If you go by the Owners Manual it's suppose to be a lifetime fill (hahaha). My mate the Jeep Mechanic suggests doing it every 50,000kms max. I have done mine twice (filters and fluid) and have 90,000kms on the vehicle. The first service was at about 45,000kms just before a big trip, the second was just recently prior to another big trip. Everyone has to make up their own mine about what's right for them, but since I do some significant outback trips each year I view it as a precaution worth the time and $.
I found during that first service the residue in the pan was thicker than the second service, I guess this could be initial clutch wear material depositing at the bottom of the pan. Anything that reduces the fine material that deposits (and/ or circulates) has to be good for the lif span of the pump etc.
I was reading recently about a guy on the LOST forum that had put a Magnafine filter on his transmission cooler line to pick up any circulating metal dust, particles etc that the filters might miss - a bit exptreme perhaps but he had the view that the fine metalic dust was adhereing to the solinoids and could cause eventual problems - and as there would be some sort of magnetic field there I guess he could be right but it was a rather extreme preventative method (more magnets on the bottom of the pan might work just as well).
Of course, the best service you cna give it is to prevent it ever ever overheating and cooking the seals, clutches and fluid. That means fitting an auxiliary transmission cooler (after the stock cooler if possible), and a temperature gauge which allows you to monitor the fluid temps - and importantly (to me) keep the fluid temps below 180F at all times. There is a transmission temperature graph on the web that shows how high temperatures damage the transmission, worth a look.
Last edited by glend; 12-03-2013 at 10:49 AM.
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