Have the Juice w/attitude, got it about 6 weeks ago. I don't have a built tranny so I've been keeping it on level 2. I have the responsiveness on setting 3. My question is what setting should the responsiveness be on? I know its personal preference but I want the most fuel mileage combined with the most power. I have to admit, I am scared to even put it on level 3 for fear of burning up the tranny. Don't have money for that right now.

 

On my 2000, I seemed to get the best mileage set at 3x5, but I had a 6 spd. Maybe try 2x5? I just used trial and error and of course every truck's different.

 

Just having it on lvl 3 or 5 wont "burn" up a tranny, but mashing the throttle and pulling excessive loads will. under normal driving, it would not be much different than running it on stock.

your foot decides how your tranny survives,

Mine sees little or no difference between 3x5 or 5x5, in the mileage dept (99% of my driving is intown stop and go)

 

The harder you step on the throttle, the higher your line pressures are.

So, more power at a lower throttle setting is MUCH harder on the trans every time.

Speed does play a role here as well and the higher speeds translate into higher pressures. So, most damage is caused at slower speeds with a lighter foot due to more power on tap at a lower throttle setting.

Dave

 

so Dave would keeping the smoke setting on its lower number?? mean you have to push the throttle further making more line pressure, before all the power comes on??

I guess my statement was wrong

 

Sounds like most of you are running the truck on level 5? You say that alone won't burn up my stock tranny?

 

as Dave said, about line pressure, its directly related to RPM, so if you have lots of power on tap, yet not enough pressure to hold clutches it will slip edventually. I had a brain fart earlier.
so to expand on the above, if you run a higher level back down the sub level, this means you will only get full HP in that power setting AFTER you hit a higher boost, this should allow the tranny enough time to build enough line pressure to keep anything from slipping.

I ran a EZ and 80hp injectors with no tranny issues...BUT I did have a VB and TC upgrade.

I'm not as tranny savy as Dave or others, but I'm sure someone will chime in to shed some light on the subject.

and yes I usually run the higher # 4 and 5 but the sublevel is 2 or 3 mostly to keep the smoke out the tail pipe at a min

 

Ok I think I understand, so if I run the truck on level 5, I won't burn the tranny as long as I keep the response level at 2 or 3? That makes sense about line pressure. So what setting do you guys get your best fuel mileage?

 

The first question is: Did you tap the pump wire? If you didn't you won't see any HP increase above level 3, IIRC. I can tell you from personal experience that if you tap the wire you WILL need a new transmission in the future. The power you will experience on level five is absolutely amazing and, for me, was well worth the $5K I had to put into a built Goerend. I usually drive on 3x3 and find that gives me a good level of performance without a lot of smoke. Long distance driving on cruise control without a load can drive you crazy if you are above level 1 or 2 since you can feel the pulsing of the engine (on-off-pause-on-off-pause, etc.). I personally set mine up as 1x3/2x3/3x3/4x4/5x5. Unfortunately, tapping the pump starts a vicious cycle of money usage. Right now, I'm semi-confident my 7 year old son is going to get a great scholarship to college....

 

So far so good, I have been able to keep myself from using anything above 3x2. I know whats the fun in that, but I don't have monsy for a tranny right now. By the way pump is tapped. (for future use I guess).

 

You can do a trans upgrade without breaking the bank. As long as the trans you have now is still in good shape. You can do that by checking all the line pressures.
If that checks out then you can get a VB and TC for under $1500. That's what i did 5 years ago and it's still going strong. Look in my sig for what i have. And i still drive it like i stole it on the Adrenaline Pl5.

 

I have 192,000 on the trans, last time I changed fluid was about 9 months ago and was very clean, no metal shavings. Is that too many miles to do the TC and VB?

 

Unfortunately, tapping the pump starts a vicious cycle of money usage.common man!!! dont say that i cannot help but leaveing it on lvl 5x5. i recetly had ammco rebiuld my tranny with a really heavy duty TC and a Good Clutch pack. and shift upgrade.

 

Yeah, try driving your truck around stock for a week and then put it on 5x5. That's fun with a capital F..... And money with a capital M....

 

192k is a little late in the game to do JUST a TC and VB. At that point it is time to start looking at doing your clutches also. What is your truck used for?