I am thinking about sending my DP to get another tune added specifically for towing. The main thing I am after is to get the TC to lock when in 2nd and light throttle. Mainly have it lock above a pre determined speed. Towing through some windy mountain roads it would be nice to have it locked in 2nd but not really sure what speed. The bully dog I used to have would lock if you got above a certain throttle position. But would unlock if you dropped below 25mph.

Anyone have some suggested speeds to set the TC to lock up at?

On the other hand a ATS Co-pilot would be pretty sweet as well.

 

There is a 5$ mod to manually lock the TC.

I thought theres a big gain in tourque to the ground over non-locked.

Theres an on-going debate as to the "safe" rpm level for the TC to be engaged.

Some say 1000, some say more, etc.

I lock it at 800-1000, but i dont punch the accelerator.

Many different views on the correct way of doing this.

 

Ive been thinking about sending mine back for similar reasons, to get it to lockup sooner, I really think it should almost always lock on the 1-2 shift, but thats my preference. Id really like to shove some AC's in at the same time, pick up some mileage while im at it, at 173ishk. I just hate to be without it. Might have to just order a second one to eliminate down time lol.

 

Try the TC lockup mod first.

I thought that I would like the TC to lock up sooner when towing in the mountains..... and I found out wrong. After a few episodes, I had Jody retune my chip to take that out. The two biggest problems happened when I was over 10K feet, or when I was on a very steep and rough 4x4 trail with my quads in tow.

At very high altitude, the engine is lugging big time after the TC locks in 2nd. The truck just feels like a dog, and smokes like a freight train. It actually made it much harder to tow up on say Loveland Pass when the TC locked up like that.

Once I towed my quads on a dirt road with the chip programmed to lock in at 2nd gear. I was on a steep part of the road, and had just come around a sharp corner. When the truck did the 1-2 shift, it also locked up the TC. I was still in 2wd when the rear end broke loose and spun like crazy. At that point I just stopped, put it in 4wd low, and continued on. Since then I've been back on that same road with the quads in tow, and now that the TC doesn't lock in 2nd, I have no problem making it up the same hill in 2wd.

Like I said, try the TC lockup mod first, that way you can control it yourself with a switch and test it out on your own. Having it automatically lock up like that in 2nd does some strange things at high altitude. Some people prefer it to lock in 2nd, and that's fine, but it doesn't always fit every driving situation. At least for me and my driving style, it didn't work out like I wanted.

 

Curtis, do you have a stock TC?

 

No, I have a BTS trans. Comes with the PI Stallion TC.

 

That depends on where you lock it. If you have enough slip in the converter it's still multiplying engine torque and you lose that if you lock the converter. I can't give an RPM where it pays to lock, because that varies with engine mods, what converter you have, and how far you're pushing the go pedal.

My view is never lock it below 1300 RPM. If the engine is turning at less than 1300 RPM the trans pump can't produce enough pressure to be sure that the converter clutch gets enough pressure to keep it from slipping.

 

You bring up some good points I had not though of. I asked Jody about it and he doesn't recommend lower than 25mph for lock up. I also asked if he could set the trans lock up different for each program and he can do that as well. So I would essentially add another program.

I pulled guzzles tc lock mod yesterday and have been looking it over as well.