Towing with an auto... .

[Power Wagon]

For those of you who've changed converters... if you tow something pretty good sized, what torque converter do you use?



I'm thinking the tightest thing I can find, but if you have experience, I'd love to learn from it. If you have a converter that's real tight, I'd like to know how well it works off the line with the trailer in tow. I'm also concerned about generating heat. Also, for those of you who don't tow, but did change converters... what was your experience?

]

That's one of the things my truck will do as often as the wife, kids, and I can get away, with a trailer on behind.

 

[dslcummins]

Check my signature. I like it and I weight just under 18,000 lbs, when I have my trailer and both ATV's. I have a 23' flatbed trailer and I have weight a lot more then 18,000 lbs with it.

It might be a little slower, starting from a dead stop loaded, but I don't have the transmission heat problem that I had before the DTT. One of the best things that I spent my money on, dealing with my truck.



Rodney

 

[Power Wagon]

What kind of fuel economy do you get empty? Did the TC help in that department?

 

[dslcummins]

No change in fuel mileage, still 17 or 18 mpg, thats pushing it hard. Everything that has been done to my truck, nothing changed the mileage.

DTT did take the heat out of the trans, which in turn, helped lower the engine temps, pulling hill loaded.

 

[hdm48]

I'm courious, does your truck have a lock-up converter?

I tow a lot of diferant stuff and i run the stock converter. i've never seen the inside of a dtt converter but i'm thinking it has bearings instead of bushings for thrust. this is good.

BUT, 90% of transmission heat is from the converter and no fancy converter is going to save you from total melt down if you don't have a good LARGE cooler. the factory coolers are ok to a point, but, there comes a time when even the factory cooler can't keep up with the heat you generate while pulling heavy loads. and also factor in a hoped up motor.

when you ask for a 'tight' converter what do you mean? torque converters have a 'stall speed' designed into them. go below that rpm and you wont be able to move and go above that and you throw away milage. any 'new' converter will work great untill it gets worn. the whole trick is to keep the transmission cool and adjusted. do that and it will out live the truck. i've done 727s that have gone from car to car and after 300. 000 miles are still working great. shift like a mule and don't leak.

like i said befor, e-mail me and i will tell you how to make it live a long and happy life.

-- email address removed --



p. s. yea, i'm an old drag racer



p. s. s. and don't let anyone talk you into a shift kit for a street driven 727[ aka, 518 ]

 

[DBF]

See signature. The DTT T/C is not Bill's stiffest one, it's the second. I like the performance off the line and have temp gages to watch what's happening. Note the superduty cooler - that's the one that mounts under the truck bed and has a big fan. There's enough trans cooling with both the heavyduty and the superduty for most conditions; if not, I just slow down.



Did 17,000 miles towing to Alaska and back this summer; no problems.



Go with the DTT T/C and modified valve body (and cooling, which Bill will ask you about).



DBF

 

[Power Wagon]

Originally posted by DBF

See signature. The DTT T/C is not Bill's stiffest one, it's the second. I like the performance off the line and have temp gages to watch what's happening. Note the superduty cooler - that's the one that mounts under the truck bed and has a big fan. There's enough trans cooling with both the heavyduty and the superduty for most conditions; if not, I just slow down.



Did 17,000 miles towing to Alaska and back this summer; no problems.



Go with the DTT T/C and modified valve body (and cooling, which Bill will ask you about).



DBF

That's so easy for you to say



A DTT trans and TC will cost more than half what the truck did...

 

[DBF]

Yup, it was costly.



But the stock T/C was slipping even more than normal. And we were headed for Alaska on our dream trip. I had to do something.



So I went with the best in order not to have any problems on the trip (or for a long time afterward).



The new Chrysler A518, plus Bill's T/C and Valve Body work, came to over $3k.



I'm hoping I never have to touch it again. Then it will have paid for itself.



DBF



PS: Thanks for all the help you've given in this forum.