OK guys, looking for a little info here. Have an 04 1500 Qcab 4x4 SLT with 65,000 on it. I'm doing a lot more towing with it than I had anticipated and fairly heavy towing at that.The truck does quite well overall. I need one thing though. Is there a way to lock out the overdrive. Even in tow/haul mode(PCMupdates are current) I find it still down shifts quite a bit coming through the hills (more specifically up them . Granted in T/H it shifts from 5th to 4thratherthan 5th to 3rd when not engaged and 5th to 4th is usually all it needs)However, all that shiftingis pretty hard on a tranny. I'd like to be able to lock it out of overdrive and into 3rdon some of the trips to avoid all the shifting. Anyone know if and how it can be done (other than buying a 2500, as I know someone will say it).

 

Oh, yeah, it has the 545rfe in it.

 

When you are using the tow/haul on an 04, you are locking out 5th. 1-4th still work the same and there is nothing you can do to change it as of right now other than buying an 03 or an 07 model.

 

On the 04, It still goes into 5th (and is supposed to from what i've found). T/H just disables the torque lock (adds a couple hundred RPM to help get it more into the torque curve) and changes the shift points. So rather than down shifting from 5th to 3rd, it down shifts from 5th to 4th and then down to 3rd if needed (doesn't usually need to get that far on most things). And on very rare occassion on a couple of VERY steep long hills with 8,000 lbs behind me, it has dropped to 2nd and roared up the hill/mountain (sounding awesome all the way).

 

so how does the tranny on the 03 work differently?