2019-2024 Ram 6.7L Cummins Valve Bodies
The factory valve body on the 2019-2024 Ram Cummins has more than a few problems which can cause some pretty serious issues with your 2019-2024 Ram's transmission, even at factory levels of horsepower and torque. That's why swapping out your Ram's stock valve body with a high-pressure valve body or a billet high-pressure valve body from Tier One can help prevent a ton of different transmission issues and even outright failure all in one place. The stock 2019-2024 Ram 6.7L Cummins valve body is prone to warping, cross-leaks, and solenoid problems that can lead to low line pressures and critical components of your transmission not receiving enough fluid or pressure to adequately lubricate key components or generate enough clutch clamping force for successful gear changes. An aftermarket Ram high-pressure valve body or Ram billet valve body can help solve all these issues so that you can add serious power, throw on big tires, or tow heavy without your transmission letting you down. Also check out our 2019-2024 Ram transmission coolers or 2019-2024 Ram bypass valves!
About 2019-2024 Ram 6.7L Cummins Valve Bodies
The valve body is the brains of your 2019-2024 Ram 6.7L Cummins' transmission. The valve body controls how and when you Ram shifts (with input from the engine management computer), how much lubrication various components get, and how all that actually feels. While that's all well and good, the factory valve body, especially on the 68RFE transmissions, has a bunch of issues that can lead to all sorts of "fun" problems with your Ram's transmission. Adding an performance high-pressure valve body to your Ram's 68RFE transmission can often fix a ton of different problems, including low line pressure, strange shifting behavior, solenoid codes, and lack of lubrication to your Ram's clutches and other critical transmission components.
What are common problems with 68RFE valve bodies?
The stock valve body in the 68RFE transmission is the source of a lot of misery for Ram 6.7L Cummins owners. Issues caused by the stock valve body range from strange shifting behavior to lunching your Ram's entire transmission. Buy why does this all happen?68RFE Valve Body Cross-Leaks
The factory valve body is known to suffer from cross-leaks, which are leaks of transmission fluid between the two halves of the valve body. While some cross-leakage is normal, the 68RFE valve bodies suffer from cross-leaks to such a degree that you can see a loss of line pressure, which can lead to weird shifting, poor clutch engagement, and a lack of lubrication throughout your Ram's transmission. There's two main causes for these cross-leaks: 1). the two halves of the valve body are rarely ever completely flat and 2). the stock separator plate is just a piece of laser-cut steel, which doesn't provide the best sealing. The most common fix for both issues is using a bonded separator plate, which is a type of separator plate that features integrated gasket material that provides a much more positive and reliable seal. Many aftermarket valve bodies use a bonded separator plate in order to fix cross-leak issues, though we here at Tier One also flat-sand our 2019-2024 Ram 6.7L 68RFE High-Pressure Valve Body and our 2019-2024 Ram 6.7L 68RFE Billet High-Pressure Valve Body which further helps with sealing and minimizing cross-leaks. While flat-sanding and bonded separator plates do a lot to fix cross-leak issues at stock power levels or slightly elevated power levels, at extreme levels of power, the valve body's channel plate can actually warp under load, which can cause cross-leaks and other issues. If your Ram is throwing down big-time power, you'll want to jump up to a billet valve body or add a billet channel plate to your Ram's valve body build.68RFE Accumulator Piston Leaks & Failures
The factory accumulator pistons nestled in your 68RFE's valve body are a potential source of issues that can lead to some pretty serious issues with your transmission's overall reliability. The accumulator pistons help regulate fluid pressures when the clutches engage and disengage. Unfortunately, the stock accumulator pistons are made out of pretty flimsy plastic with only two sets of seals, and they have the bad habit of warping, cracking, or losing their seals which keeps them from doing their job properly. Nearly every aftermarket valve body out there for the 68RFEs swap out the stock pistons for a set of billet accumulator pistons. Billet accumulator pistons are made out of CNC-machined billet aluminum, which makes them far stronger than stock, and most of them have triple-redundant seals that help prevent leaks and blow-by.68RFE Solenoid Issues
Both the mechanical Solenoid Shift Valve and the electronically-controlled solenoids within the solenoid pack are a source of issues. The Solenoid Shift Valve (SSV) is a unique source of problems, and a primary cause of the dreaded P0871 code that plagues the 68RFE transmissions. The SSV is made out of a harder and coarser material than the surrounding cast aluminum that it sits it, which makes it wear out the bore as it moves and eventually cause leaks. Secondly, due to the high nickel content of the stock SSV valves, they can also suffer from galvanic corrosion with the surrounding aluminum bore which can potentially make them freeze up. The best solution is to drill out the SSV bore and install a SSV valve that's machined smoother with improved materials, which is what Tier One and most other manufacturers do for their aftermarket high-pressure 68RFE valve bodies. While the electronically-controlled solenoids in the solenoid pack generally aren't considered a wear item, but it is a fact of life that even the best electronic solenoid has a lifespan, and we here at Tier One include a new OEM solenoid pack with both our 2019-2024 Ram 6.7L Cummins 68RFE High-Pressure Valve Body and our 2019-2024 Ram 6.7L Cummins 68RFE Billet High-Pressure Valve Body to ensure reliable operation for your truck's 68RFE transmission.
