I haul a 23'V-Nose enclosed trailer with my 03 Ram with the Cummins HO engine & automatic trans.
It weighs about 4500 lbs loaded up for a long weekend trip to the dunes or sand drags.
My dealer said he didn't "Think" I'd need to take the trans out of OD to pull it, what is your opinion?? ???

 

I have an 97' 3500 w/auto and pull a 13,000lb. gooseneck in od. not a problem, just use good judgement. Ease into the throtle when accelerating, be smooth. Don't stab it in the middle of a uphill grade.

 

I have a nephew who is a tranny mechanic at a Chevy :-Xgarage, and I asked him this question. He advises locking out OD whenever you pull anything. He says the cost of the extra fuel that you burn is far less than the cost of wear and tear to your tranny. I told him that my tranny never shifts down when I'm pullling some trailers. He said that it didn't matter as you are still running on the smaller OD plates. (I really didn't know what he meant by this, but I acted like I did, after all I am the UNCLE ) When I started to argue with him about pulling smaller trailers in OD he told me..."Do what you want, I'm sure the boys over at Dodge would be happy to overhaul your tranny if you keep it up" By the way, he also told me he has heard and read good things over at GM about the new 48 RE.

There's an opinionated opinion for you by a mech not long out of GM tranny school...take it for what it's worth.

 

My current ride is a stick, but on previous trucks I have always towed in OD. I only lock out OD if the transmission begins to hunt or downshift a lot (hilly or mountainous terrain).

Good luck.

 

One thing I would do first is get a set of gauges, then switch to amsoil (no I don't sell it but it works, I have never see my temp go over 180 with the combo and I tow a 31 foot 5th wheel. On flat runs I use the OD. Im getting ready to add some power and a tranns shift kit so we will see what it does.

KC

 

Well I'm glad to hear the chevy mech has heard good things about the 48RE tranny, I had a lot of trouble with the atuo in my Dakota (Replaced 3 times under warranty) & I was hoping everything I had heard about the new tranny was true.

Shouldn't I wait a while before going to a synthtic trans fluid like Amsoil??
I've always used synthitic oil in my other trucks & my race car but not until they were fully broken in.

 

Go ahead and use the amsoil, you don't have to wait like when using in an engine. I to run amsoil (no i don't sell it , just like the way it works) my trans temps stay 140 empty, 140-170 loaded. Rear end usually runs 140-160. the 48 looks good, but tobay it has the same old TC. That seems to be the week link, I'm going to a ATS triple lock, and trans soon.

 

With my 03' 3500 HO/48re I can pull any hill I want with my 6-hors living quarters behind me in overdrive. Of course, I have 4.10 gears, which helps a BUNCH. In my 01' 3500 so/47re that had 3.54 gears it could barely pull itself in overdrive. The thing I do is if I think I need to down shift to 3rd in my HO/48re(seldom do) I back out of the throttle, hit the OD off button, let it kick down, then back in the throttle. I do the same thing going up. When accelerating, I got the pedal down hard, and when I want to shift, I back way out of it, it shifts and then I ease back into the throttle. My top tranny guy hear at our dealership tells me that the thing that really is hard on it is the shifting in and out of OD when the throttle is down, not the pulling in OD. He says the heat built during the shift is tremendous. But there is really not that much heat made when the TC is locked up and engauged. In my HO/48re I pull heavy in OD, and I gonna keep doin it. I'll let ya know what happens as the miles roll by.

 

If I'm not mistaken (which I have been once or twice ), the 48RE is rated for towing in OD. It's the first of the DC autos to be rated for towing in OD. I am guessing that it must have significantly larger OD clutch plates and a valve body that provides better line pressure than the earlier OD trannies.

I never owned a 47RE auto, but I got to replace a 46RE auto after it lost OD and that was with very little towing mileage on it. With any DC auto tranny other than the 48RE, I would not risk towing in OD. I saved myself the aggravation and bought a stick.

I wouldn't put Amsoil in the tranny until the tranny warranty is up, unless your confident that DC won't void the warranty for it. I know that DC is very specific about what fluids are approved in their trannies and was told directly that using a synthetic like Amsoil would void the warranty on my new 46RE tranny.

 

Go ahead a replace the tranny fluid with the AMSOIL, it is currently the only tranny fluid that meets or exceeds the ATF+4 specs, which by the way is sythetic itself. Yes I do sell it ;D ;D
I actually had the dealership flush the tranny and put it in for me, they were the only one with the correct connections to do the flush. They verified that it meets DC requirements also.
I have the 47RE tranny and always pull in OD unless the tranny starts to hunt for a better gear or I start one of those big hills and have to down shift.
Run it until it screams bloody murder, then just run it a little harder, itls under warranty

 

[quote author=SuperGewl link=board=11;threadid=17914;start=0#msg168508 date=1060106566]
it is currently the only tranny fluid that meets or exceeds the ATF+4 specs[/quote]

If that were true, wouldn't it already be in the tranny when you bought the truck? :

[quote author=SuperGewl link=board=11;threadid=17914;start=0#msg168508 date=1060106566]
They verified that it meets DC requirements also.[/quote]

My dealer said exactly the opposite!

 

I would like to be able to tow wthout the OD.
But this is next to impossible with 4:10 gears in the rear.
I recently went to PA to buy a truck, rather than try to drive it home, I hooked up to the trailer and set out on the 350 mile trip.
I found that the truck ran out of steam at about 55 mph with the OD locked out.
So , I left the truck in OD and whenever the need had arisen, tapped the brake pedal to disengage the tourque converter for a moment for a little extra power.
The trailer was a 22' equipment hauler, bumper pull.
The cargo was a 95 Chevy 3500 dump, 2wd.
Pulled by my 97 2500 CTD pickup.
A few truckers said that the pickup should have been on the trailer and the dump pulling it.
I just said the pickup was more comfy and had way more power.
For reference, I only used about 1/8 tank more fuel than when not pulling a trailer over 350 miles.
That's not bad considering I was pulling about an extra 8000 lbs behind me.

 

Well I made the trip to the sand drags in OD & it never droped out of OD.
I kept the cruise control engaged all the way & no hunting.
I guess that answeres that question, Thanks all!!