When I drive our 2000 ram 4x4 5.2 on the interstate at approx. 70 mph-cruise on, I will lose 10mph on larger hills. I have also noticed that I have to push the gas pedal down quite a ways before the truck will downshift out of OD. I talked to a good Dodge mechanic about it and he told me the tv cable might need adjusted(tranny rebuilt ).Said the guy who rebuilt the tranny might not have gotten it adjusted right, and that the truck should not shift into OD until about 45mph. Mine shifts into OD at 35 mph. Does that soud like the TV cable. I read how to check and adjust it, but haven't had a chance to check it yet.

 

ok.. call me some sort of idiot.. but im a cable guy (hence the name.. went from dish to cable) but what in the hell does a tv cable have anything to do with a truck?

 

alot of the newer vehicles are notoriously difficult to get a downshift out of with anything other than full throttle. the manufacturers do this to keep the rpms down and slightly increase gas mileage.

yours sounds fairly normal, not something i'd be concerned with. gotta remember, its a 5500+ lb truck being pulled around by a 318 with moderate low rpm torque. with the speeds get up to 60 or so, and the truck is trying to climb increasingly steep hills in OD, its common for the speed to drop rather than the trans kick down immediately.

if it really bothers you, i'm sure you could adjust it to be more sensitive. but it doesnt sound like theres an issue.

 

a tv cable is also known as a kickdown cable. it runs from the transmission to the carburetor (or throttle body, on fuel injected vehicles), and it tells the trans to kick down a gear if a certain amount if throttle is applied.

 

ok.. so im an idiot.. of some sort.. its all good

 

T.V. cable stands for "throttle valve" cable.....

 

sounds like you have slack in the cable.... adjust it a couple of notches on the adjustment clip and see how it does. there should be no play in the cable and it should go back to fully closed when the throttle is closed.

 

SteveRam ... that sigpic looks like an RC truck or something ... pretty cool.

 

Thanks! the pic was taken @ folsom lake near Sacramento, CA... about 3 weeks ago. My wife says it looks photoshoped lol... here's a few others...

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i hate to keep sounding like a broken record, but don't overlook your tps (throttle position sensor). it tells the computer how hard you are or are not mashing the gas pedal. my truck was slowing down real bad on hills and i'd mash the gas a little and nothing would happen, then i'd mash it some more and still nothing would happen, by then i would have lost 10-15 mph, then i'd mash it some more and the computer would finally decide to do something and it would downshift out of overdrive and act like you wanted to go about 100 mph. replaced tps for $40 and its like a whole new truck - mash the gas a little and it speeds up (or at least doesn't slow down)