Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) Transmission Temps?

[JSawtelle]

Pulled alot of wood yesterday, 1 cord in bed and 2 cords+ in a tandem axle 8 lug trailer.

Everything was good until... ... ... ... ... ... I had to jockey back and forth on a hair pin graded road to turn around and she did not want to move when I hit the skinny!! It just inched around. Trans temp went thru the roof (250) and the dash alarm went off.

My question is how much is too much weight?

91000 on a stock transmission and converter, Is this the issue??

Have not looked at the fluid as of yet, but I can just guess whet it is going to look and smell like.

I also had a breif battle with Engine Heat when pulling up a grade, pegged the stock gauge pulled over to let it cool and it did. Just weird it has never done that before.

I usually pull a car hauler tandem with a 4500 lbs Jeep with no probs.

Any Advice? I do run a deep pan on the trans.

 

[BWagnaar]

I might have seen you around, what color is your truck? How often was the transmission fluid changed? At 240 degrees trany starts to break down, it might be a good idea to change it if it hasn't been done already. The stock trany in our trucks feel like they are meant for a 1/2 pick-up, way too soft. The first thing i did to my truck and a buddies truck was a shift-kit. My transmission was already slipping a bit and i found a broken accumulator spring when i did it. My buddies truck was just preventative maintenance.

I dont know how much a cord weighs but I can imagine the combo of 3 cords, 3. 55 gears, and some of the mountain roads around here can bake a transmission to a golden crisp.

On our trucks there is a heat exchanger on the pass side of the block. Engine coolant and trany fluid passes though it. When the truck is cold, its suppose to help bring trany temps up to operating temp. When the trany gets hot its suppose to help cool it down. When my trany temps would get HOT on my old trany the truck ran a lot hotter too. I did a coolant flush a got rid of a lot of nasty slug, that helped big time as well.

If you have the money i would do a after market VB and converter, a vb at least. If not a shift kit and regular trany flushes should help a trany live a bit longer.
If you want to see know how a SunCoast trany shifts PM me and you can take it for a spin.

 

[JSawtelle]

rebuilding

Decided to stop screwing around and get the transmission done. I can tell that 4WD would have been nice to have for this evolution. It has been an interesting learning curve. Shop told me it would not have lasted much longer. broken accum piston. fried 1st gera clutches and reverse was no better. Teeth broken on the OD gears. Fun Fun Fun!! Can't wait to put a Smarty to it next... ... ... ... ...

 

[azpete]

Even with a built transmission you will still have overheating issues in reverse or even heavy stop and go traffic. Lots of threads here on what people have tried to do to cure the problem.