Puffs pretty good off the line and shifting into overdrive under load. All I'm saying is the lack of lock up with a cummins basically makes it feel like all the power from your motor is being completely lost by a TC that doesn't lock up off the line at any rpm. Ya dig? Doesn't make a lick O sense to me. So what do i do?

 

when i first got my truck i was calling around trying to figure out how to get the truck to go into OD earlier as it felt like the truck came alive only in this gear. now i want the truck to stay out of OD almost all the time. these engines rev so low the power band in stock or near stock form is super narrow making the truck feel like a dog. yes Torque does the work but HP is the speed at which it does it. if your truck only make 200 hp and has to move 7000 lbs it will do it but slowly. HP is the rate in which you mmake torque. so to have a fun to drive truck you have to increase the power band, and make it get top peak torque faster to feel the actual gains. this is most likely why your truck feels like a dog. i had a 87 f150 4spd with a 300 inline 6 that my dodge replaced years ago. at the time i almost sold the dodge because the ford would destroy it in absolutly EVERYTHING. my truck was disgusting to drive. after giving everything a good read and talking to folks the light bulb came on and i havent looked back.

 

Only if you're standing on it. I drove over a quarter-million miles with a stock transmission, and 90% of the time it shifted slip, slip, slip, bang. Even foot to the floor, it only locked in third for 100, maybe 200 rpm. For all practical purposes, it was useless. With the OD turned off, sure, you actually get some use out of lockup in 3rd, but otherwise... you may as well not have it. Until you get into setting up a valvebody with new shift points and enough line pressure to make it stick, it's exactly what you said: sitting around picking your nose waiting for OD to engage. And that's only if you've got the engine turned up enough for it to have the ***** to do anything when it locks. I hated lockup when my truck was stock.

As for how bad a lockup switch is for the longevity, I would counter that it depends on whether or not the trans is built to handle one. I have over 50K on this trans and have been running a lockup switch the entire time. I use it every single time I accelerate, shift it like a standard. Hitting that switch is just another gear for me. I hit it easily 200-400 times every day, all day, for the last year during which I've averaged several hundred miles a day. I haven't had a single issue, and don't expect any. I wouldn't do this with a stock 46 or 47, a mostly stock one, or even what most people consider "built"... but that's mainly because I work my truck like dirty Cinderella. If I drove it more gently and/or didn't tow, I'm sure I could use the switch just like I do and get away with a far more conservative build. But to say lockup is universally bad for the trans is just plain not true. First of all, the #1 thing that kills these transmissions is heat, and the #1 thing that keeps them cool is lockup. Abusing the switch will absolutely break things in a budget built unit; but a little bit of common sense goes a long way. And if you've built one that actually deserves to be called "bulletproof" (a term I see thrown around all the time, usually with more optimism than intelligence) there's just plain nothing to worry about. The only thing I don't do with this trans with the TC locked on the switch is manually downshift into 2nd or 1st, and that's not because I can't, but because I don't like my teeth whanging together.

 

A low stall, billet TC and get some more line pressure flowing through the VB. And, if you can respect it's capacity to grenade the whole shebang if you let it, a lockup switch. I'd start with the other two first though. Save the switch for a last resort.

 

I forgot to mention I have 3k governor springs and 15 degrees of timing as well. 285/75/17's and 3.54's. she does a boosted 0-60 in 11-12 seconds. Only winds up to 2200 until 4th, or when shifting manually through gears will go to 3200 pretty easy. So basically. I just have over estimated my power gain.

 

Like I said the Trans is built all the way down to billet input shaft and tripple disk. But it's old, from 08 probably over 100k on it. So how do i increase line pressure?

 

you dont even know if this is a problem or not. CHECK LINE PRESSURE FIRST.

 

Whoops... forgot about that, sorry.

It could be as simple as your TV cable being out of adjustment. People call it a "kick down cable", but it isn't entirely true- it actually has quite a bit to do with line pressure as well. Depending on what internals you have and how it was used for the last six years or so, you could have worn clutches, bands, who knows.
You need to get hooked up with someone who really knows these trucks/transmissions, who can do things like check your line pressure, pop out your valve body and see how it's set up, etc, without costing you an arm and a leg. It's not a big deal at all for any kind of Ram Cummins guru, but having a regular shop do these things generally involves an uncomfortable amount of ankle grabbing. Even to pull the trans out and crack it open so you know exactly what's inside and the condition... these tranny's are pretty simple really, it takes longer to get it out of the truck and put it back than it takes to completely disassemble it and put it back together if someone knows what they're doing.
I'd start by checking the line pressure though. Make sure the TV cable is hooked up and adjusted properly, then see what the line pressure is. If it's a line pressure issue, I'd look at how the VB is set up. If it's not, pull the trans out and see what's inside.


Also, completely missed this post somehow:
As for the switch: yes and no. First of all, it won't lock in 1st gear. It will lock in manual 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. If you hit the switch in drive, it's going to shift to the highest gear as fast as it can and bog you out, making the switch more of less pointless if you don't shift it manually, or wait until you're up to speed to lock it. If you want to feel locked up right off the bat in every gear, a manual transmission will give you that from idle to redline. They have their own set of issues though, and if it's built right, the auto will be faster. Not just the loss of boost between shifts either, they just plain shift faster. If you aren't racing and just like the positive feel of lockup, especially towing, the NV may be more what you're looking for in terms of driveability; but if you want to be fast, build the auto. Or if you tow a lot and don't want to shift a lot (or replace the clutch a lot) build the auto.

The lag you describe could be a couple things. It could be the TV cable adjustment, as I already mentioned. It could also be another inherent issue with these transmissions: they don't like to downshift unless you come to a complete stop, or really put the hammer down. If you "roll through" a stop sign in third gear, you're probably going to find yourself trying to get back up to speed in 3rd gear until you get frustrated and mash the pedal or the computer figures out what's going on. Either way, it's not the brightest bulb in the chandelier. You can get around this a bit by manually shifting down to second. Otherwise, we're more or less back to wondering what's inside your transmission, and what condition it's all in.

 

i like a upgraded valve body and lock-up switch. like they said check your pressure too.

 

Yeah I went with a VB, 165#'s of LP, and now shifting good .. then my tps freeked out again .. LOL...

I almost deleted the damn thing ...