Dad has a 2010 Dodge ram 3500 6.7L cummins all stock with the aisian 6spd Chinese auto tranny. I took it hauling to break it in. It will not downshift until it gets to 1600rpm and I end up following tractor trailers up hills going about 40mph on long steep hills. I have tried varying the throttle and usually end up switching to manual mode to maintain my speed.

Of course the "stealer" says this is completely normal and the transmission is doing what it should be. I have it in tow haul mode. Funny note: the service manager's name is Bob Steeler (spelled differently but pronounced the same).

Bob and a mechanic recently took a ride with me as it only does it under load. I had 18,000lbs on the truck and it did pretty much the same thing. You come into the hill and it slowly dies down to 1600rpm, downshifts, gets to ~2500rpm, dies again and repeats.

Does everyone that hauls have upgrades, use manual mode or just deal with this? Bob and the mechanic say you are using less fuel, but I haul at 2500-2900rpm in my truck up steep hills to maintain speed. I press the throttle lighter and my EGTs are lower than if I let it die down like dad's truck.

Any thoughts or help would be appreciated. I have a hard time believing this is normal. He won't do anything to the truck till the warranty is out so upgrades are not an option.

 

I have a 2010 2500 hd but same tranny. What gear ratio is he running? Mine came stock with 373 but I had 410 put in and it mad a huge diff. Before I never used 6 th gear cuz it just lugged. Now I'm about 2200 in 6th cruising. The gear ratio has a lot to do with the actual pay load rating also.

 

Good point. It has the 4.10. I didn't even think to include that. It is rated to tow 18500. Does yours downshift at 2200 if you floor it to go up a hill? I just want to know if the lugging is normal or if the dealer is full of BS.

 

Not sure but I normally keep my rpm around 2200. Even before the new gears