Great video on the AT545. I also installed a secondary trans temp sensor in my pan as well. Here is the difference of temps pan to case. Pan temp 197'F Case sensor 199'F Your idea on this works just fine. Also, that trans filter pickup tube. If you ever have difficulty getting the top portion of tube into trans past the "O" ring. Take the tube to a belt sander or hand sand top of tube to a smooth camphor. The tube in the trans or kit is just square cut. This will help avoid "O" ring damage. I did both ends of my tube. All fit great.
I hope you'll put out a "How To Install Solar on an Rv, Skoolie and Van". They're all basically the same for install. Attach Solar panels to roof, bring wiring in and down thru roof to attach/hook up all the electrical. You have a very cool way of showing us how to do things. Easy to understand. I'm in the process of getting everything I need to install solar on my 2001 Fleetwood Jamboree 24 foot Class C. So far I have, four 180 watt 9BB solar panels, a 'Victron MPPT 150/70 tr' charge controller and a Victron BMV-702 battery monitor. My brother is giving me his inverter. I want to do the install myself so I'll be able to troubleshoot it down the road if any issues come up. I need to understand how the whole install works by walking thru it myself. Much thanks Charlie. Great job on the video.
Ha! You said rocket surgery! That's what I always say! Seriously though, you are the Norm Abram of skoolies! You explain everything to calmly and clearly that I feel like I could service a school bus transmission even though I know for a fact that I never ever will. Oh, and thanks to Alyssa for the camera! Good to see Rio!
I like to start by saying that I don't have a bus not yet. But I do think that it is very kind of you to share your knowledge that you acquire along the years with you're audience. and if you're a fast learner you should have no problem in building your own. thank you very very much for sharing your knowledge🙏🙏👍
Damn Chuck, I'm an old woman and you showed and explained that so well, I think even I could get under a bus and change the transmission fluid out. Another great video!!
Been using the strap filter tool for years. Works where others can't cut it. Glad to see you using it! Thanks for this vid. I need to do mine soon on my 99 International. Kudos
was an allison tech for thirty years and my boss loved yhis trans. made a lot of money off this trans. last summer helped afriend install a newer 1000 allison into his older bus. got the unit,wiring and ecu out of wrecked Int. truck with a DT engine. works extremely well and was not as hard as some might think. PS checked my own records and found i had rebuilt 392 of these AT series trannys. the proper place for sending unit is with an adapter tee in the cooler send line..a quicker install and less likly to get snagged. we would tell cust. when temp gets to 250 stop and idle in neutral.
hey good point to look for the o ring but please fill cartridge filters before putting on! nice to add a temp gauge but an external cooler, pump, and another external cartridge filter would be very good.
Whoever maintained my bus...was good! they took a permanent marker and put the date /miles on filters when they were changed and also the rebuilt trans. Also as I refill my trans or used oil I refill the new 1/gal bottles with the old oil. then as I get close to refilled I know how much oil I drained because I checked the level before draining.
A cooler(maybe electric fan), temp gauge and maintenance is all Ive read that can really be done to the 545. Also you can run a ground wire to the sending unit body to a better ground.
I should be pulling my AT545 and swapping out for one that I was told that was coupled with a 4bt for a water pump set up with little to no hours on it. I will be pulling and comparing valve body’s and see where the shift points are set at and talk to a Alison dealer to see what else might be different. Been reading threw the service manual as well
Hey Chuck yours vids are AWSOME What are your thoughts about a 2006 Bluebird All-American Rear Engine with the Cat C7 and an Allison B300 setup? Thanks
Depending on the route a school bus was on it would probably lead a hard life transmission wise as its constantly upshifting and downshifting and if it was a hilly rural area and packed with kids, a driver with a heavy foot as it upshifts, that would take its toll for sure. Chuck, is there a trans cooler on theses buses as I am guessing it could then be possible to do what I call a poor mans flush system by first dumping the oil out of the pan and changing out the filters as you did, then disconnect the trans cooler line that is pushing oil into the cooler and hook up a rubber line to it routed to a drain pan/barrel. Then add oil and run the engine until the oil starts spurting out of the hose as the sump is getting sucked out and air is entering the pump and cut the engine quick, add more oil and repeat until it comes out nice and red. I've only done that trick on a pickup and it certainly pushed the old oil out of the torque converter in that instance which is the goal. The cost of the oil to do a full flush, well that's another matter ! . I think its safe to say that most buses have well used transmissions by the time they get sold unless a reman trans was installed shortly before the unit was sold.
@@charlesb4267 One thing that's bad about the trans oil cooler is that it goes into the engine radiator. Which runs a lot hotter than your trans needs to run . so installing a independent oil cooler strictly for the trans would be optimal.
I just wish the AT545 had a tighter torque converter! Mine you have to rev it like crazy to pull away from a stop, which is silly because max torque on my DT466 engine is at 1200 rpms. The bus likes to rev up to around 2000-2200 RPMs and basically stay there all the time because of the slush-box torque converter. You never really have the sensation of that automatic transmission "lunge" from a stop.
@@ChuckCassadyYT It's too bad because it would be very interesting to drive a vehicle with an AT545 in it with a super-tight torque converter. Maybe that goes a long ways towards not missing having a lock-up torque converter. I'll bet you could buy a used, stock torque converter from an AT545 and send it off to a muscle car transmission shop and have them work their magic on it.
@@r0ckworthy im sure you could and im sure it would help but if im gonna drop the trans down, its pretty easy to just put the MT643 in so id likely just do that. the lockup TC plus the heavier duty nature of the MT643 are really nice upgrades
Thank you for the how to. I dig your channel very much! Perfect timing for what I am working on. I have a 08 International CE 300. Transmission is an Allison MD. I'm getting this girl ready for some serious travel for next summer. I'd like to get the rpms down while we're on the road. The manual says that there are 6-7 gears possible. Is this achievable, or advised? Then of course, how is this achieved?
Bro you're kidding me right? The AT545 was the BEST transmission put in a school bus aside from the Spicer but that was a stick. The 645 was a complicated electronic mess. These were virtually bulletproof. I even remember most of the part number for the spin on filter started with 29539579. Sold cases of them.
I'm not kidding. The MT643 is mt favorite all mechanical allison in a school bus. Lock up torque converter, 60k gvwr, and no computers. I'm not aware of a 645, let alone one with computers. If we're talking sticks, I'd take a roadranger over a Spicer any day. I believe you are mistaken
Thanks for this video, it is very useful! I'm writing from Europe, we have an AT542 on a Mercedes Vario (camper). Can you please advice, regarding the filters and ATF change, what is the difference between the AT545 and AT542? Thank you!
Great video bro. Have you thought about building skoolies fulltime again because of how our economy is? People are definitely gonna turn to skoolies instead of houses in my opinion.
Thanks for sharing. Feel more confident on tackling this job myself. So how does the temp gauge work? I saw you install it on the plug but how do you get a reading to your gauge?
Hey do we know of a manual replacement for this? Id even be okay with a manual for a heavy truck application, I have a lot of experience with asynchronous trans driving, but not with what could be a replacement for the AT545 that would let me have manual selected gearing.
I drove school buses throughout most of the 1980s and into the 90s. I left it for 20 years but now I'm back driving school buses again. They ran the 8545 for years & years with very few problems. I used to like the whining sound that they made while accelerating through the gears!. I could see however how overheating could be a problem if you do a lot of over-the-road interstate 70 mph driving. Would any kind of cooler help with that?
Yes! A cooler does help a lot but you're still losing efficiency no matter how you slice it. I also like engine braking down the mountains here in Colorado so the mt643 will be a welcome upgrade
Could you tell me the part number for the spin on filter you use? I'm looking in the far outdated service manual for my 545 and the only filter that still pops up is the fram HP 1, which is a racing oil filter. Just want to make sure I get something that meets all the Allison's specs as far as flow rate and such.
Hey Chuck, loving your videos brother !!!!! been very educational!!! I’ve been having a 1993 international short bus (LIL SHORTY) and she is special !!!! Drive Tran is international DT 360 with a Allisin at-545 transmission im turn 2,600 rpm’s running 62 mph getting 10.5 to 11 gallons per gallon…..I have been having her for 13 we got her for as a private party bus ,and believe me you she special …started taking to festivals and camping cross country….. you know with the transmission the 545 four-speed been trying to find a replacement with the overdrive on it . Talk to international ,Allison and many many hours/days on the Inerweb trying to figure out. So far no luck :( Wondering do you have any recommendations?????? It Seems like I’m stuck with the transmission to me ? don’t get me wrong been a great transmission ,Knock on wood no problems we would love,better fuel economy and run at a lower rpm and less noise really do not want to go to a electric computerized transmission!!!!! What about two speed rear end. WOLD LOVE YOUR OPINIONS!!!!! keep up the beautiful work and videos !!!!!!!! STAY AWESOME AND MANY THANKS Michael
One other thing when I spoke to international and Allison, they’re telling me no other transmissions with bolt up to the DT 360 just hard for me to believe many thanks
@@ChuckCassadyYT Do you know any trustworthy mechanics near Yuma, Az? I'm kinda stuck here on blm land 😬 my first time here and don't know who to trust or much about diesel engines (I am a mechanic, just gas motors though)
@@ChuckCassadyYT replaced the fuel filter in Or. then drove straight here. Changed the air filter once I got here and am picking up a new fuel/water sep r n. Im not losing any coolant and didn't overheat going over mountains in Or (though semis were passing me) towards the end of California it started blowing black smoke and not the stop engine light. Pulled over and about 20min later started it and it drove better than it ever has for about 15min. Was already planning to stop at this blm. The next day tried driving and the black smoke is back and it won't go over 5mph 😔
At545 transmissions got a bad rap because of people that don't understand the transmission. No its not a brand new transmission, no it doesn't have overdrive, nope it doesn't have a bunch of todays luxuries..... But, if you keep this thing cool with a nice big oil cooler, make sure you have a temp gauge and do the research on how this transmission was made you will find that people who have taken proper care of these transmissions have gone 300,000+ miles with them. This transmission can be rebuilt and reinstalled in a day. Take care of it and it'll take care of you. And yes it'll break but all transmissions break. I've definitely seen much worse transmissions. Nice vid. Ill follow MOST of your tutorial..... :) 😁
thanks for watching! i mean, it is the worst one you can get. Can you make do? Absolutely. BUT everything about an AT545 is true for an MT643 (all mechanical, removed and reinstalled in a day, simple, effective) but an MT has a lockup converter (more efficient in 3rd and 4th gear with engine braking), and higher GVWR/HP capacity. Ill be swapping this AT545 for an MT 643 to take the additional cooling load required by the non-lockup converter off the anemic stock engine/trans cooler setup and get better mpg, higher top speed (since the TC is locked), and more reliability. Sure the AT545 can last 300,000, but not the way I want to drive my bus in Colorado. Im opinionated. I used to run a fleet and have low tolerance for high maintenance under performers
@@ChuckCassadyYT yeah. I guess we can agree to disagree. I’ll prolly change out the 545 for the 643 if I have problems. I’m putting a 24” by 24” Hayden cooler on my trans. Already have one on the engine. Amazing cooling. Shouldn’t have problems.
@@SirGrogg i was considering keeping it...but the cooler i was planning to add is about $600. I can get a good used MT643 for $1200 and avoid the cooler install, get a higher top speed by about 8%, have a tougher trans, get engine braking, and the only mod needed is to shorten the driveshaft 2.75" i loved the DT466/MT643 buses. its my favorite kind and a totally different feeling bus than the dt466/at545
