Maybe it's the exhaust system. I don't know. I do recall that my Silverado
seemed to have more engine braking before I put the cat back system
on it. It's still better than a Ford, but I still think it's bunk that the
TC won't give a good hook-up until you are in OD when it really doesn't
matter anymore. When I mash down the peddle I want the ponies going
to the rear wheels, damn it!

Honestly, I don't know if I've got a dog (I have a '99 2500 with the 6.0), but
when you stomp on it you have to wait a long time before she decides that
she wants to scoot, once she's up to around 4500 rpm she screams, but
that's a bit odd to me. Zero tire chirpage, whatsoever. Of course she being
a dog has nothing to do with the TC, just something to bitch about.

"PeterD" <peter2 (AT) hipson (DOT) net> wrote

Very good thread guys - thanks for the replies and interesting
reading...

It's a 97 GMC K1500 Suburban - don't know tranny codes or axle ratios
off hand... I live in eastern Washington and talked to a tranny shop
owner who says he frequently rebuilds trannys of people who drive over
Snoqualmie Pass and abuse their overdrive. Having had my last
Suburban tranny rebuilt, I tried to learn what I could from that
experience. In my own observations, the ones who are asking for
trouble are those who leave their cruise control set at 70mph up a
grade and just sit there on the way up conversing with passengers, as
the tranny kicksand out of passing gear (3rd), as the vehicle tries to
maintain that cruise control speed setting of 70mph up the grade.
From what I now believe to be true, that's definitely a tranny killer
so I'm now generally kicking the cruise control OFF during those
uphill occasions and settling back to a comfortable climbing speed of
55-60mph when climbing a fairly steep grade. I think experienced
drivers know when they're putting their vehicle at risk and increased
stress by kicking it in the butt with passing gear and forcing it to
maintain that 70 (or better) up a steep hill. All that said, I don't
want to end up in a tranny shop again if I can ever avoid it in this
lifetime... lol

I don't know a lot about how torque converters work (lock vs unlock)
and how that impacts the hill climb but a big question I *have* had
is, if I'm going up a grade starting in overdrive at the bottom of the
steep grade and as my speed slows, depress the accelerator gently to
get it into 'passing gear', is there any reason at that point that I
can't just pull the transmission handle into 3rd gear (while in
'passing gear')? I would normally DO this while holding my constant
speed and without letting off the gas. So in essence - for a given
speed, just pull the tranny handle into 3rd to get it out of OD and
save the transmission. OR... does it matter? In other words, if I'm
climbing the grade at a comfortable 60mph, no cruise on, engine temp
is good, at approx 2300 RPM in overdrive though 'passing gear' that
we've hashed about, is there indeed any difference?

thanks again guys for the replies... It's very informative. :-)

<jcage (AT) lycos (DOT) com> wrote

You drive that stretch a bunch, so smoothing a pattern out should be
easy. Hit the grade at normal speed with cruise on and in OD. You
should know by now when the tranny will want to kick down. Just go
ahead and shift the tranny into 3rd at about that point. Use the set/
coast button to lower rpm's if desired and just let the truck keep
on going. As you level out over the pass, shift back into overdrive
and bump up your speed to desired level with the resume/accel
slide.

If you know for a fact that the tranny will only downshift once, on
a grade, don't even bother with anything. Depending on the grade
you can even use the set/coast button to lower your speed a bit
at a time and the tranny won't downshift, but this is dependent on
the vehicle and how good you are at hearing what your truck is
telling you. It generally has a certain hum to it when it is ready
to downshift and you just tell it to slowdown a bit and this will
delay the shift.

Now, this isn't recommended for long or steep grades, or grades
you are not familiar with. I generally don't like my truck downshifting
and blowing the extra fuel out the pipe for a measly 5 mph, so I'll
just drop the speed down a bit, and if the cruise control is being
extra sensitive I just flick it off and let my foot keep the tranny from
downshifting. If I drop below 55, or traffic speed, It's blow the fuel
time, though.

>

On Thu, 27 Aug 2009 10:55:40 -0500, "Nightcrawler"
<Dirtydeeds (AT) dirtcheap (DOT) net> wrote:

I'm not sure I see the difference. Locked means it's locked. Engaged
means it's locked.

That defeats the advantages of a torque converter and would reduce
performance. That's why they UNlock when you give it a lot of gas.


I'd prefer one that will stay engaged if I let
I think your reasoning here is sound but it's not going to happen
because that would cause the vehicle to get reduced gas mileage on the
EPA test. No one wants to do anything that will lower that number.


You could massage this yourself if you wanted by repositioning your
brake light switch so that it takes more then just a bare tap to turn
the lights on (and unlock the TC).

On Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:50:44 -0500, "Nightcrawler"
<Dirtydeeds (AT) dirtcheap (DOT) net> wrote:

The reason you slowed down in those was because they did not have a
4th gear overdrive. Their TCs didn't have any lockup capability.
Drive your car in third gear and you while have the same thing today
as you had back then.


>> Now, as to down hill driving... My (ahem, Dodge) truck will