After reading my owners manual (Section 5, page 313), I figured out why my tranny feels like crap when driving around town. Apparently Dodge engineered a clutch in the torque converter to "help fuel economy". It basically locks your tranny in 4th or 5th gear and prevents it from downshifting. When you come to a complete stop, the clutch disengages and the tranny will shift normally through the gear range. I personally hate the way the truck suddenly feels heavy, unresponsive and bogged down when driving in town under 40 MPH. WTF were the Dodge boys thinking, who wants to drive around stuck in 5th gear. I literally have to stomp on the gas to force the tranny to downshift. I am really disappointed with all the stupid "fuel saving" tactics the green weenies have engineered into such a high performance truck. I did not buy this truck for fuel economy. If I wanted to save gas, I would have bought a Honda. Using 5w-20 oil on a monster V8 was unheard off a few years ago. Now it turns out Dodge electronically tied one arm behind the trannys back to save gas. Don't get me started on the wimpy shift from 1st to 2nd at WOT either. I drove around town in my friends 08 Tundra, and was really impressed with the 6 speed tranny/V8/rear gear combo. Toyota at least nailed the drive train down and did it right. I still love my Ram, but there is a bunch of room for improvement. If the aftermarket power performance programmer guys are listening, please make a tuner that will disable this feature and give the tranny its ***** back!!

 

I would have liked to have had a 6 speed transmission as an option or standard on the 1500 Ram. I did not buy this truck because its a "high performance" truck. I did because it had about the same mpg as any of the other 1/2 Tons on the market and I could get it with the hemi. The transmission seem better than the one I had in my 96 Ram. I actually like that the truck is trying to get as many miles as it can out of a gallon of gas, yet it is fairly quick in going from 0-60. So far I have found the truck to be more than adequate driving around town, driving down forest roads to go camping (easy 4x4 roads), mountain highway driving and cruising down a flat freeway. Just curious, what circumstances have you experienced that the transmission limited what you wanted to do?

 

I think you need to do a little more reading on how a lock up torque converter works.

 

I have the 09, hemi, CC, 4x2 with the 3:21 gears. I have noticed after driving a while, the tranny stays locked in 4th or 5th. For example, yesterday I was doing some highway driving and had the cruise control set at 70 MPH. I had to slow down to @15mph to make a turn, the tranny stayed locked in overdrive and refused to shift down to 1st or 2nd. The truck slowly crept back up to speed and eventually reached to a decent power band at @40 mph. I watched the RPM's hold steady at @2K and they never dropped from 15 MPH to 70MPH, when I tapped the manual gear button +/- on the shifter, it displayed 4th gear. So it seams like the clutch held the tranny in 4th gear from 15 to 70. If I would have came to a complete stop, the clutch would have released and the tranny would shift smoothly up the gear range. At first I thought what I was experiencing was the MDS, because it suddenly feels like the truck lacks power. Since I have the higher gears, I can really feel this gas nanny kick in driving around town. I guess if your have the lower gears it might not be as noticeable. I can live with it, but I don't like it at all. Go read your manual, section 5, page 313, this does not sound like a lock up converter. It sounds like an electronic clutch mechanism that holds gears.

 

Ok, the 2nd quote proves that the 1st could not POSSIBLY have been happening. Meaning, that the transmission was not locked into one gear. Think about it-if it was stuck in one gear, the engine speed couldn't have stayed anywhere near constant while you had a 55 mph speed change. The only way that could happen is with gear changes.

I think what would probably satisfy you guys noticing this bogging is if the transmission programming allowed a downshift (or two) at less throttle than what it currently takes to cause a downshift.

The torque converter clutch is not something recent, and it's not a disadvantage. It completely eliminates any power loss through the torque converter when locked. This gets more power to the wheels for a given power input from the engine, and it greatly reduces the heat generated in the transmission. Altering the programming to allow it to unlock a little more easily would also help get rid of the bogging feeling, but doing away with lockup entirely would be a pretty big mistake.

 

I could be wrong, but it really feels like the truck is stuck in a higher gear. It could be that the lock-up converter is not disengaging properly. It almost fells like if I am driving around with my parking brake on. When I come to a complete stop, it goes away. It only seems to happen when I slow down and moderately accelerate. I never liked the way my tranny behaved since day 1 and I have thought about taking it in to the dealer for a re-flash, so I think it is time to see if it will make a difference. Definitely sounds like something is not working right, thanks for the input.

 

I've had problems with mine getting stuck in higher gears, a few times it was severe. Sometimes it won't downshift going up hills to the point that the rpms are jumping by a 1000 from the lugging. Then when I push the throttle to the point that it does shift, it shifts a few gears down and the rpms jump to 4000.

 

I have the same problem quite often, the truck feels like its in a really high gear and the truck is at about 1500-2000 rpms with no power whatsoever, if i apply too much gas it downshifts rapidly and violently goes fast. Imagine driving a stick shift in 5th gear going 25 mph then without changing the amount the gas pedal is pressed, downshift to second. This is what it feels like

 

Page 313 of the manual (I looked at the online pdf version) has nothing to do with the torque converter. It talks about the Brake/Transmission Shift Interlock System. On pages 319 and 325 it mentions essentially the same thing about the torque converter clutch:

Torque Converter Clutch
A feature designed to improve fuel economy has been
included in the automatic transmission on your vehicle.
A clutch within the torque converter engages automati-
cally at calibrated speeds. This may result in a slightly
different feeling or response during normal operation in
the upper gears. When the vehicle speed drops or during
acceleration when the transmission downshifts to second
gear, the clutch automatically disengages.

Where did you read the vehicle has to come to a complete stop before the TCC disengages?

 

The torque converter that Hemi has is the 45RFE model. ( Thats technicaly the name of the tranny but the converter is called that also. )

The converter in non-electronic and will only lock up at a pre-set RPM. Its a good converter that should last forever, the tranny however may or may not. (Depends on what kind of day they had at Indiana Transmission Plant)

Anyhow, if anyone has more questions then I can answer them for ya.

If your wondering why I put myself out there for answers..... I ran the line that built them for 3 years. (Toledo Machine Plant)