45 and down = no od. 46 and up = od BAD IDEA?

[XcumminsX]

guys i hate how my truck drives when the od is on below 50 miles per hour. Will it hurt the truck if i leave the od off while traveling under 50 mph? after 45 i put the od on. .





Nick

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Actually I think that would be preferred for your transmission's health to leave the OD off all the time except when you head out on the highway and drive faster than 60mph or so. That's what OD is for. . . highway speeds.



Vaughn

 

[Forrest Nearing]

exactly! this holds true with all automatics for the most part... it's taken me the better part of a decade to drill this into the heads of my family and friends...



unless you're going to be in overdrive for more than a minute or two, leave it in drive... your transmission (and y our wallet!) will thank you



Forrest

 

[Fred Swanson]

Keep the RPM's over 1700-1800 in OD. If under 50, shift out, this should put your RPM's around 2K.

 

[sag2]

Just got rid of the 03 at 40,000 miles. I only use the OD off when I want to slow down in the hills. If I needed more power, I just stuck my foot in it. I figure thats why I ordered an automatic.

Ran fantastic the entire 40,000, and the trans fluid was good as new when I changed it about 35,000 miles.

 

[CFiore]

why baby the transmission?

what size tires are you running?

it is designed to decide when to shift into or out of overdrive. when the pressure is hig enough, it will shift. when there is too much resistance(towing) it will come down to drive.

as for hating the way it drives, that is something that you may want to shift by hand, but not for the trannys sake.



if you want your truck to rev higher in od, change gears or order the 410s.

 

[Dean Upson]

The only time that I would shift it manually is towing or in snow.



Dean

 

[Rosco]

X,



Don't worry about driving in OD. Look at it this way, if the transmission starts acting up it will give you an excuse to BOMB the transmission sooner.

 

[Forrest Nearing]

Originally posted by CFiore

why baby the transmission?

because everything has a finite lifespan...



and usually, the first thing to have problems in an automatic overdrive transmission is overdrive... and that takes out the rest of the transmission...



driving around in traffic and shifting in and out of overdrive will shorten its lifespan.



your mileage may vary



Forrest

 

[XcumminsX]

i dont think taking it in and out of o. d. will hurt its life. Maybe when going down the highway at 2500 rpm's and just kicking it into od and having it drop to 1900 is bad but i dont do that. Right at 45 - 50 mph i put it into od. Its smooth. Im not worried... .



I run 315's on my truck (34. 5" diameter) With 4:10 gears.

 

[Steve M]

If the grade is more than 3%, mine starts to slow down while towing our 5th wheel. I lock out O/D and run 2900rpm (65mph) peak HP till we reach the top. Won't hurt a thing. That and 31% more power to the rear wheels really makes a difference in performance.

 

[nickleinonen]

i have no problems with low engine speed in OD [6th gear] turing 1000 rpm and up. the power level is fine for flat city driving [and i don't consider this lugging 'cause you are not loading the engine]