I used a single pole switch. Ran a ground from under the dash to the switch. I spliced into the orange/black wire to the solenoid right above the solenoid. I discovered there are two orange/black wires in the harness above the transmission, so I wanted to make sure I got the right one. Then I pulled the transmission relay and jumped across the circuits are instructed.

Actually, I think the answers lies in my post above. I was trying to get the TC to lock when I had the shift lever pulled into second gear. This morning I tried it with the lever in 3rd. After the 1-2 shift, I threw the switch and the RPM's dropped while it was still in 2nd. Then it was a direct shift into 3rd and OD with the TC remaining locked. I was hoping it would work with the shift lever in 2nd. The reason being, I get on some roads with switchbacks. Depending on your speed, when you let off for the switchback, it may want to shift into 3rd. Since it doesn't downshift with the switch activated, I'll have to throw the switch off to get it to downshift to 2nd again.

I still need to test it out some more. Maybe with some more experience I'll decide to either scrap the whole idea or maybe it'll work as I was hoping.

 

Keep us updated. Ever since you started this thread,I have a renewed interest in doingthis. How does acceleration feel whilelocked up in second?

 

Can't really say about acceleration in 2nd yet. I was in town when I tried it, or behind traffic, so I didn't have a chance to get on it. Also, I was purposely taking it easy. I want to try starting out from a dead stop with the shift lever in 3rd gear, let it shift into 2nd and throw the switch to lock the TC, then pull the lever down to 2nd to hold it in 2nd gear. Hopefully nothing goes BANG! I was hoping someone else had experience with this and would let me know there isn't anything to go wrong. From what I read on the TDR site, it sounds the diesel guys are doing this, but then again, they have a different tranny.

 

Is the electrical ground underneath the dash that you are using
capable of handling a few amps of current
particularly during the 'inrush' period of less than a second
when the TCC solenoid coil is pulling the plunger
and the current is a few times higher
than the 'steady state'?

 

HankL - I think so. The wire from the PCM to the solenoid is 18 ga. I ran a heavier wire (14 ga. possibly) from the ground to the switch and from the switch to the solenoid wire. I fastened a round connector to a screw that connects the metal frame of the dash together. I used the screw located just to the left of the hood release handle. The switch is rated for 20 amps.

I know you wrote in another post that you had done this also. What are your experiences with this setup? Your truck is older than mine, so you probably never had a problem with setting a code. I'm curious if you tested it out by pulling the shift lever in 2nd. I know you do have to be careful about stalling it, since it won't downshift after you throw the switch on.

 

Update on installing this switch. Bad news - something is draining my battery. Three times now I went out to my truck after it sat for at least two days and the battery was totally dead. One of those times was this past weekend when I was camping. Fortunately, I had electrical hookup and was able to charge the battery from the camper. I unhooked the switch and drove home Monday. I checked it today (Thursday) and the battery was dead again. So it isn't the switch. After doing some research on this site, I think it's the jumper wire I used across the terminals when I pulled the tranny relay. I'll charge the battery up, pull that wire and stick the relay back in and see if there is still a drain on the battery.

Overall summary:: It locks up okay, but it won't lock up when I pull the shift lever in 2nd gear. I talked to my tranny mechanic about that and he said it would probably take some work on the valve body if I want it to lock up using the shift lever. Not a big deal to have him do the work, but I don't think I'm going that route anytime soon.

I towed the camper about 200 miles round trip this weekend. I was only in situations twice where it would have been nice to have the tranny lock up in 2nd gear. I had disconnected the switch due to the battery drain and wasn't able to try it out when towing.

I think I'll put everything back to stock and just forget about this mod. With the problems with the battery going dead, it isn't worth the hassle unless I can come up a solution to this problem.

 

Update:
thanks to the info in this thread I now have a switch to unlock my TC. I used one DPDT switch and no relay. No CEL either. I only had to cut one factory wire. I did a 700 mile trip and used the switch twice because my truck wouldn'tgo up the hills in overdrive. It is also nice to leave the convertor unlocked when getting on the interstate and trying to merge into traffic becausemy truck won't accelerate in overdrive with the TC locked and going 50-55mph.

 

If you need to unlock your torque converter clutch
ever-so-slight pressure on the brake pedal will usually work
if the microswitch is adjusted close enough.

 

I see it's been awhile since any posts on this, but I have a question and I hope someone can answer.

I have recently added the switch to my newly acquired '98 12v Ram. The switch was easy to install and works great, however it only works when the gear selector is in Drive. I would like to be able to lock it in 2nd or 1st.

I originally did the relay jumper trick, but when it would not lock in anything but Drive, I put the relay back in, and it works exactly the same as with the jumper.

My Trans relay is in a slightly different position than the diagram showed, and I jumped between the two larger poles (there are 3 small poles, oriented 90deg to the large ones).

Is there some other trick to getting the lockup switch to work with the gear selector in 2nd or 1st?

Thanks!