Express 3.55 non LSD feels sluggish

BLUEBULLY · Jul 13, 2013

Just curious do any other 2wd non-LSD 3.55 ratio hemi owners feel a sluggish pedal feel or response from the transmission? I have the Hemifever tune and even tried White lightnings tranny tune and it till feels like odd. I'm currently working with Hemifever to see if we can find a sweet spot that will make this more responsive/enjoyable to drive on the streets. My next investment will have to be some gears Im assuming... Keep in min that I'm use to manual transmissions that respond as you need them... Anyone care to chime in here?

TXCMark · Jul 13, 2013

I have the 3.55s w 2wd, and I experience exactly what you've described. I've all but given up on the automatic. No matter what, it never does what I think it should in city driving especially with the mds kicking in at the wrong times, or sluggish/no downshifting, upshifting too soon, etc. My '04 ram's transmission performed better than this one. So now I just use manual mode most of the time. Once you get used to/compensate for the 2-3 second delay with manual shifting its not so bad, but mpg suffers of course. I'm currently working with Fasthemi on the forum to upgrade to lsd and the 4.56 gearswap to improve acceleration. It wont help with shift speed, but should take allot of the sluggish feeling away. Afterwards I plan to do the trans valvebody upgrade to get the shifts quicker and firmer.

Also, allot of people state that upgrading the torque converter will make the biggest improvement, but I plan on adding a blower next year so I have to wait on that one.

BLUEBULLY · Jul 13, 2013

TXCMark said:
I have the 3.55s w 2wd, and I experience exactly what you've described. I've all but given up on the automatic. No matter what, it never does what I think it should in city driving especially with the mds kicking in at the wrong times, or sluggish/no downshifting, upshifting too soon, etc. My '04 ram's transmission performed better than this one. So now I just use manual mode most of the time. Once you get used to/compensate for the 2-3 second delay with manual shifting its not so bad, but mpg suffers of course. I'm currently working with Fasthemi on the forum to upgrade to lsd and the 4.56 gearswap to improve acceleration. It wont help with shift speed, but should take allot of the sluggish feeling away. Afterwards I plan to do the trans valvebody upgrade to get the shifts quicker and firmer.

Also, allot of people state that upgrading the torque converter will make the biggest improvement, but I plan on adding a blower next year so I have to wait on that one.

Please let me know how the upgrade goes with the lsd and 4.56...Iwas considering just throwing in some OEM 4.10 gears since there isn't much in the way of LSD from what I have read. I think this will definitely help solve the majority of my street driving issues. If you don't mind let me know how much this will set you back... I have the Trinity-Hemifever tune so the MDS is no longer an issue (THANK GOD...that **** sucked).

trikeffex · Jul 13, 2013

Yea it's not just you..Im installing the Edge 2800 stall I got from Moe's on Tuesday so hopefully that helps out quite a bit to hold me off till I do the LSD and 4.10 swap..I agree about the MDS and the way it kicks in at the oddest times..Can't wait to turn that **** off with a tune!
Charles

fasthemiram12 · Jul 13, 2013

LSD 456's and converter.... Problems solved.

BLUEBULLY · Jul 13, 2013

fasthemiram12 said:
LSD 456's and converter.... Problems solved.

Definitely sounds like a plan there... What parts did you go with on your particular setup? I always understood that these newer trucks wouldn't take aftermarket gears etc without having to tweak the carrier and what not? Please correct me if Im wrong...part numbers would be great as well

smoothee · Jul 13, 2013

As already mentioned, a torque converter (and gears) will address this issue. I can't comment too much on the gears as I'm still rockin the 3.55's (with 35's), but before my upgraded TC I couldn't chirp the tires to save my life. Now I have to constantly remind myself the cost of a new set of rubber, lol.

fasthemiram12 · Jul 13, 2013

BLUEBULLY said:
Definitely sounds like a plan there... What parts did you go with on your particular setup? I always understood that these newer trucks wouldn't take aftermarket gears etc without having to tweak the carrier and what not? Please correct me if Im wrong...part numbers would be great as well

I can provide you with a LSD machined to accept aftermarket 456 gears. PM me for details

BLUEBULLY · Jul 14, 2013

trikeffex said:
Yea it's not just you..Im installing the Edge 2800 stall I got from Moe's on Tuesday so hopefully that helps out quite a bit to hold me off till I do the LSD and 4.10 swap..I agree about the MDS and the way it kicks in at the oddest times..Can't wait to turn that **** off with a tune!
Charles

Which model tic did you order from Moes? Please let me know once its installed how different the truck feels

trikeffex · Jul 14, 2013

BLUEBULLY said:
Which model tic did you order from Moes? Please let me know once its installed how different the truck feels

It's an Edge 2800 that Matt @ Moes set me up with..Im doing a before and after video of 0-60 to show the difference..Im on the fence as to if I should go with the 4.10's or 4.56's..I think it will be a win/win either way but I did some calculations last night of the new rpms with each set of gears so I'm gonna drive around some at said rpms and see how I like it but I'm still leaning towards the 4.10's as this is my daily driver...
Charles

BLUEBULLY · Jul 14, 2013

trikeffex said:
It's an Edge 2800 that Matt @ Moes set me up with..Im doing a before and after video of 0-60 to show the difference..Im on the fence as to if I should go with the 4.10's or 4.56's..I think it will be a win/win either way but I did some calculations last night of the new rpms with each set of gears so I'm gonna drive around some at said rpms and see how I like it but I'm still leaning towards the 4.10's as this is my daily driver...
Charles

Same here for the daily driver...so as for the LSD and gears what have you looked into? The auburn etc and motive gears or the OEM stuff. I have just heard that these new trans require modding to get any aftermarket gears etc to work properly

trikeffex · Jul 14, 2013

Basically our only option is the factory LSD from mopar and the oem 4.10's from the R/T for a direct drop in..FASTHEMIRAM12 does the machine work on the factory lSD's if you wanna go to 4.56 Gears..
Charles

Saltillo Express · Jul 14, 2013

They're soggy down low. I have the 3.92 and it's a slouch. I wonder how the 2800 converter is rounding corners and such. Having to stab it back up to 2800 or 3000 to keep it moving. I think a flash that addresses torque management is going to be huge for these trucks. When it's available. I had 4.56's in the 10 and it drank fuel like a bitc_.

trikeffex · Jul 14, 2013

It should drive just like stock until you mash on it just like the Yank converters..
Charles

trikeffex · Jul 14, 2013

Saltillo Express said:
They're soggy down low. I have the 3.92 and it's a slouch. I wonder how the 2800 converter is rounding corners and such. Having to stab it back up to 2800 or 3000 to keep it moving. I think a flash that addresses torque management is going to be huge for these trucks. When it's available. I had 4.56's in the 10 and it drank fuel like a bitc_.

So even with the 3.92's it's lazy feeling?I just wish I had the LSD so I could just do the gear swap rather than having to get a diff also...
Charles

Saltillo Express · Jul 14, 2013

Yes. Soggy. Respectfully a stall converter will improve it from a dig as everyone is saying. I've had 2800, 3000 stall converters in several 408 rams and dakotas. They were all "driveable" or whatever - but I personally hated the low roll corners, i.e. making a right turn at 15 or so mph. Every converter I ever had even the Viper race converter - you have to flash it back to the spec'ed rpm to keep it moving. In a corner.

From a dig off the line... Sure. They're wonderful. Maybe there is new technology on converters now that I am unaware of.

BLUEBULLY · Jul 14, 2013

Saltillo Express said:
Yes. Soggy. Respectfully a stall converter will improve it from a dig as everyone is saying. I've had 2800, 3000 stall converters in several 408 rams and dakotas. They were all "driveable" or whatever - but I personally hated the low roll corners, i.e. making a right turn at 15 or so mph. Every converter I ever had even the Viper race converter - you have to flash it back to the spec'ed rpm to keep it moving. In a corner.

From a dig off the line... Sure. They're wonderful. Maybe there is new technology on converters now that I am unaware of.

This is an excellent point. Keeping in mind that I have mostly noticed the issue described when coming out of a corner am getting back on it. The tc would only seem to add to the problem wouldn't it??? I still think the higher gears would be most beneficial along with proper tuning from what I'm reading. Any news if gears are being engineered to work with '11 -up vehicles without modifications?

Saltillo Express · Jul 14, 2013

If you don't mind having to stab it back up to 2800 or 3000 rpm's to keep it moving in a corner- a high stall converter will improve your off the line performance. It would actually be an improvement "off the line" or "from a dig". With any gear set.

In our Roadrunner (73) you couldn't run a 4.10 or 4.56 gear because it would be revving at 4K rpms because the 3 speed tranny had no overdrive. So what you do, or what we did - was go back to a 3.55 gear and then stall the crap out of it running a 3,000 rpm converter. It allowed us to run 70 on the highway at a lower rpm. The stall converter helped us get off the line. But I HATED having to bang it back up in a corner to keep it moving.

There are some cats on here with 2800 converters that are going say I'm crazy. But it's a preference thing.

Express 3.55 non LSD feels sluggish

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