I was pulling my little 6x12 enclosed trailer with nothing more than my pressure washer in it a few weeks ago. I noticed that under a steady cruise in 3rd or in OD (about 45 mph or 55 mph depending on gear) I would get a sudden RPM surge that felt like the T/C was unlocking.

RPM's would go from about 1900 up to 2300 or so. I also noticed that it occured randomly on smooth roads and predictably when I would hit a bump in the road. Temperature has never been over 170 since I put the guages in about a year ago. I'm losing count of transmissions here.

I took it in to a local trans. shop that my gearhead buddy recommended. My buddy is a PSD type of guy who is a lifelong gearhead and salvage yard owner. This shop could not duplicate my complaint, but when they finally pulled a load with it they said that it shifted poorly and that the problem was internal to the transmisssion.

I told the owner of the shop that I wanted this to be the last transmission I ever put in my truck. I told him that I was already running a TW 6-position chip and I will soon be adding stage-2 injectors, and possibly propane injection and water-methanol injection (I've been threatening to do this for a while now). I told him point blank that I am going to work the truck and trans. as hard as I can. I never asked him how much it would cost or told him to cut any corners.

The transmission already is supposed to have all the bells and whistles like kevlar, billet, blah blah blah but now it's failing me at about 45,000 miles with only a couple of heavy tows on it. The shop owner tells me that he can get the same stuff that places like Suncoast use for a whole lot less. I told him I don't care about whose name is on it, just make sure it lasts.

A week later (and $3000) I get my truck back. Diagnosis was about 5 days, removal, rebuild, install, and test drive was little over a day. The shop tells me that they replaced everything, found a bad wiring harness in the trans., said 2nd gear was smoked, and they disconnected my chip because it made the truck shift too late. They also claimed that the chip was in race mode (position 6) when I brought the truck in but if it was they did it, not me. I know this because when I ordered the chip i was told that I was wasting $$ unless I upgraded my injectors, positions 5 and 6 need more fuel. They were absolutely right. I never run in 5 or 6 because it's no better than 3 with my stock injectors.

Soooooooo, I tried to run the truck and new trans. without the chip installed. I couldn't stand it. Overdrive at 45 mph, truck upshifts before I can get the turbo moving, truck likes to upshift when accelerating, truck seems like it would rather lug along than to downshift and get moving. I think I lost a bit of my masculinity.......

I put the chip back in and tried it again. It felt great. An hour later I was hooked up to my 30' camper and heading down the road. truck pulled the camper well at 65 mph in 3rd gear. Temp stayed 180-190, pre-turbo egt's around 900-1100 depending on my foot. I did let it go into OD a couple of times to see how if felt and responded. Trans. felt food, but egt's climbed towards 1200 pretty quickly so I dropped back to 3rd.

So what's the point of all my rambling here?

*why does my trans. guy hate my chip but I love it?

*will this trans. break my record of 45K miles?

*I'm thinking I might need an intercooler to pull my camper and not be running on the verge of high egt's?

*Is my 3.55 gear the weak link? could I pull in OD at 75 mph if I had a 4.11?

*Do these socks make me look fat?

*why did I have problems in 3rd and OD but shop found a problem in 2nd?



I've got plenty more questions, but I welcome your input and hope that by sharing another trans. experience we can all get a little smarter.

 

I can't tell at this angle, turn sideways, lol. Forget the socks, I have 4:10's and pull all the time in OD, even at 75mph. I pull what you see in my signature and to me, OD is a common sense thing. Shift down when EGT's get up there. I've blown two trans before I got the one I have now. I told them about what you did, build it good. I run a dieselsite filter and Schaeffer's oil and so far, so good. He probably hates your chip because he is not used to the shift points in the chip. Yes, get an intercooler, really helps! I don't have an answer to your last question, I don't know??

 

I see your in LA who built your tranny i only know one real good person in LA that can build an E4OD to last and that's Dynoman in Metairie LA

 

Of course it would pull a little better with 4.10's, but....

I wanted to switch to 4.10's for pulling before my mods I did too. Once I got them all done, I have enough power to pull with the 3.55's. Granted, it would be better with 4.10's but I do fine now and you can see what I pull (+-16k). I can set the cruise at 75 and just go, watching egt's of course in the hills. If I am running anything under about 65 or so I just run in drive. If you are going to do the mods you list you'll have plenty of power plus it won't be cheap to switch to 4.10's unless you find a donor truck and just swap. JMO