I am wondering if this is a Dakota trait or an actual problem. When I am on the highway running about 70mph at 1900rpm I come to a hill, and I am not talking about a big hill, im talking about asomewhat shallow hill or long inclines. My truck tends to slow down very easily, then shifts into passing gear and crams me up the hill running about 3100rpm. Is this normal? It just seems extreme to get up such small hills.

 

seems absolutely normal to me, Dakotas aren't lightweights. Any hill requires more throttle.

 

Sounds a little unusual to me, especially if you're not running a load at the time. 1900 @ 70 I'm guessing you've got 3.55 gears, so you're at a little bit of a mechanical disadvantage versus my 5.9 w/3.92, but I would think it should kick OD off first before downshifting. I'd check out the TV somethingerother.

 

Yeah it seems unusual to me. Its horrible witth he cruise on. I will try and get it into the dealer and see what they have to say since its still under warranty... Thanks for the input

 

My guess is that there is nothing wrong. With the 3.55 gears my 04 4.7L QC just doesn't quite have enough "oomph" to make it up many of the hills here at 65 mph without downshifting (then it takes off like a bat out of hell). I think these gears put the truck just a tad too low in the powerband for a lot of areas. I have found that if I go 75 mph+ the truck is far enough into the powerband to never need to downshift. Get it up to 80 and she is actually quite peppy, although you are a rather big target for the State Police Lidar guns .

There are two good size hills that I go up regularly and I just end up turning OD off just before I start climbing, that way there is no slow down then speed up problem (and you need A LOT less throttle when properly in the powerband).

 

adamk - you have no idea how much better i feel after hearing the exact symptoms that I have. Even at the same mph I get the same result. Thanks a ton for your response.

 

my 05 4.7 dak did the same most of the time the mph would drop only 5mph and keep chugging. but there is one hill on the way to work at at 65 it always will downshift at the same light pole. but if i cruise at 70 mph no down shifting. now that the 4.10 gears are in it is always going to be next to the power band. it was a big diff. going from the 3.55 to the 4.10 . i had to learn how to drive again cause the back end was screaming all over the place from light to light

 

No problem. That was the first thing I noticed on my ride home from the dealer after I got my truck. I guess I didn't go up any hills on the highway during my test drives... At least we should be getting good gas mileage with these gears.

Depending on my mood I either hit the O/D button, or jab the gas just long enough to get it to kick down a gear - then let off some so as to not accelerate a ton - when I go up these two steeper hills on my daily commute.

Such is the nature of the beast I guess...