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Gear Hunting

Ron045

Ron045

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Just wondering if this is normal. When towing a 6k travel trailer the truck shifts gears a lot.

During a 10 mile stretch on I-77 in SC the truck down and up shifted 44 times. As low as 4th gear on a couple of large hills and 8th gear twice on large down hills. Generally migrating between 5,6 and 7. Mostly in 6th on flat parts.

Does 44 shifts in 10 miles seem like a lot?

Thanks
Ron
 
Seems a bit excessive but the terrain and traffic could be a factor. Couple of questions:
Using T/H mode?
Trans temp?
Stock tires?
Gear ratio?
 
Grateful Dad said:
Seems a bit excessive but the terrain and traffic could be a factor. Couple of questions:
Using T/H mode?
Trans temp?
Stock tires?
Gear ratio?
Click to expand...
T/H - Yes
Trans - Never checked. Should have
Stock Tires - Yes
Gears 3.73

Also note ... Used adaptive cruise and stayed in the right lane at 68 in a 70 speed zone. Adaptive cruise only slowed me once and I passed one car.

I tried to do the next 10 miles without cruise, but I had difficulty maintaining speed manually and was drifting from 63-73 mph. I did not want to piss off my fellow drivers, so went back to cruise.
 
Mine does the opposite of hunt for gears. It will get stuck in a gear when it needs to downshift or upshift - for as long as 30 seconds to a minute,
 
Sounds excessive, but if you're towing a brick shaped load there's a lot of wind resistance and if it was a windy day the wind gusts would add to it.
Was it the first time you towed this trailer? If not then how did it behave previously?
 
H3LZSN1P3R said:
Thats what you get when they put 8 speeds in a truck unfortunately
Click to expand...
This is why I love the aisin. Grabs a gear and just pulls.

OP that seems excessive but as Mega outlined with a bunch of wind it’s not crazy.
 
I've tried using cruise before with the 8 speed, and I got the same thing you're mentioning. I tried it again because we had some nasty winds and I was getting tired of keeping speed...we went up a hill and it went back and forth from 5th to 6th...I went back to driving by foot.
It's much easier to keep gears by foot as I think the cruise is too aggressive and will trigger downshifts when they aren't really necessary. I also get better mileage driving with my foot than I do with cruise control.
 
My opinion

A: it’s the transmissions job to shift gears. It won’t hurt it. Lots of gear options is a good thing. You also have the best auto trans known to man. It’s not “hunting” for gears. It’s picking the best one and doing it’s job.

B: Cruise is reactive. It doesn’t know you’re coming up to a hill. More downshifts (and fuel consumption) is often the result of using cruise control, in my experience. I call it cruise tax. You can do better (and get better mpg) with your foot if you pay attention.
 
It's a gas motor, doesn't have 4.10 rear, and 8 trans gears, it will shift on every single slight grade. Doesn't mean it isn't a good package, but that's the way it works
 
Why not just lock out 8th and 7th and so on for a while while you go through that section?
 
My 2019 6.4 had 4.10 gears, and it still went up and down through the gears on every single grade change, but it was still a very good truck
 
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