Without having any video or audio of the issue we're all guessing. So I'll throw in my experienced guess, cause its fun to speculate... Having owned a ZF (6HP) with a diesel, and a ZF(8hP) in two cars currently. I suspect what your experiencing is a lack of torque converter lockup (which has been a common complaint on ZF diesel pairings). I suspect your experiencing the torque converter slipping on purpose, to help multiply the torque for take off from low speeds and smooth the shifts without retarding engine output. Of course did RAM just use the original tune or modify it from ZF? This would change when and under what conditions the converter locks. Heck my AS69C on its original tune felt like I ran over a curb when slowing and doing a 4-3 downshift, it was a big bump and sometimes a clunk on a 2-3 upshift. Mostly been fixed with updated reprogramming (that I had to pay for). So my point being on the older 6spd in the HO is ram kinda sucks at trans programming, and there is a good chance its just as crappy now on the ZF.