Explanation of Automatic Trans help

I've been searching for this for a while and cannot find what I am looking for, sorry if its been posted before and I did not search hard enough. What I want to know is regarding is D, 4, 3, 2, L.

I am new to this because this is my first vehicle and I seem to get a different answer from vehicle to vehicle.

Can you drive around town in 4?
Is it limiting the gears or putting the tranny in 4th gear?
And for D and towing you are not suppose to leave it in there because the torque converter hunting for gears which creates excess heat?

Any help is appreciated, and sorry if this was posted before.

 

I usually put it in 3 or 4 when stuck in traffic on the Beltway

 

Does putting it in 4 limit it to 4 gears or make it stay on that gear? I've also seen that putting it in 4th gear will give you more throttle response is this true?

Also while driving to switch into these, do you just take your foot off the gas and switch it over?

 

I drive in 4th a lot because on the rural streets I am on seems to be right at the speed the trucks shifts from 4th to D , excessive gear hunting back and forth drives me nuts .

 

It just limits the highest gear it can go into

 

Is it beneficial to drive in 4 then? Kinda off topic but with the like pshh sound after a shift how do you obtain that?

 

It's called Auto Lag, that gear hunting is the reason I hate auto's

 

Boosted cars like S/C and T/C?

 

Bullshit , these trannys hold overdrive down to 1000 RPM's before it shifts down , drive at that speed for a while with the truck lugging along and see if you don't shift it to 4th

 

Drive around for 20 minutes tomorrow at 45 MPH , and the tach at 1500 RPM

Report back

 

Bah

 

Yes, like the need for speed games!

 

In normal driving getting in 4th closes out 5th (overdrive.) This will limit it to 4 gears instead of 5. The truck can still downshift into the lower gears if needed. I like to take my foot off the gas so there's no load on the driveline while shifting into or out of a lower gear (I believe the owners manual makes mention of this.)
Unless the transmission is hunting for a lower gear there's no need to shift down.
The only time you'll be locked into the lower gears (4,3,2,L) is when shifting down in 4LO.

 

So with normal driving (D) does the truck start out in 1st or 2nd?

Also, with 4 low, I have not seen any difference in shift pattern. When I wheel in 4 low, I leave it in drive. If I'm climbing something, I don't get going fast enough for it to up-shift. If I'm on a trail then it might hit 2nd gear while in 4 low.

 

FYI 5th isn't overdrive. Its 5 gears, plus an overdeive gear

 

If you wanna get technical yes it is the "overdrive" gear. but its not the final. In Leyman's terms, there are 5 shifts... 1>2, 2>3, 3>4, 4>5, 5>OD

 

Whos to say I don't

 

The tranny doesn't up-shift/down-shift when your in 4LO. When in 4LO the driving pattern selector setting (D,4,3,2 & L) has no effect on gear shift timing. In 4LO there isn't a 5th or overdrive...it starts out in "4". In 4LO when you shift between "D" and "4" gear there's no difference, but each shift from 4,3,2,L gets you crawling slower and slower. I use the lower gears mainly for desending steep area's while offroading and use "4" once in a while while climbing being careful not to be in "3","2", or "L" too long to keep from overheating the transmission. In order to make full use of DAC (down hill assist) while in 4LO it's recommended having the transmission in "L" or "2".