Overdrive on or off when pulling weight?

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Bigpoppa99

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Am I suppose to turn my O/D OFF when pulling weight? Just bought a camper and on our first trip on the way I left my house and left the O/D on and before I even got to hilly terrain approx 15 miles from my house my trans temp light came on. Now keep in mind my transmission was just rebuilt about 8 months ago got about 10k on it and I did put in a bigger trans cooler than factory. My camper only weighs 5600lbs dry. Should I turn the O/D OFF always when pulling weight or is there something else I need to do to cool the trans?

02' Ram 1500 quad cab. 2wd. 5.9 V8
 

RoadRamblerNJ

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Am I suppose to turn my O/D OFF when pulling weight? Just bought a camper and on our first trip on the way I left my house and left the O/D on and before I even got to hilly terrain approx 15 miles from my house my trans temp light came on. Now keep in mind my transmission was just rebuilt about 8 months ago got about 10k on it and I did put in a bigger trans cooler than factory. My camper only weighs 5600lbs dry. Should I turn the O/D OFF always when pulling weight or is there something else I need to do to cool the trans?

02' Ram 1500 quad cab. 2wd. 5.9 V8
My personal opinion is I don't use any gear higher than 1:1 ratio unless towing on perfectly flat ground with the wind at your back. There are much more experienced towers on here to hear from.
 

Shawn226

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im not much of a tower either, but i do remember being told that OD should be off when towing years ago, but that was also in an old Ford Expedition with the Triton 5.4L
 

McBroom

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Am I suppose to turn my O/D OFF when pulling weight? Just bought a camper and on our first trip on the way I left my house and left the O/D on and before I even got to hilly terrain approx 15 miles from my house my trans temp light came on. Now keep in mind my transmission was just rebuilt about 8 months ago got about 10k on it and I did put in a bigger trans cooler than factory. My camper only weighs 5600lbs dry. Should I turn the O/D OFF always when pulling weight or is there something else I need to do to cool the trans?

02' Ram 1500 quad cab. 2wd. 5.9 V8

Off


I Love My 2018 RAM 2500HD 4x4 Off Road. 6.4L. USMC (ret)
 
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Bigpoppa99

Bigpoppa99

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Ok. Does pulling with it OFF make the transmission run cooler?
 

Fitz-0518

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Off. If you have a Tow/Haul mode button, use it.
His truck is a 02. Suspect that is a 55RFE. Fully agree, always use tow mode OD off. Our 03 5.7 towed for years. Following the owners manual tow instructions, never had a problem. You DO NOT want to tow in OD.
 

Fitz-0518

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BS. It will shift back and forth often if you tow and do not tell the trans you are towing by selecting tow mode. The purpose of tow mode is to keep the trans from doing that.
 
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Bigpoppa99

Bigpoppa99

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My truck does not have a tow mode that I'm aware of. I just have the button on the gear selector to turn the OD on or off
 

dexter

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BS. It will shift back and forth often if you tow and do not tell the trans you are towing by selecting tow mode. The purpose of tow mode is to keep the trans from doing that.

What did people do before TH mode?
 
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Bigpoppa99

Bigpoppa99

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When you press the button on the end of the gear ****,,,,on my 03. Press once reads OD Off. Press twice it reads tow.

Hmmm, what's the difference in OD Off and Tow?? But when I push mine again it just turns the OD back on. Unless you have to push it twice real fast or something...
 

PaulTGarrett

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What did people do before TH mode?

We didn't have overdrive transmissions! Do yourself a favor... If you're towing, turn the OD off... When I first got my Bronco with the E4OD transmission, I called BS that I needed to turn the OD off when pulling my boat trailer... Right up until the overdrive clutch unglued on the interstate. VERY expensive repair...

My '98 RAM had the OD on/off on the end of the trans shift, I always turned it off and never had a problem with the OD clutch. My '12 RAM has the tow mode button, I light it up whenever I hook up to a trailer...
 
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