2500 Hemi First Gear downhill accelerating

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Camwise

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Hi Everyone,

I have a 2021 2500 Hemi 6.4. I am in Utah and spend a lot of time in the mountains. Going down steep hills I like to use the gear select to drop to a lower gear and use the transmission to slow down instead of brakes. With my RAM though I'll brake down to about 15mph and use gear limiter to drop down to 1st gear. What's weird about it is that as soon as I let off the brake the truck immediately accelerates to 19mph and as soon as it hits 19mph the RPM's jump much higher and the truck immediately slows down to 11mph, but the second it hits 11mph the RPM's drop and the truck accelerates back to 19mph. It does that constantly while on a steep slope. Same experience in both 2x4 and 4x4(Haven't tried in 4x4 low). When I've talked to dealer service department they said they'd look into it. They called me back and said that they took another RAM 2500 out and it did the exact same thing so because of that they couldn't do anything for me. "It's just the way it is".

Anyone else have this issue? Seems like a computer issue to me because it is exactly 11mph-19mph and back to 11mph. No variation in speed. All happening with feet off the pedals.
 

crash68

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Guessing it's the torque converter locking/unlocking. Do you have the Tow/Haul mode enabled?
 

Daw14

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Hi Everyone,

I have a 2021 2500 Hemi 6.4. I am in Utah and spend a lot of time in the mountains. Going down steep hills I like to use the gear select to drop to a lower gear and use the transmission to slow down instead of brakes. With my RAM though I'll brake down to about 15mph and use gear limiter to drop down to 1st gear. What's weird about it is that as soon as I let off the brake the truck immediately accelerates to 19mph and as soon as it hits 19mph the RPM's jump much higher and the truck immediately slows down to 11mph, but the second it hits 11mph the RPM's drop and the truck accelerates back to 19mph. It does that constantly while on a steep slope. Same experience in both 2x4 and 4x4(Haven't tried in 4x4 low). When I've talked to dealer service department they said they'd look into it. They called me back and said that they took another RAM 2500 out and it did the exact same thing so because of that they couldn't do anything for me. "It's just the way it is".

Anyone else have this issue? Seems like a computer issue to me because it is exactly 11mph-19mph and back to 11mph. No variation in speed. All happening with feet off the pedals.
This probably needs reporting to the NHSTB ,for further investigation. Might need to be a recall .
 

dhay13

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Guessing it's the torque converter locking/unlocking. Do you have the Tow/Haul mode enabled?
I was thinking the same thing but only cause I had no other 'solutions'
 

star_deceiver

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My ‘19 did this exactly as you described. Use 2nd gear or 4 low down steeper grades.

Seemed normal, like it was supposed to do this. After all, the regular HD gassers don’t have low speed down grade cruise… hill decent, or whatever they call it now.
 

Dinky

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Try tow and haul mode. I know it will engage the torque converter better. Sounds like it's not locking in place but it's pretty normal when it's not under load. Once you speed up it might generate enough load to lock out and then slowing you down.
 

dhay13

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I towed our boat the other day with my 2018 2500 6.4 and went up and down some pretty big hills and had tow/haul on. I never had to touch the brakes going down the hills. Had I not been towing I definitely would have needed them. Tow/Haul (at least in 2500's) will help hold the speeds down by reducing gear. I think mine stayed in 2nd the whole way down the hill
 
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Camwise

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Try tow and haul mode. I know it will engage the torque converter better. Sounds like it's not locking in place but it's pretty normal when it's not under load. Once you speed up it might generate enough load to lock out and then slowing you down.
I’m going to try tow haul mode and see if it helps.
 
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Camwise

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I towed our boat the other day with my 2018 2500 6.4 and went up and down some pretty big hills and had tow/haul on. I never had to touch the brakes going down the hills. Had I not been towing I definitely would have needed them. Tow/Haul (at least in 2500's) will help hold the speeds down by reducing gear. I think mine stayed in 2nd the whole way down the hill
When I’m towing my trailer everything works as expected. My problem is when I’m on a dirt road or super steep slope and wanting to go as slow as possible. First gear just won’t cut it for me. It’s super annoying but does sound like it could be torque converter as others have mentioned.
 

Irishthreeper

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Haven’t had that problem but my 2500 Hemi has descent assist, depress the break downhill and it downshifts to slow me down. Between that and manually using the 5W brakes hills aren’t an issue. Speaking of brakes…don’t ever doubt the stopping ability of your trailer if the emergency release ever pulls out. Last year I was backing into a tight spot and mine pulled out. Truck sat still there burning rubber until I realized what happened. Could be hairy if it happened at speed!
 

Elkman

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My 2011 Chevy Silverado 2500 had grade control when the transmission was in Auto and it would prevent the problem mentioned. If I put the transmission into Range Control and selected a gear then the grade control feature was turned off (found this in one of the guides).

With Ford trucks there is hill descent control provided with their 4WD package. With the Ram trucks there is a function called "Autostick" provided with some models. If you truck has this then learn to use it. However, when Selec Speed or Hill Descent Control is enable then Autostick is not active. The devil is in the details which is why it pays to take the time to read the manual.

I always download the vehicles' manuals at PDF files so I can sift through the information and then put together my own mini manual.
 

Dinky

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My 2011 Chevy Silverado 2500 had grade control when the transmission was in Auto and it would prevent the problem mentioned. If I put the transmission into Range Control and selected a gear then the grade control feature was turned off (found this in one of the guides).


I have this in my chevy 3500 it uses your breaks not the transmission. Same with the jeep. Next Time you use it rest you foot on the break pedal you will fill it pulsating.
 
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