Good call with the TPS , a little history with mine , got 2 TPS from advanceauto parts each time hook up to the scanner at full throttle showed 96% should of read 100% so went with the dealer TPS 80.00 bucks and at full throttle reads 100% , this was when we where testing my trans to narrow it down another thing ive found is when you hit the throttle TQ lockup as soon as you leave off unlock..

 

+2

Its a simple concept.
Check out this post of mine, i posted a pic of my RPM's in relation to my speed. I have a 1500 5.9L, 4x4, 3.55 stock truck. Recent transmission rebuild, with transgo shift kit (not that has any affect on it, but I like it enough to want to mention it).
https://dodgeforum.com/fb.asp?m=1255751
roughly 1800 at 65mph. I think I might have let off the throttle a little in that pic, because the next day I studied it and it was about 1800 rpms. Yes, the truck will be gutless in O/D, but like Cereal Killer said... its for highway or economical driving. I drive with it on all the time. i dont care about throttle response on my way to work on a secondary road. I don't race, drag or even hot rod in it at all. its my daily ride, its a big, old, slow truck.
This your first car or automatic? Normally I hate automatics, because it always seems like the transmission is in the wrong gear. Over time you just learn how to tell it to behave. there are times when i have turned off the O/D oncertain backroads because it kept shifting all the time. You will notice that with O/D on, you will only get TC lockup on O/D, but turn it off then you get TC Lockup in 3rd around 45mph.
I am not all that sure your transmission in stronger than the truck... just tow something 7100lbs and find out for yourself. LOL

Anyhow, from what i read, your truck and transmission sounds fine. If its really underpowered, then you might have an engine issue. like clogged cat, leaky plenum, due for a tune up, or a tired motor...

I climb a decent hill on my way to work at 50mph and I am no more than 1/4 throttle and it maintains speed. (remember- stock truck 265/75/16 tires).

 

Well I think it's just me getting used to it. For whatever reason my truck never lacked power in overdrive with the old transmission. But around 45mph, the truck will loose some bite and it takes awhile for it to get out of the slump before it gets going. However, my truck with overdrive off is amazingly powerful, the gas pedal just goes all day long, I really love it. The transmission grows on me more and more each day. I'm starting to fall in love with the hard clunk out of first gear as well,. I hate it when ppl pull out in front of me lol, they don't understand all the hard work it takes to get momentum! But tomorrow I will be testing the transmission truly. I'm towing my dad's van out of a shop tomorrow. It's not the heaviest thing, but it will be a respectable load on a trailer. I've never really towed anything with this truck before, so I'll get to find out how she does. I have to tow it about 15 miles across town to our house. His engine blew, so he's letting us part out his van on craigslist, so pretty cool. I'll let ya guys know how she goes!

 

LAst question guys about overdrive. If I'm going to race somebody from the line, should I take it out of overdrive? Also, if I'm already cruising, and I want to pass somebody, do I take it out of overdrive and then punch it? It just seems a little abusive when I get at high speeds with overdrive off though, it does a lot of engine breaking and it just doesn't seem natural, but I just want to make sure I'm doing it right. So final question, leave overdrive off or on if I'm lining them up at a line? And to make a pass when I'm already moving, do I take it out of overdrive, or leave it in? Thanks folks

 

If you want to take care of your truck, I wouldn't be racing it. When you lift a truck up like that and put huge tires on it, its not meant for racing. Its meant for show or off-road use.

It shouldn't matter whether you have OD on or off. If you are racing up to the point where it gets high RPMs in 3rd gear, you are going way to fast for a street race.

 

I don't usually speed, but I did however spend the big bucks so I could when I wanted to[8D] I mean there are a ton of guys out there with big rigs that use them at the track, so it's not unheard of to have a lifted truck with horsepower. It's nowhere near where I want the truck, but I plan to keep building this truck. I got the K&N coming, then I'm doing the fastman. Then in the future, camshaft, aand having the heads ported and polished are in the making for sure. I love this truck, I can't have a car, so I want this truck to be a little bit of everything ya know? I plan to get a Detroit True Trac at sompoint as well to take care of the rear diff., until I repair it though, I am keeping it easy. But the transmission I have is designed for racing and towing, so I will occasionally be putting some dodge wrath out there In general though I do drive very cautiouslly and take care of my baby, but she does go good for a big boy

 

Yeah I'm not trying to be mean here but I have a feeling we may be hearing about transmission problems again in the future. What happened to not racing with it? Thats a good way to make it not last long at all.

For racing though on the track only. I don't condone street racing. Why not just manually shift it. Then you can control when it shifts. I'd turn OD off and manually shift it.



As for what PA was saying about the shift kits that make you have to shift. I've always heard that being called a manual valve body and I know what you are talking about now I was just a little confused.

 

What would manually shifting it do though? I mean it shifts fine from a standstill, but I just wasn't sure if there was an advatange or disadvantage of having overdrive on or off when punching it?

But I'm not saying I'm racing guys. I'm just like every person out there with a vehicle, occasionally we all get into that street race. I wouldn't do all these mods to my truck if I wasn't going to use them. I spent the extra money on my transmission because I told the guy I occasionally like to have fun and street race, so they built me a transmission meant for it. We all got to have our fun somewhere lol. For some there fun is mudding, for my fun, a nice street race now and then is my fun, and I think it's completely ok, especially now that the transmission is designed for it now, and has components such as the bigger pan and cooler to really aid cooling. Again, I'm not saying I'm racing all the time, but when I want to have fun, is there a rule of thumb with overdrive when at WOT? Also, if I'm on the road, and need to pass somebody, should I take it out of overdrive? Just questions guys, do not worry, I take care of my baby, just look at her, I wouldn't do anything to it to make it junk.

 

So you can control when it shifts more precisely.

No, there is not.

This is the same guy who shafted you for $$$.
This is the same guy who didn't test drive the vehicle before he gave it back to you.
This is the same guy who sold you a "brand new transmission" when in fact it is rebuilt.
This is the same guy who told you nothing was wrong with it when you took it back to him.
This is the same guy who tried to feed you some "resistor" crap about why it wasn't working properly.
And you still believe what he told you?

Look, I'm not looking to put you or your truck down, but honestly, you don't know for 100% what they gave you for transmission parts. Don't trust them, and therefore, don't throw 100% of your trust into that tranny.

Leave the O/D alone unless you are towing, that's my two cents.

EDIT: I've had two speeding tickets, one running a stop sign ticket (which was complete horse ****), a following to closely ticket, and a careless driving ticket in the past on the Dakota. The careless driving is the only one that had to do with street racing at all, and all but one of the speeding tickets was three years ago or more, but still, that's enough tickets for one lifetime. Especially given the insurance rates on a white male less then 30 years of age.

For me, what forced me to learn that I shouldn't have been doing that was the tickets. For you, it was the transmission and some crappy mechanics.

Your call. I don't endorse the street racing. But for some of us, and I'm guilty of this a lot as well, the only way to learn is personal experience. [sm=signs003.gif]

 

Yup he hit the nail on the head.

He once again hit the nail on the head. I wouldn't count on the transmission holding up like you think it will. If it was truely heavy duty they would have been giving you a list of parts that were in it instead of just saying they were premium. All the well known companies I know of give you detailed list of parts that are in it and what they do to make it heavy duty. Them not doing this and just saying it's premium when you ask makes me think it's probably not much more than a shift kit and maybe a few other things. From the sounds of the way it shifts it doesn't sound like they are that great at building them anyway as a properly built one shouldn't be that bad to drive.

I just wouldn't count on it to hold up to too much abuse. Now I could be wrong and it may but I wouldn't count on it.







Street racing may seem fun until you are either sitting in the back of a police car or have run oversomeone or hit something. My buddy who has a really fast VW around here finally learned the hard way and got caught. I've had a few friends who have gotten caught for racing. It's not a good thing. Luckily my buddy with the VW got it dropped down in court but this doesn't always happen. A few of them have lost their license. Not worth the risk to me when I can go to the track and pay $15 on a test and tune night. Then I actually get time slips and everything else too. For the record I've only been to the track once with the truck and once with the older Honda. I ran the Honda a few times I only made 1 pass down the 8th of a mile with the truck and beat a Turbo charged Honda Civic with drag radials. Ok ok he would have wooped me but he redlighted and stalled. He was going again by the time it turned green but he just was slow as can be the first half of the track. The second half something kicked the car in the butt and he came flying up on me and flew past me but he was too late as we had already crossed the finish line. He crossed it at 90mph and I think I was at 60 lol.