Hemlockusa

OK Experts here we go again. My old 96 had the OD Button, which I very seldom had to push. I did all my towing TT 8900# in OD and only had to take it out of OD on very hilly country, I never had any problem with transmission heating up or anything else. and I felt, did get a little better mileage and lower RPMs.

Now I have the new 2005 Dually 3500 with a TOW HAUL BUTTON, do I still tow without using the TOW HAUL button until I get to hilly country or WHAT???????? DO YOU EXPERTS ADVISE.

Also if you got time let me in on how to put smilly faces and dead mules on my stuff.

See you down the road and thank you for your advise

Later John H (aka Hemlockusa)

HOHN

From what I understand, the Tow/Haul on the 2005s does not lock out OD necessarily. It will change shift points and I'd recommend using it for towing (heck, I'd use it all the time).

From what I understand, the 2006s have a feature where if you hit the button once, it goes to Tow/Haul with OD still in use. Hit it again and you have towh/haul PLUS OD locked out.

Maybe my years are wrong and the 05s have the feature as well?? Sorry, I'm a manual tranny guy so I don't follow the autos as much.


Oh, and you can add smilie faces, dead mules and such by clicking on the one you want to add when you're typing your message. They should be on the right. If you don't see what you want, click on the "more" link and a window will pop up with all the smileys you can choose from.

ASHNBAK

Using Tow Haul around town changes shift points, converter lock up points, and keeps the converter locked longer while slowing to a stop. On the highway at speed it dosen't do much. I leave it off and engage it when I need to kick down to third gear as it will shift the truck when engaged. Other than that is dosen't do much.

10-9jc

Apparently PRE '05 trucks - the button on the shifter would
lock out OD. Not so on '05. As already posted it changes shift
points - but will still shift into OD.

But - if you are in "normal" setting (NOT tow/haul), then push
the button (foot -OFF- the gas), it will downshift out of OD.
It will stay out -until- you step on gas pedal again.

Give it a try on a nice downhill.

Unfortunately you have to do the "in and out" thing and repeat
this procedure every time you want at least a temporary OD
lock-out.

Guess D/C decided this wasn't a good plan for the '06.
Sure would be nice if we could have the '06 setup for the '05.
[Save a lot of button pushing!]
JC

Hemlockusa

Hi JC - I just got back from towing from Topeka Kansas to Amana Iowa (octoberfest) break in at 50 mph for 500 miles. LONG TRIP, I kept it in TOw Haul as not to break anything. On the way back I played a little with it in and out of Tow Haul. When going up some steep hills it would down shift (I had it in cruise) but going down the otherside it would not shift up AT ALL until I disconnected the cruise,,then it would shift up into overdrive. I was worried the tranny was messed up, but I guess they need to send me to O5 TRANSMISSION SCHOOL to learn how to operate it. I thank you for your input, I understand now that it doesn't even come close to EASY as on my good OLD 96 Dually. On that old one I just ran in OD it was so simple. Thanks again Buddy, I guess this old man has to go back to school, I wonder if the teachers are prettier now than they were 50 years ago????? ha ha

Later John H (aka Hemlockusa)

Lee S

I just got back from a 5300 mile trip, towing a travel trailer most of those miles. I kept the Tow/Haul button on the whole time I was towing and it worked great. While in the canyons, hills and mountains, it was kind of strange to be driving in OD and the transmission making the decision as to when to shift out. If I lived in the mountains or canyon country, it might bother me not to be able to keep the transmission in direct third gear when towing. But I didn't find the transmission to hunt gears back and forth at all. Also, when descending a mountain pass, the transmission always sensed this and downshifted to help in controlling speed. It's certainly different from using the OD lockout and manually shifting that I was used to doing in my 95 gasser but I was pretty impressed overall.

Yellowlab

Hey guys. I used to have an '03 2500 and it was the standard O/D lockout feature as you all know. I just sold that truck to my brother and I now have an '06 3500. It does have both the tow/haul, and O/D on/off features. One press of the button for the tow/haul, press it again and you get O/D off. That seems to be the best of both worlds. I don't really know for sure yet because I've only had the truck for about a week and don't have my 5th whl hitch installed yet. Can't wait to try it out. Especially with all the extra power I have now compared to that '03.