2017-2020 FORD w/ 10R80 Transmission Heavy-Duty Cast Aluminum Deep Transmission Pan

I have a 2018 F150, and was suprised at the amount of work involved with trying to change the transmission fluid on this vehicle. There is no drain plug on the stock transmission pan, so I decided to invest in the PPE cast aluminum pan because it offered the drain plug. Believe me, after going thru the process to get the stock trans pan off, you never want to do it again, and swapping the stock pan for the PPE version is going to pay off big time for future transmission fluid changes.

It took me 1.5 days of wrenching to remove the sway bar, the transmission cooler, and unbolt the rear transmission mounts to jack up the transmission an inch at the back to allow for the stock pan to slide down and forward clear of the exhaust pipe. Took me a few tries with the loading trigonometry to get the PPE pan in place after changing the filter and reinstalling the stock gasket...but it fit up to the transmission hole pattern like a glove. Took almost 11 quarts of ULV Mercon Trans fluid to get to full fill (note that the PPE pan has a larger capacity than the stock pan, so you should target an initial fill of 8-9 quarts vs the 5-6 quarts that you'll see in YouTube videos for the stock pan). Budget for 12 quarts of this special ULV trans fluid, specified for the Ford and GM 10R80 transmissions, and don't count on your local auto parts store to have it in stock...only a few shops carry it...I got lucky. Would suggest ordering it ahead of when you decide to do the pan swap.