I would like to add a programmer to my truck to squeeze a little more power out of it for towing. Nothing crazy (yet) but still have the stock trans with no upgrades. My truck has about 70K miles on it and the trans has been serviced regularly and works good. Am I looking for trouble by adding a mild tune to this truck and towing? I've heard from some who say no problems and others that say not to do anything until I upgrade the trans.
I am frequently towing a 8k 5th wheel camper.
Thanks!

 

I put an Edge EZ in my truck, they are cheap, and can be found used for even less. Its a 5 minute install and easy to take out too. I had one and lent it to my Dad who tried it in his 06 2500 to pull a 24 foot 5th wheel in the mountains and I havent seen it since. I had to buy another one for my truck. Its nice to have taht little bit of power when towing, but I dont keep it on the hightest setting when towing.

 

You should be ok. Just show some restraint with it.

 

At least put in a valve body easy to do and the added pressure will really help!

 

Smarty Jr

 

You can't add power and tow and expect the stock trans to be happy. The OE setup already is borderline towing with stock power and if you thrash it it will give you problems.

You NEED to do some simpe inexpensive (relatively) upgrades to the trans to make sure its not going to leave you stranded. You can address most of the issues for under $500 or less.

 

So if I should do some trans upgrades first, what would you recommend? Valve Body, Converter, or both? I heard both are needed but upgrading both is not in the budget for this summer.
I realize that adding more power will affect the longevity of driveline components but had hoped that 30-50hp would still be safe to do knowing that I should go relatively easy on it. If the concensus is that I should upgrade trans first then I will hold off on adding a programmer to the truck till that is done. This is a daily driver and reliability is my 1st priority.
Thanks for the feedback!

 

Is that some kind of oxymoron?

Add power, but don't use it?

 

VB and TC are both relatively expensive and for 50-60 HP aren't critical. The OE line pressures are the critical thing along with a few other parts that use them.

A $70 shift kit will fix the pressure issues and a couple of other things. Would you attempt this yourself or have somebody else perform the work? You will need to drop the pan, pull the VB and several servos. The servos are easy if you have some mechanical ability and tools, the shift kits are a bit more complicated but are doable with some basic knowledge. If you hire it done it adds to the cost so take that into consideration before you start.

DTT has a kit that addresses most if not all these things and they are a pretty good source of info for help if you do it yourself. I would call them and talk to Stefan about what they offer and the cost. Otherwise, you can buy all the pieces online to do your own work ortake it to a trans shop and say here, put them in.

At a minimum I would do the following. These are really need for OE power and towing plus work great up to about the 400 HP level. Beyond the 400 HP or witha heavy foot the TC gets to be the problem and you loose any gains in power.

TransGo shift kit for an early 48RE $70:


Front servo:



Accumulator servo




Band strut and anchor:

 

Thanks for the advice! I would be attempting this myself. I've never tore into an automatic trans before but have done lots of other major vehicle repairs so I hope I can handle it.

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I guess what I meant is that while I want the extra power, I will not beat on the truck while using it! To me there is a difference between using and abusing a vehicle.