Truck and pulling a trailer question

[Craig]

On my truck ( Dodge ) on the gear shifter there is a button. with three positions.
OD off
OD on
Tow/ Haul

When pulling a trailer what is the best choice to use?

When on flat roads I have been in OD on. when going up bigger hills i switched to Tow/haul for a little extra power. Is that ok or is it up to your driving style on whet to use?

I just want to make sure I don't screw up my truck.

[rasbo]

tow haul all the time your towing

[cld40]

 

[GoldTip]

X2

[markts]

x3

[Bofire]

 :)Owners Manual
Carl

[jayrod9528]

x3

x4

[FC]

Is this a trick question?

[Sorefeet]

I agree with Bofire

Owners manual or call the dealer in your area

[FC]

For those that don't get this one, pulling a trailer is the same as towing one or hauling a heavy load....This isn't actually a trick question  

[MIKEXRAY]

I tow an enclosed trailer for work 3 days a week and I take my tow / haul button off when I'm going down the right grade hill. I hate going down hill , having the engine hold you back & having to give it gas to do 60 mph. I take it off & pretty much coast at the speed limit. I leave it on for climbing hills, flat & going down steep grade. I don't see any harm in this & It has to give you better gas mileage. One example is after I go over the pass on I-90, I take it off all the way down & have to give the truck very little gas along the way. Coasts close to the speed limit almost to Cle elum.   Mike

[bobcat]

I do the same when pulling my trailer. On downhill grades I'll let it go into overdrive. Most of the time I leave it in tow/haul, but like you said, there are times that you shouldn't have to be pushing on the gas to keep your speed up going downhill.

[JackOfAllTrades]

Question to ask... For the Dodge owner that's going to read his owners manual.

Does the Dodge automatic transmission Tow/Haul feature do the same three things that happen when engaging the same feature on the Ford transmission? Where as- In Tow/Haul mode, the transmission locks the torque converter and takes the gear out of over-drive and engages 'transmission' braking.  Most owners manuals I've read say that you should not tow, (over x amount of weight), in over-drive, as that is the weakest gear set in the transmission and the big V10's or Diesels have enough torque available that a person could damage the transmission.

I suggest that you read the owners manual.

I don't have any of this as I have a manual ZF 6spd behind my diesel. I tow in over-drive all the time until an incline makes the engine labor, then I down shift when I should. Same with decelorating down a grade, I select a gear that allows the truck/load to cruise at or very near the speed limit with just a little bit of breaking if need be.

-Steve

[Special T]

Trade that POS doge auto in and get a 6 speed stick!

[jackelope]

It doesn't matter.
Tow/Haul boosts line pressure in the trans, makes it shift later and harder, thus keeping the RPM's up so you don't lose momentum when the trans shifts and the R's drop. It's nice when you're hauling big stuff. If I remember correctly you've got a Hemi mega-cab...lots of power there...unless you're pulling a huge new boat, you can go with or without tow/haul. I towed a 21.5 Bluewater cuddy cabin boat with my 1/2 ton chev truck and 290hp and did fine without hardly ever using tow/haul.

[JackOfAllTrades]

I didn't recall the boosted pressures that Jackalope referenced, but no body answered my question about the Dodge transmission in tow/haul mode.

Trade that POS doge auto in and get a 6 speed stick!

damn man.. Don't hold back a bit! That's not nice. Automatics do have their place.. (not in my truck)  Although, my half brother has put two auto transmissions behind his Cummins now. All of the big three have issues with the auto transmissions behind diesels. Jackalope said something about this being a gas engine/auto transn though.. So be it.

We can't convince everyone to drive a stick! 

-Steve

[jackelope]

I didn't recall the boosted pressures that Jackalope referenced, but no body answered my question about the Dodge transmission in tow/haul mode.

[-Steve

No overdrive and no TCC lockup plus the boosted line pressure/late shift.

[Woodchuck]

Allison's have issues?  like what?

[JackOfAllTrades]

Not wanting to jack this thread....

Allison's have issues?

Yup, just as many issues as the Ford TorqeShift.  As I said, 'All of the big three' have automatic transmission issues. Especially when behind the high torque engines.

http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=41

Heard some horror stories about the Allisons in military Hummers too.

-Steve

[jackelope]

Not wanting to jack this thread....

Allison's have issues?

Yup, just as many issues as the Ford TorqeShift.  As I said, 'All of the big three' have automatic transmission issues. Especially when behind the high torque engines.

http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=41

Heard some horror stories about the Allisons in military Hummers too.

-Steve

Military H1's I didn't think had the Allison transmissions in them. The only H1 to have an Allison that I'm aware of is the Alpha 1 H1 which also has the Duramax engine. I could be totally wrong there as it's been +/- 6 years since I worked at the Chev/Hummer dealer. The Alpha 1 was selling for $130k new back then 

We truly see very few transmission issues in the Dodge truck transmissions. The problems that we do see are mostly electronics and not hard parts. The hard part issues we see are usually fixed by replacing the governor pressure sensor and the transducer. We do a lot of these after Aamco has rebuilt the transmission and not fixed the problem.
Same problem is pretty common in the WJ Grand Cherokees.

[JackOfAllTrades]

I would have to agree, that the Dodges, from what I've heard have probably the fewest auto trans issues. I do know more than one person that has had hard part issues with autos behind Cummins though. A few years ago I monitored a lot of truck forums. I'm sure things have improved with all of them. Got to hope so, as the Ford TorqShift really had issues early on whether behind a V10 or Diesel. I don't claim to know much at all about what the Allisons came in. I just remember several discussions about them failing behind Dura-Izusu's.  I did my research and specifically looked for a truck with the ZF6. Something about using a transmission thats rated for much more torque/payload than what its installed in says something to me. (Allison has a very high rating also) Both GM and Ford use the ZF6. You can even put one behind a Dodge/Cummins. I'm quite happy with my ZF6 but will most likely put the F450 clutch kit or something from South Bend in when I need to replace what's there.

-Steve

[jackelope]

I just spoke to a buddy who is a 7 year Chev dealership guy. They've replaced 2 Allison's in the time he's been there.
1 had a casting plug left in it from the factory...blocked fluid flow and burned the trans up 1k miles.

The other was a mis-diagnosis and according to Allison should not have been replaced.

The policy to date is to not "repair" Allison transmissions...The dealers have always had to replace them without taking them apart. In the 3 years I worked for Chev where we had the HD trucks with the Allison transmissions, I only handled 1 replacement personally.

 

[Woodchuck]

With all due respect to the other manufacturers, and each one of them has their own high and low points. as some of you may know, i have spent a day or three in the auto service biz, i base my decisions on what vehicle i would buy on how much money i make off each type of rig and in the world of hd trucks, i dont make much money on the duramax/allison combination, so...i have one and it does everything i need it to do without question.  

[jackelope]

With all due respect to the other manufacturers, and each one of them has their own high and low points. as some of you may know, i have spent a day or three in the auto service biz, i base my decisions on what vehicle i would buy on how much money i make off each type of rig and in the world of hd trucks, i dont make much money on the duramac/allison combination, so...i have one and it does everything i need it to do without question. 

Thats about all I can base my opinions on too.

[Special T]

I HATE AUTO'S! An automatic tranny is a 3-5k wear item.... The clutch in my stick is a 3-500 wear item... I can smoke a lot of clutches for the price difference.... And SHHHH don't tell anyone.... YOU CAN SHIFT A STICK W/O USING THE CLUTCH!   Ahhh I feel better now...