Thats right pecondude, And a good auto doesnt have to be a compromise. The allison isnt, and the 2004 48re isnt. You have complete controle of all gears in both those trans.

 

Still a compromise. Manuals give full control of any gear any time under any condition. Not bashing autos, have had both, just my .02. Sure I would like to see DC offer a lockout on the OD, would be of great benifit, but I'm not holding my breath, only chance is someone in the know rigging up an override. Keep hoping

 

my last two trucks where manuals and i was ready to be lazy (auto) with this one and this is what i get. our other truck is an 03 auto witch you can lockout 4th and it works great towing the big loads

 

They tell me the controles are altogether different on this truck then on the 2004.5. Everybody that should know a little something about it just act dumm. Cant change it ,cant be done ,dont know. It's really a bunch of crap, and a real stupid move on DC part to do that. The more you talk to people the more you realize just how little people people understand the function of a auto. Just let it do its thing, No wonder theres so much auto trans failures. This really isnt good .

 

I went to dodge.com and fuddled my way around until I found the customer assistance e-mail link. I sent a polite letter expressing my concerns over the constant shifting in and out of O/D on the interstate with my 5spd auto Hemi powered Ram towing our 5th wheel. Maybe if enough people sent in a polite letter the message would get back to the engineering dept and something might happen. GM made the change to the Allison's tow/haul mode with no O/D lock out after numerous customer complaints. After the vibration issue with my '03 I don't have much faith but I have high hopes. I would even buy an aftermarket programmer just for that one parameter if that's what it takes. If they could bump up the O/D shift point to 70mph with the Hemi and 50 or even 60mph with the Cummins it would be better.

 

bump

 

Last weekend I completed my first long tow over and backover a mountain pass- Donner Summit ( about 8000 feet). I had a towing weight of roughly 8000 lb.
I was very pleased with the way it performed. I put the transmission in tow/haul mode and set cruise control at about 60 mph. It never once gear hunted. On very steep grades it would downshift to 3rd and hold right up over the next rise and eventually shift into 4th.
Going downhill in tow/haul mode with cruise control set, the trans would downshift on steep grades and provide the necessary engine braking.
I averaged 19.5 mpg over 250 miles with empty trailer over the pass and 16.4 mpg with loaded trailer back over the pass- another 250 miles.
The truck performed flawlessly and I have no complaints with the way the transmission performed.

 

Comstock,
That sounds great , good milage too. Do you have the 3.73 gear?? Is the 8000 lb loaded trailer ? If not what do you estamate your loaded wt was.?
Anybody else got any comments here??

 

Here's my only experience with real world towing with the 48RE; (only got about 6000 miles on it so far)

We towed a flat bed trailer with a truck on it. It weight about 7000lbs total.
We towed it over a ~4000' elevation gain summit.

It was listed as a 6% grade, we towed at 60mph with cruise control on.
We experienced no downshifting into 3rd, until on the downhill side for engine braking.

48Re worked great for me. Was nice with cruise control on.

~Nate

 

yes i have i took a 2 week trip with my toyhauler fully loaded 12,000 and some change. the tranny worked fine on straight and gentle curves up and down moutains. but when i got onto two lane roads with hard curves where the speeds droped down to 45-60mph it was horrible all the up and down shifting. and two lane moutain passes with up and down switchbacks where a nightmare

 

I just came back from towing 800 miles with a gvw of 17500lbs with my 05. I did this while running door-handle to door-handle with my fathers new 05 with a gvw of 20500lbs.
We both have the 48re and are not impressed @ all with the loss of the o/d lockout. We were in the rockies on some fairly tight roads for part of the run.
These trucks need the o/d lockout back for these situations. Way to much shifting going on and you waste too much momentum when it is try to decide to downshift up to 2 gears and a lock-up @ once.
Out on the flats they work not to bad but when they downshift they do it too early and take too long to do it. After they down shift you will gain back the 10-15 mph that you lost in the down-shifting time.
If these 48re's are so smart why do they take forever to make up ther mind!
Anybody that thinks these 48re's are it have not towed.

 

Unfortunately, consumers have decided they want all this crap- ABS, auto headlights, wipers that turn on when it rains, etc. etc. People don't want to be drivers anymore, they just want to sit there and have the vehicle do the work. As a result, many people don't have the skill required to operate a vehicle anymore. I think we need to let the manufacturers know that they are going too far with technology.