Torque convertor shudder when towing

[margil]

While towing (~7k) starting up-hill in either drive or OD the truck will shudder until button for OD is depressed. Any ideas?

 

[pwr2tow]

Your TC is slipping. You can either drive with OD off or get transmission upgrades, Who knows how long it will last but it's only a matter of time if it starts slipping with OD off. You have to weigh the pros and cons of what you are useing the truck for tomake your decision on what to do.



Ron

 

[margil]

tc shudder

thanks ronsram. not what i wanted to hear.

 

[amsoilman]

Margil,

You need to define your situation, as when you say in drive or Overdrive. In Drive position your TCC could be locked, if the transmission has shifted to 3rd gear. The best way to check if the TCC is slipping, is to select overdrive "OFF"then allow the TCC to lock up. After it is locked, you can tell if it is by watching the tach when you start increasing power with the right foot(Go-Peddle). If the TCC is going to slip, you will feel the shudder at that point. If indeed it is slipping, you will need to upgrade your transmission, and get a better TC. Hope that isn't the case, as it will cost some green!



Best regards,



Wayne

amsoilman

 

[HTRDHLR]

If you are towing a trailer less than the rated towing capacity for your truck and you only have 7 k on the odometer why shouldnt Dodge fix it??????

 

[Snow man]

My trans did the same thing,but not until i added the EZ,some trannys will hold better than others,I did the upgrades,and now it'll hold the power.

 

[pwr2tow]

If you tow with OD off and you have no modifications and you are under 3 year or 36,000 miles and you tow at or less than GCVW rateings and the TC slips, then DC should fix it under warranty.



Ron

 

[HTRDHLR]

How about the throttle position sensor? Doesent that have something to do with the lock up??

 

[Bill Kondolay]

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Bill will post the words to go with this picture later. Stefan

 

[Bill Kondolay]

margil,



TC shudder is a symptom not a cause. Changing out the tc in my professional opinion unless you know what is causing the shudder is a complete waste of money.



I would suggest that you have a professional look at it before you just swap out parts.



If you look at the pictures in the above post you will see bunch of springs, these are called dampner springs which are located on the clutch piston.



These springs act like shock absorbers, they allow approx 1/4" -- 3/8" of travel , simply put they are opening and collapsing.

Basically they are transmitting what the engine is doing.



The two major causes of tc shudder are 1) transmission oil and the engine not running smoothly. Let's put it this way 9 out of 10 times the tc does not have to be changed to solve the shudder problem. There are a lot of times a customer will change out a tc and believe the shudder went away forgetting that the atf was changed out at that time also.



We actually just had a customer drive out to our shop from Montana, he had his truck diagnosed by both a diesel shop and a dealer, they both told him his tc was shot. The symptoms he was describing was happening below 1400 rpms. When i drove the truck the shuddering was so bad if i had dentures they would have been in my lap.

5 minutes of my diagnostic time ruled out the tc. The truck still shuddered, and the customer still believed it was the tc, i sent to PDR to confim my diagnostic. Piers had the truck fixed in 1 1/2 hours. Problem , injection pump.



The most memorable case of tc shudder on this site that comes to mind was by a tdr member by the name of hotshot. To make a long story short he changed everything related the tc and transmission , $ 4200 later he still had the shudder , it turned out to be his VA box.



My point again, 90% of the time it is not the tc that is causing the shudder. You may want to see if you can hook up with inarush76 (james) if he is not too far from you i am sure he would test drive your truck , he is a transmission technician and a good one, and should be able to help you .



Far too many guys want to buy tc's for all the wrong reasons.

 

[margil]

transmission

Thanks for all the input from everybody.



Margil