Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) Towing in OD Auto?

[JohnBoy5]

DTT uses the 1996 or 97 output line that has a sender port in it and a custom extension to reach the cooler on the side of the engine. This allows one to measure output temps close to the output of transmission. Things happen fast at this measurement point. I feel the sender in the pan is a waste and have thought about moving to the rear diff.



Chris

i agree that is should be close to the output line of the trans. if i am not mistaking it is the line on the passenger side of the trans and the one that is the outer most line going to the heat exchanger??? i am not sure if its the front or back line on the trans passengerside...



I have an aluminum block that i am going to try and machine a free flowing adapter out of that will not impede the flow of fluid.

 

[SnoKing]

i agree that is should be close to the output line of the trans. if i am not mistaking it is the line on the passenger side of the trans and the one that is the outer most line going to the heat exchanger??? i am not sure if its the front or back line on the trans passengerside...



I have an aluminum block that i am going to try and machine a free flowing adapter out of that will not impede the flow of fluid.

Output is the front line on the drivers side! The 1996 DC line has the sender port a few inches from the transmission. This port is up out of harms way so it will not get damaged.



The path is out the front line, cross to the passenger side and up to the tank cooler, down from the tank cooler back across to the the drivers side next the output line and forward to the front cooler. Then from the front cooler back alone the drivers to the rear drivers side of the transmission. I had a aluminum sender pod from Janetty Racing in the line below the tank cooler. Bill removed it and installed the DC line along with his custom extension. Call DTT.



Chris

 

[JohnBoy5]

Output is the front line on the drivers side! The 1996 DC line has the sender port a few inches from the transmission. This port is up out of harms way so it will not get damaged.



The path is out the front line, cross to the passenger side and up to the tank cooler, down from the tank cooler back across to the the drivers side next the output line and forward to the front cooler. Then from the front cooler back alone the drivers to the rear drivers side of the transmission. I had a aluminum sender pod from Janetty Racing in the line below the tank cooler. Bill removed it and installed the DC line along with his custom extension. Call DTT.



Chris

ok i will give them a call, i would bet that line is over $100 though but when i find out i will let everyone know. if its expensive i will see about my way of doing this. i have an idea that i think will look pretty sexy well as sexy and a temp sensor can be. LOL



what you described about the lines and where they go make all the sence in the world to me but to others it might be a long lost road map. hehe. . nice job laying it out. as i read it i was able to see it in my head!!!!!!

 

[JohnBoy5]

ok he said he no longer has the line and when he was getting them from DC they were about $130 but prob more now if i had to guess. i am going to give my idea a shot and i am going to add a ball valve that will be for letting trans fluid out for when i service it. the reason i say i am adding the valve is because i over filled the trans quite a bit last servie and burnt the crap out of my hand draning a little out at a time. that might not seem like a great thing but to me it is. lol

 

[JohnBoy5]

Just one more note, i have moved the temp sensor to the line but i have not made my cool junction yet, temp readings do seem to be more along the lines of what you are doing when. inline is the way to go for accurate temperature readings that reflect actual driving situations but please take time and measure the sensors and do not let them impede the flow of oil.

 

[JohnBoy5]

here is a link to the first round of my attempt to make a weld in block for a trans temp sensor with a drain. i will have some pictures of the finished product after i weld it in.
Trans Temp Sensor block

notice how the temp probe does not interrupt the flow of oil, its hard to see but the probe will have a small amount of oil sounding the probe also all the way up to the threads. i feel like this will maintain the performances of the coolers and give accurate readings of the temp.

Sorry i didnt mean to hijack the thread but it seems like a good place to talk about trans temp. since we are talking about high rpm, unlocked converters with heavy loads for extended run times and clutches slipping.

To answer the original question i tow my gooseneck in overdrive all the time, when i had the factory trans setup and with my upgraded trans setup. i have an over drive switch and a t/c lockup switch. hope no one is bothered by my trans temp questions and ideas.

 

[fstfish66]

your link to your sensor block would not work for me,,



my truck is completely stock,,my loaded car trailer weights around 7 thousand and combined truck and trailer if i remember is 14k,,here in eastern PA,, traveling west the state has a slight incline , and to me,,my truck seems to struggle,,maybe its just me not wanting to step on it to hard,,2200 2300 rpm out of O,D is as far as ill push it, when my speeds drop to 50 i need to shift out of O,D,, then i usually let the truck build speed to around 60 and a flat road till i shift back in to O,D,,,



to me seems like im working it to death to run over 65 mph,, maybe its me,, i only tow 2 times a year,,never over 3. . most time with in 4 hours of my home,, once in a while ill take a longer trip,,, if traveling thru western VA on RT 81 i get nervious on those hills thinking my trans may take a dump oN me,,,i just hate hearing the motor scream,,rattle what ever,, am i to cautious??? for a stock 2002 auto 4x4 3. 54 rear combo ???



ill keep watcing for more trans temt gauge hook up info,, thanks all for your imput DON

 

[SnoKing]

One of the lessons one has to learn with a diesel towing, is that you drive a diesel with your right foot on the floot a lot. I tow a 12K+ 5th wheel and pull mountain passes in 3rd gear at around 2600 RPM and 55MPH (4:10's) all the time. Trying to make it go at low RPM's when line pressure to the TC clutches is low much harder on it than letting it turn up. I towed a 9. 5K 5th wheel when the transmission was stock and followed the same routine. I never wait for the transmission to shift down on its own, I back off slightly and manually shift both in and out of overdrive.



Chris

 

[AClayton]

One of the lessons one has to learn with a diesel towing, is that you drive a diesel with your right foot on the floot a lot. I tow a 12K+ 5th wheel and pull mountain passes in 3rd gear at around 2600 RPM and 55MPH (4:10's) all the time. Trying to make it go at low RPM's when line pressure to the TC clutches is low much harder on it than letting it turn up. I towed a 9. 5K 5th wheel when the transmission was stock and followed the same routine. I never wait for the transmission to shift down on its own, I back off slightly and manually shift both in and out of overdrive.



Chris

I tow and drive my truck nearly identical to Snoking and have not had transmission trouble either.



Alan

 

[AClayton]

your link to your sensor block would not work for me,,



my truck is completely stock,,my loaded car trailer weights around 7 thousand and combined truck and trailer if i remember is 14k,,here in eastern PA,, traveling west the state has a slight incline , and to me,,my truck seems to struggle,,maybe its just me not wanting to step on it to hard,,2200 2300 rpm out of O,D is as far as ill push it, when my speeds drop to 50 i need to shift out of O,D,, then i usually let the truck build speed to around 60 and a flat road till i shift back in to O,D,,,



to me seems like im working it to death to run over 65 mph,, maybe its me,, i only tow 2 times a year,,never over 3. . most time with in 4 hours of my home,, once in a while ill take a longer trip,,, if traveling thru western VA on RT 81 i get nervious on those hills thinking my trans may take a dump oN me,,,i just hate hearing the motor scream,,rattle what ever,, am i to cautious??? for a stock 2002 auto 4x4 3. 54 rear combo ???



ill keep watcing for more trans temt gauge hook up info,, thanks all for your imput DON

Do not be afraid to rev that Cummins... ..... they can rev like that all day and all night if need be. You're smart to exercise caution with your stock transmission and TC but in reality, a little extra r's pulling hills is actually easier on the transmission... ... it keeps line pressures up. Start an argument with the better half as you negotiate hills and let that Cummins rev to 2500rpm or so:-laf:-laf:-laf ... ... . that will keep your mind off the extra noise it makes! These trucks are loud as compared to modern diesels and 2500rpm's seems like their screaming... . but it's ok!!! Our trucks are getting better mileage at the expense of a little extra noise



Alan

 

[fstfish66]

well i do drop it out of OD before it kicks down manually,,and i manually shift back in to OD when the road levels out, i think the next trans fluid change i may try the amsoil, like i read on here dropping trans temp. when i ordered the truck i ordered the 3. 54 gears several dealers at that time had trucks with 3. 92 gears,, i figured i didnt need that higher RPM,,,thining ide get better fuel mileage when not towing

 

[cerberusiam]

One of the lessons one has to learn with a diesel towing, is that you drive a diesel with your right foot on the floot a lot.

Really? Are you sure the truck is not broke? :-laf If I drove any of my trucks like that I would have lost my license from traffic violations long ago.





Pretty much anything at or under 2800 rpms is within the duty cycle and you can run it constantly. However, it is correct that if you try to run the lower rpm's under load without modifying the auto trans it will have detrimental effects. It ain't good to run the manuals in that situation either, hammers the crap out of the drive train.

 

[fstfish66]

intresting,,,,to me it seems to struggle maybe its just me but seemes like it needs more power,, next time i tow ill step on it seee what happens,,,,thanks for all the imput,,,,,

 

[bromano676]

Just a thought. I remember talking to my transmission guy years ago, and I don't

remember it that well, but he had said something like the transmission doesn't

sent fluid to the cooler unless the thing is in lock up. Now, we were

refering to an E4OD on an old ford, and I have only owned sticks since

then, but a thought. He told me to tow with the overdrive off. Which I

never did OD was always on.



Again. I don't know much about automatics. And I am not sure if the lock up

thing even makes sense. But just a thought if you were moving the temp

sensor to the line. It might not always have current trans fluid passing

it.



I would think that in the right location the sensor in the transmission it self

would be the most accurate.



Another note to put the sensor in the line and not impede the flow, you

just have to oversize the fitting. If the line were 3/8 and the sensor were

to stick in to the flow by 1/4 then use a 5/8 tee fitting.

 

[JohnBoy5]

we get fluid flow to the cooler when unlocked or locked and all gears.

 

[cerberusiam]

we get fluid flow to the cooler when unlocked or locked and all gears.

Yes, there is pressure routed to the cooler in all gears but it is different between lockup and unlocked.



In lockup mode full line pressure is routed to the cooler so essentially the bulk of the fluid can flow thru the cooler depending on how much flow the cooler and fittings will accept. There is an internal valve that will dump it back to the pan if the pressure goes to high.



In non-lockup the pressure to the cooler is regulated between 10 psi and 50 psi, the rest of the fluid is dumped directly to the sump for reuse in the TC as the flow requiremnts in fluid coupling are much higher than in lockup.



Monitoring trans pan temp is totally reactive, you cannot see the heat problem developing. The sump is always a mix of existing fluid and cooled fluid so it doe snot react to extreme conditions as fast.



Monitoring the cooler output line is reactive. You can see immediately when the trans is generating heat and how much. This allows you adjust driving and gears to situations much faster to compeltely remove heating issues.

 

[AClayton]

I don't know enough about automatic's to debate you so I will not however, If you usually run between 140 and 160* and you hit 200*,I know to back off and slow down. This is my temp as measured in the pan. I installed mine that way because it was suggested by ATS when I purchased their transmission pan. Their transmission only lasted about 20k miles... ... ... . another story! Should I upgrade my sensor location or is my present location ok with how I monitor and react??



Alan

 

[RobertBradford]

Sorry for the delay in sending but I just got back from towing 3k trip. I take the truck out of OD when starting the pull and shift into OD about 40-50 mph. When I hill climb if the speed drops down to far I'll shift back out of OD (mainly to keep the temps down). Even though I have a sun coast trans with triple lock I have done this for over 10 years and the orginal trans lasted 130k miles while towing a trailer cross counrty and to Alaska.

 

[SnoKing]

Really? Are you sure the truck is not broke? :-laf If I drove any of my trucks like that I would have lost my license from traffic violations long ago.





Pretty much anything at or under 2800 rpms is within the duty cycle and you can run it constantly. However, it is correct that if you try to run the lower rpm's under load without modifying the auto trans it will have detrimental effects. It ain't good to run the manuals in that situation either, hammers the crap out of the drive train.

Maybe I should quit going up mountain passes at 55 to 60 MPH. 12K plus trailer tends to prevent traffic violations.





Chris