I live on top of a a hill that is about 1/2 -3/4 mile pretty much straight up. It has a sign at the bottom to use lower gears. I put it in 2nd for the ride up to my house. My question is, will this affect my tranny? And should I drop it in 2nd on the way down too?
Just want to make sure I am not messing up my tranny.
Thanks alot.

 

I'd only manually shift it into second if that's the only gear you wanted it to stay in. A lot would depend on what speed you want to maintain while going up the hill..... If it's say around 30-35 mph, then second is fine. If you get any slower then that, you'll start to bog the engine down and first gear would probably be a better choice.... If you need to go faster, then keeping it in D would allow the trans to shift into third, but if it's shifting back and forth a lot, then keep it in second..... Confused yet??

While in second, you will find that the torque converter will either be running in LOCKED or UNLOCKED mode. Most likely, it'll be unlocked. The good side to this is that it does allow the TC to 'slip' some and bring the rpms up a tad so it's easier to make the grade. The bad side to this is that 'slipping' generates a ton of heat in a short amount of time..... If it gets too hot, well, bad things can start to happen....

I don't think you are 'hurting' anything by doing what you are doing. I do it all the time when necessary.... Especially while towing my trailer. Those are the times I just want it in second gear and I can maintain 50-55 mph pretty easily while I have that huge brick hitched up! It won't do that in third gear.....

Hope this makes sense??

Mitch

 

Since Mitch150 gave you a great response, I'll take this opportunity to tell you a funny one: My mother-in-law complained about the trip to Laughlin, NV from SoCal. She said her mileage was terrible because it was...Uphill both ways!

 

Dang, I thought I wuz the only one that experienced things like that. Happens every time I cut the grass ... after a couple turns around the yard, it is all uphill from there.

Larry

 

Put the tranny in D and let the PCM select the correct gear. Going down hill if you feel that the truck is moving too fast and you need to continiously ride the brakes then select a lower gear. There is no way that this should cause problems with your truck.

JMC

 

Thanks alot for all the good replies.
I really appreciate it.