question about towing with a diesels

I drove all my life and most was stick shift. I was going to get a stick shift when I purchased my new Dodge. Then I test drove an auto. SOLD! I would never go back to stick. Easy to drive and my wife said your age is going up not down. I told her OK I will get the auto. Thank God I did. It is set up so nice with the exhaust brake. Diesel,Auto and Exhaust Brake. ;D The 6 speed holds at 1300 rpm pulling and not back shifting like my Ford 6.0. I get twice the mileage now!!! Just fun to drive and I can drive longer and not be tire at the end of the day. I can not use the heated seat option it puts me to sleep.

We love our 05 Ram, I have driven diesels but this is the first one we have owned. I will never go back to gas for towing.
More big rigs are running autos but they were not so good when first introduced. A lot of engines overheated and failed because they were running on the pin so much, they didn't get a breather however brief during the shift. Shift points were poor and drivers used to rowing rode them hard. The new transmissions are much better.

Congrats on 5.9  Also check out TRD.com  Lots of info.  Clean filters, oil changes and basic maint and you've got a vehicle going to last along time.  I don't think you'll ever be the quickest but you'll get there everytime in comfort.
Wish I could get a newer one but with 54,000 miles in a 2001 it is just getting broken in.

Read with interest all post..... lots of info.

My choice of transmissions would be AUTO.... at my age would never even consider a "manual" transmission.
Technology has made them sooo good....

But..., when  "skirk55" mentioned "heated seat" I had to speak up.
Those diesels take awhile to heat up, and I'm very grateful for the "seat heater". Within a minute i'm comfortable and it will take 15 to 20 minutes to get heat from engine.
MAKE SURE YOU GET A SEAT HEATER, then keep on shifting (automatically). 
See ya on down the road.

There is a trick with the Dodges to get heat right away.  You have to plug it in though during the cold months.  When you shut the truck off, leave the defrost in the "on" position.  This leaves the whole system open so when the engine block heater is heating the coolant/engine, it will heat the whole system.  I won't promise blistering heat right away, but it is warm and enough to even defrost the windows.  I would rather have a little heat than none at all on those cold mornings

Not sure about your model, however if I elect not to use the tow/haul mode in our Ford, it will not auto down shift while braking, this is really nice in saving both the truck and trailer brakes.  Also, in tow/haul mode, we set the cruise control and when on downgrade, it's just that, automatic, does not let the vehicle increase speed, starts downshifting automatically.  At any-rate, again don't know if Dodge or your model do this.

I have a 2005 Chev, and the tow mode is great except when going downhill. every time I use the break it downshifts and I'm soon into the red zone above 3500 RPM.
Why does it keep downshifting with every time I brake ??? Is that normal ??
I now take it out of tow mode and use cruise control and only the RV brakes. works fine that way.
H

Foxysdad said:

I have a 2005 Chev, and the tow mode is great except when going downhill. every time I use the break it downshifts and I'm soon into the red zone above 3500 RPM.
Why does it keep downshifting with every time I brake ??? Is that normal ??
I now take it out of tow mode and use cruise control and only the RV brakes. works fine that way.
H

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Hmmm, thinking that's what the manufacture designed....

The downshift is a feature, designed to help you stop the rig without wearing the brakes down. Very helpful on a long downgrade, similar to an engine or exhaust brake. Sounds as though you are pumping the brake and generating multiple downshifts. After yo get it down a couple gears, isn't it slowing enough on its own?

Gary, I slow down to about 50 mph at the top of the hill and when the speed gets to 55 mph I brake till back at 50, the engine downshifts 1 gear, the next time I get to 55 mph  I brake again and it goes down  another gear ...again, if i do it again I am well into the red zone and the engine is screaming. Not comfortable with that so do not use tow mode on long downhills. I believe thats how it is suppost to work,
I use more fuel going downhill than up if i use tow mode.

Foxysdad said:

Gary, I slow down to about 50 mph at the top of the hill and when the speed gets to 55 mph I brake till back at 50, the engine downshifts 1 gear, the next time I get to 55 mph  I brake again and it goes down  another gear ...again, if i do it again I am well into the red zone and the engine is screaming. Not comfortable with that so do not use tow mode on long downhills. I believe thats how it is suppost to work,
I use more fuel going downhill than up if i use tow mode.

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Foxysdad, the D-Max/Allison combo is designed to run like that.  I wouldn't sweat 3500rpm at all on that combo.  By taking it OUT of T/H, you are actually "hurting" your tranny more than in T/H.  In T/H the ;D tranny increases line pressure and shift firmness allowing for less slippage of your TC and clutches.  By running in "normal" mode, everything is slipping a whole lot more.  If you are running a stock truck and are within your weight limits, run in T/H, it is doing what it was designed to do.  Good luck

Foxysdad said:

Gary, I slow down to about 50 mph at the top of the hill and when the speed gets to 55 mph I brake till back at 50, the engine downshifts 1 gear, the next time I get to 55 mph  I brake again and it goes down  another gear ...again, if i do it again I am well into the red zone and the engine is screaming. Not comfortable with that so do not use tow mode on long downhills. I believe thats how it is suppost to work,
I use more fuel going downhill than up if i use tow mode.

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It would work sweetly with a good aftermarket exhaust brake.

Banks has a great exhaust brake that is just plug-n-play.  You don't have to cut into your exhaust system.  It uses the Variable vane technology (VVT) on your turbo coupled with the shift strategies of the Allison to make a sweet set-up.

mike54 said:

I just bought my first diesel it's a 2005 Dodge 3500 5.9 cummins
I'm not sure to tow in tow/haul all the time which locks out over drive like I did in my gasser
I read the book but it's not clear about it  :-\

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Not sure if your 2005 is different than my 2007...But mine does go into O/D when in tow/haul mode. Tow with mine in T/H and it only comes out of O/D when I give it a little gas to force it out or a pretty steep/long incline. Will force it out when it starts "lugging" and the EGT's get up around  1,000 - 1,100*.

I won't get into brand discussions on automatic transmissions for the big three, they all have their plusses and minusses but there are several things that will determine how long your transmission lives. Tow haul: It is there for a reason, use it. Like another poster already said it controls lock up on the torque converter as well as line pressure and shift points. The reason this is important is because if the converter isn't in lock up mode, excess slippage will cause tranmission oil temperatures to skyrocket. If you live in a place that doesn't have steep mountain passes, you might not ever notice this, but where I live in Wyoming, your transmission could overheat and become permanently damaged within 15 minutes of a 9 percent uphill grade. The other issue with diesel engines is exhaust gas temperature. Install a pyrometer, pre-turbo and watch your egt's. Keep egt's below 1300 degrees and life should be good. Exceed this number for any length of time and you might experience scored cylinder walls, holes burned in pistons and generally need for a rebuild. Adding a tuner or programmer makes this situation even worse and just requires driving by your egt gauge. I currently tow with 500 rear wheel horsepower in a Duramax and I have no issues except tire wear. I have also had a high horsepower cummins that I swapped into a suburban and also didn't have any problems, but I have seen diesels of every make that owners didn't know about egt's suffer major engine failures and to be perfectly honest, cummins have been the worst and not because of the engine, but because of the driver. Another big player in towing is altitude. The higher the elevation, the higher the egt's and the faster they climb.

carolinacamper said:

I use the 6 speed manual. Eliminates "gear hunting". See a big hill, just drop to 5th OR NOT and nail the throttle, no worry about tranny temp. or pressure, gear hunting, or RPM and sure as heck ain't gonna hurt that engine.  HAMMER DOWN...

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Gotta keep an eye on EGT's.  Those still can bite you, especially hammering down at lower RPM's.

I love my 6-speed, but I still take it easy on hills.  I'm not in that big of a hurry!

I do see the advantage of a manual shift when towing. Especially when your rpm/speed is in between gears and EGT's start to climb. With the auto have to give it gas to force it to downshift, or take it out of OD. With a manual, just downshift. Seems with a manual you have better control over your rpm's.

krsmitty said:

I do see the advantage of a manual shift when towing. Especially when your rpm/speed is in between gears and EGT's start to climb. With the auto have to give it gas to force it to downshift, or take it out of OD. With a manual, just downshift. Seems with a manual you have better control over your rpm's.

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Our 2011 F350 (imagine the other manufactures do as well) has a manual button shift lever, can go up or down with the 6 speed automatic, light indicator on the dash reflects the number change on the transmission, used it once last summer towing, frankly just for the heck of it.  So far the auto... well runs fine in auto.  However, we have only done grades here on the east coast, have not hit the Rocky's yet! 

Mopar1973Man said:

+1 to Gary... Nv4500 5 speed here...  ;D

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As a long time mechanic, I can tell you that all vehicles and drivetrains have problems. My best ever to date has been the allison trans used behind the duramax. I am currently at 190k with over 500 rear wheel hp. My other duramax has 210k with no tranny issues at all.

As for your NV 4500, nice tranny, I put around 300k on them. But stock, they have problems, mostly with the dreaded 5th gear that requires replacement of the mainshaft with a fully splined unit $$$$$ Then if you upgrade power, can you say expensive southbend clutch to handle the power.

As far as engines go, I can melt any of them down in 15 minutes with improper use.
You need gauges, EGT and Boost and you need to drive by the gauges. I can't tell you how many cummins "Bomb proof engines" I know of that had to be rebuilt because of scored pistons, caused by too high exhaust gas temps by mashing the throttle and pulling the hill.

I am a strong believer in adding performance chips to make the engine more responsive, but if you lack common sense, you will get a very expensive lesson in what happens when you blow up an expensive diesel engine.

Critical that you get turbo boost and egt (exaust gas temp) gauges installed(or install them yourself, whatever...just  do it right)  When towing, you need to absolutely know how hot your egt's are and how much boost your loading up your turbo with.  Lots of diesel forums for max egt's and boost level information on your particular truck.  The tow haul mode is good, but you'll find that towing in the moutains, particularly uphill, take it out of tow haul and use a lower gear.  That will lower your egt's.