WhoCares79

My recommendation would be to do the TC/VB first. This will give you more low end power, better line pressures, cooler operating temps and firmer shifts. To go and mod the engine first and then potentially suffer tranny problems, your spending more in the end. If you insist on engine mods first atleast invest in a higher capacity tranny pan and a trans temp gauge. HEAT is a tranny killer but if you monitor it you can keep it in check. My TC/VB, 727-dd pan, and gauge are being installed now. I personally dont want to have to worry about towing a heavy load or being able to lean into the pedal. The setup installed is ~$2300. Just my .02 Good Luck!

Mark

RowJ

The variable that nobody can help you with is the present health of your stock tranny. The OEM trannys vary greatly. All you can do... without spending alot of money, is hope you have a good one!

That said...I would never add a TC only without the valve body; often poor drivability and they won't hold up. Many of the top shops won't sell you just a TC.
A valve body, by itself, is OK.... and some have held with a stock TC for over a yr with up to 350 hp.... with reasonable driving. The two I know of were both DTT Valve Bodys. No expirience with other brands.

RJ

blord

All 3 trucks have stock trannys with 3:55 tails. None of the 3 have had any problems at all in the driveline or engine. The Banks on mine made a lot of difference towing my 5ver. 2 of the trucks have 4" exhaust and all 3 have gauges.

The only real difference is my Banks would pass Colorado emissions testing on a Dyno and the Edge products won't. No big deal, they just had to remember to unplug the EZ when going in for testing.

Bryan

blord

S.Dodge,
The three of us do a lot of towing (heading out of Colo in winter) and put on a lot of miles. I have a 5ver and the other 2 have 32' trailers. All three of us are around 12000#s.

2 of us had 4" exhausts and chips put in one year and the 99 couldn't keep up with us any longer. Living in Colo. we drive a few "hills". The following year the 99 got an EZ and was able to run with us again. Since he didn't upgrade his exhaust he ran about 2-300 degrees hotter than we did but never got into the red.

I do highly recommend the larger exhaust if you are going to chip. Truck runs much cooler, has significantly more power, and is much nicer for towing than when stock.

S.Dodge

I already have a 4'' exhaust and air intake in the truck, trying to everything right before more power as long as i really need it.

TORQUE

The minimum I would do is a shift kit or valve body, especially if towing. I had just a shift kit with a VanAaken towing module, and it was heads and tails above stock for holding the power towing without slipping, even in overdrive(you may not even feel torque converter slipping, until it is too late and TC Clutch is then beyond being useful, and will have to be changed).

I upgraded my transmission( at very little cost)when I added even more power last year, and I do lots of towing with my current mods. A built tranny is the way to go, but you can do it in steps also, as your power requirements go up.

blord

I can't really answer the question whether you need to upgrade the tranny or not. I can only speak from experience on these 3 trucks that do a heck of a lot of towing and have the highway gears, not the 4:10s they really need. None of us have had any problems with the stock tranny with 65/71 HP chips.

That said, I will also say that none of us go looking to smoke a Ford or Chevy with 4x4 launches. We do NOT baby the rigs when on the highway. Cruise controls are normally set at 68 MPH and sometimes when wanting to make time we will run up to 75 MPH. On hills it is downshifted and goes to the firewall if needed. If you want to hotrod it then you probably do need to work on the tranny.

I have an 06 dually on order so I sold my 01 3 weeks ago. The guy who bought it had an 04 Powerstroke that got totalled (crane dropped an I beam on it at a construction site). When he 1st took mine out he commented that it didn't seem to have as much power as his Ford. After towing 2 skidsteers through the NM mountainis he sent me an email and said; "Although it doesn't seem to have as much power as the Ford, the Cummins is really deceptive! It pulls like nobody's business!" So tranny is still good, now with 94,000 miles on it.

Another friend also has an 01 (he doesn't travel with us but joins us at some of the stops), also a Colorado snow bird. He has a 3:55 tail, 4" exhaust, w/ no chip. He has 55000 on his truck and also has had no tranny or engine trouble. He tows a 33' trailer.

So that is 4 trucks I'm aware of that have had no mods to the tranny and have been totally reliable. 3 are chipped and 1 is not. If it were me (and it was at one time) I would put a baby chip (60-70HP) on it and take off. If the TC/tranny craps out, then spend your money on upgrading it. My personally experiences says it is a waste of money to upgrade 1st. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Is it the weak link, without question! Will it fail ... yeh, probably someday ... could be tomorrow could be 10 years from now ... Only the shadow knows!

My .02