repair manual and a VERY LARGE build table to be able to spread everything out on it, I would be lost… 
At that price I’d get a second and maybe a third diagnosis. Try a transmission shop or well respected independent general repair shop. Make sure to find out exactly what’s wrong. You didn’t say what the dealer diagnosis is. Post it here and maybe we can help you figure out what to do next.
I did exactly that. Took it to a shop specializing in transmission and was told the transmission is fine, the noise is due to bad bearing, front passenger side. The dealer is now suspect to me. Should I revisit the dealer and let them know? But a big relief.
After you get the bearing replaced and it solves the problem, you might let the shop manager know. Just present the facts and don’t get huffy. You can’t talk directly to the mechanic and the service advisor won’t be any help.
Glad you got it repaired for probably $400ish vs thousands and that is great news, but in your OP you said the transmission was slipping… Was it slipping or not?? You never mentioned it was only making noise…
I was told it was slipping by the dealer. Never having driven a vehicle with a slipping transmission I didn’t know what it sounded like. The transmission mechanic drove it, as did a second mechanic for a second opinion, and both didn’t see or feel any signs of slipping. There was a rotational noise that increased with speed. Sort of hollow sounding. But when I took it to the dealer, they never mentioned the bearing possibility.
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If your automatic trans is slipping, you’d usually know it, without doubt. Instead of a smooth shift from one gear to the next w/the engine rpm staying mostly the same, with trans slipping the engine rpm increases briefly, and dramatically between shifts. You can easily hear the engine race briefly, for no apparent reason. Sometimes this effect is called “flaring” b/c the engine rpm seems to briefly flare.