In resonse to Bluepp-
I do have the 3:73 gear. The weight of trailer approx 4000 lbs and the load approx 4ooo lbs.

In response to Tschwab-
Good positive attitude. I take it you are having good success pulling your 30 foot Road Ranger.
By the way on my trip last week I did a steady 55-60 all the way home as I had a cumbersome load- also I got a well deserved ticket on the way to pickup the machinery (80 in the fast lane with trailer)

I have yet to pull a really heavy load but so far pulling my tractor trailer combo seems to work really well- granted it is fairly flat country out here.

 

I am curious, does the lockout happen with no tow/haul (regualar driving with the cruise on)?

The reason why I am asking is I had the cruise on yesterday @ 55mph unloaded and when I hit 60 the truck down shifted than upshifted when the truck slowed down to about 57. Is this what the transmission suppose to do?

I am still learning about my new truck

 

Dodge 2000,
If you had the cruse on at 55 ,how did you get to 60?? Was truck going downhill and speed picked up? If so , trans did what they'v programed it to do . It downshifted for motor brakeing, trying to maintain the 55 mph cruse setting, then upshifted as soon as the trans felt it had the speed under controle.
Just think about this guys, a hilly road and this puppys going to be shifting to no end. This smart trans cant tell when it downshifts to slow you down that the bottom of hill is right in ft of you. AND as soon as it hits the bottom it'll upshift again because theres no longer a downhill that needs motorbrakeing, and as soon as the grade starts again it'll downshift to pull the hill.
Given the right road conditions this thing is a real gear hunter.
Torquefan is right ,There trying to build a trans that a person who doesnt know how to drive a tow vehicle can herd around.
And dont kid yourself for a minute by thinking that these engineers cant mess something up bigtime. This happens all the time. Ford didnt buy back all those new 600 power stroke diesels for nothing. During my 50 years of working in the auto, tractor,outboard, and motorcycle fixit shops I'v seen plenty of engineer screwups.
This 48re needs a 4th gear lockout.

 

Hannable,
I think you got the right idea, I too went to the Dodge sight and wrote them a polite note as to this lockout situation. But I really doubt we'll hear back.

 

One of the problems of gear hunting is caused by trying to tow in hilly terrain in cruise control. Cruise control is for long. mostly level stretches of highways . when you go up a hill with a good load behind you,the truck is going to slow down some,thats normal and ok,when you gouge on the pedal to try to maintain speed,the tranny is going to down shift.I guess the perfect tranny would be an auto six speed with the ability to lock it in any of the 6 gears.I tow in all types of terrain with about 8k .The 48re overall does a good job,however its not perfect and could be improved on. I haven't heard or seen anything of all the 48re breakdowns alluded to in some of these posts.I was thinking its pretty much bullet proof. What type failures are occurring?? I'd like to see posts from folks who have had 48re breakdowns and the nature of the failures. no auto will ever equal a manual for serious towing. The auto is a driver convenience feature.

 

Hammajamma,
Your right about towing in cruse. As to the breakdowns, you must understand that 2004.5 and all previous years you COULD lockout 4th . The 48re with the lockout feature used in previous years is a vary tough auto. Only in the 2005s did they drop the 4th gear lockout feature. Most dealers dont even realize they dropped it. The feature hasnt been dropped long enough to be causeing a problem yet. But time will tell. I have a 47re in my 1998.5 . Many times when towing on hilly and crooked roads at around 50 mph I lock out 4th . Truck then stays in 3rd and does a nice job never shifting at all. up down and around.
You get this 2005 with 12000 lb behind it, on a road thats up down and around , that you want to run 50mph on and its going to hunt 3rd or 4th constantly. Thats what these boys that are complaining are complaining about. Some people I suppose wouldnt know the difference, but you get the road right and it'll hunt.

 

bluepp:
Yes, when my truck hit 60 I was going down hill. Thanks for the explanation, it is becoming clear as mud.

Thanks again.

 

Ok, I am going to throw my 2 cents in on this one..

For the 05's they added the tow haul mode and dropped the OD lock out. The tow haul mode is a great idea since it raises the shifts points and would also make the shifts firmer which causes less wear on the clutch packs etc.

What Dodge should have done is left the lock out and mark my words this is going to be a sore spot with the guys that tow heavy or tow in hilly terrain.


Even my 01 with a small trailer and two quads would downshift in some of the hills in WV when I was down there never mind when I went to Tenn. with my enclosed (the rolling billboard lol).

With the lock out it is really nice to be able to lock out the OD before you even get to the hill that way the tranny is not shifting under load which in the end is what kills the clutches.


We don’t have a lot of hills up here but I agree with you guys the hunting is going to be an issue.

Worst thing is a 5 dollar button on the dash would solve this problem..

Jason

 

SCUBASTEVE,
You my friend are exactly right. Raising the shift points is good ,but will never replace 4th gear lockout. And it will be a issue for a lot of towers.

 

Ive got an 04.5, I guess i thought the shifting was more less computer/electric in that one as well and all the cables had been done away with, But havent really looked either. I cant complain about my auto though. Tows great. my 47re was fine in the 99 and the auto in the 1500 did its job well too.

When im pullin the camper i just leave it and go. I knokw this is "wrong" But its going back to the being able to drive the truck. all the wear on the TC comes from people runnin the truck on that fine line where it doesnt know where to go, a strong wind gust and shell downshift for a bit If you need to run there lock the 4th out. But in most cases just jump it up a lil faster and your fine. As long as you dont let it wonder around life will be good

 

Only major feature changed for 05 vrs 04.5 is the lock out mode.
Now the lock mode is a really great feature and dodge sure as I live and breathe
would not have given up the this mode unless it were causing problems.
What kind of problems?, Well what's the major complaint with the 04.5's? - Right
you are - vibrations emminating from the trans via the TC. Ok, go on, put it together,
that's right you can do it >>>>>>>>>> and the winner is>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> VIBRATIONS.

 

Dodges vibration issues mostly stem from the removal of the front drive axle disconnect which does not allow the front diff and drive shaft to free wheel when not in 4x4.

The other issue comes from the change is axle suppliers and the drive shafts that go with that change.

The 01's didn’t have near the complaints for these particular problems.

Might be time to put the center axle disconnect back in and a dampener on the drive shaft.

I guess aluminum drive shafts and all the warranty claims are cheaper




Jason

 

 

bump

 

Ok, looks like I'm late here. But I have to get this off my chest. I love my truck, BUT real world towing can suck going up a hilly grade. Sometimes you get to a speed where it wont downshift. Even if you floor it. You must do it manually or your EGT's go through the roof. 95% of the time the 48RE is great. But I want the control of that last 5%. Period.

For what it's worth.