2005 rubicon tranny is overheating

1997tj

1997tj

Active Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2010
Location
Greevnille NC
My cousin has a 2005 Rubicon and the transmission is overheating on the highway. The jeep has 70,000 miles on it. I put a cooler on it and changed the fluid and filter hoping that the cooler would be enough to cool it down. The fluid was in great condition and there was nothing out of the ordinary in the pan. Its still overheating and it acts like the torque converter is starting to come apart. I know these trannys are light duty(junk imo) but does anyone sell a beefed up converter? I think thats what is building up the heat. And can I get away with just replacing the converter since the fluid and pan looked fine? I dont feel it slipping but it does act sluggish. Oh yeah it has a 4 inch lift and 33s
 
I used to see this a lot when I was at the dealer. The converter clutches would failed and slippage combined with the filter becoming clogged would cause an overheat issue. As long as the CVIs were in spec (indicating no clutch slippage) I would replace the converter as well as the valve body and pump due to contamination.
There are heavier duty converters out there that will keep this from happening as easily.

Don't overlook having it regeared as that will help the tranny out considerably.
 
I looked at this more at my shop today and I think we are going to throw some gears in it and try that first. He was going to do that anyways so it's a good place to start. I think that once it drops in overdrive and the converter locks it just can't handle the tires. It bogs and wants to shift back into third. I didn't see anything in the pan so I'm hoping the gears will take care of it for now.
 
Would 4:88 gears be too much for this thing? He knows he's gonna go to 35s one day so we want a gear set we can put in now and when he goes to 35s will still be sufficient
 
I have installed quite a few sets of 4.88s with 35s and the 42RLE transmission. It is a pretty solid combo that improves driveability greatly. I did regear an 05 auto Rubi with 35s to 5.13 and really liked how it drove. Only thing is the the obvious increase in cruise RPM.
 
So the 4:88s should be alright while he's running 33s for now. I assume it would be about like the 5:13s and 35s.
 
As far as I am concerned, yes.
I tell my customers to go ahead and regear to what you expect to end up wanting. Only because you will save so much money doing it only once. I'd install 4.88s if it were mine.
 
Yeah I figured it would be fine. He just does a lot I highway driving between Greenville and Florida so I wanted to make sure. I know how mine is with 4:88s and 35s so I'm sure that baby will be tourqey when she's done. Especially on the rocks with that 4:1 low range
 
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