Transmission holds onto gears longer than normal

This very well could have been posted before, but I couldn't find it. If so, feel free to point me in the right direction.

Disclosure: I'm not a mechanic, I know some basic stuff under the hood, but I barely know anything about transmissions and how they should function.

I have a 2015 DCSB TSS Off-Road 4wd. A while back, my transmission was slipping so I took it to a shop, and they flushed and changed my fluid (didn't ask them for a flush). Had a couple metal shavings in the pan, they said it was normal and see much worse regularly. Got my truck back, slipped one time coming to a stop, hasn't slipped since (been months).

However, something that I've noticed is it seems like my truck holds onto gears and doesn't shift when it should. Normally when driving on the interstate ~70, let off the gas, rpms drop as speed drops, and transmission shifts accordingly. In my case, cruising on the interstate at 70, my transmission stays around 3000-3500rpm from previously accelerating to interstate speeds, but won't shift accordingly. It'll stay between these RPMs from 70-80mph, letting off the gas doesn't change RPMs, my speed decreases but my truck hangs onto the ~3K RPM for probably 10-15sec before finally shifting. Only way I can get my RPMs under control is past 80mph, where it'll shift and my RPMs will drop to the appropriate range. Obviously I don't really want to be at 80mph anytime I'm on the interstate. Sometimes if I kind of feather the gas petal between 70 and 80 it'll shift, but not consistently.

Is this normal behavior, or should I get my transmission looked at?

 

You said they “flushed” the tranny and in the same sentence you said they found shavings in the pan? Usually don’t drip pan for a flush.
Where I am going with this….
If they did drop pan, I believe they did not fill it up correctly. Either over full. Bad! Or under filled bad also

 

It's possible I misunderstood the technician, I do know they drained my transmission fluid and refilled it with new. Would under/overfilling cause the issues I described?

 

I’m thinking the fluid level could be off as well. Would advise to check that. Not to hard on tacomas.

 

Either you can go into this forum there is a certain way to check the tranny forward in an automatic transmission. There’s a few steps in that procedure, if you’re not comfortable doing that. I would definitely take it to someplace. Who knows how to do that procedure to see exactly how much fluid you have you have to get the transmission up the temperature and then check it so we either a tranny shop that’s well known or just go to your Toyota dealer and spend a few bucks and have them check it with an oil change

 

I'll see about getting the fluid level checked. Hopefully that's all it is and getting it situated will solve my issue. I'll update when I get it looked at. Thanks, guys.

 

Just make sure we are wherever you go, they know how to check the transmission fluid properly. Just don’t pull into the garage. They throw it on the lift. They pull the fill plug it comes out they put it back and they say you’re good that’s not the proper way.

 

Just a quick update: I got my truck back from the transmission shop and nothing was wrong. To sum up what I was told "You have a V6 on 33" tires. What did you expect?"

I recently installed a slightly more audible exhaust and I think I'm just more aware of when my transmission shifts/doesn't shift.

He did suggest that I look into regearing to gain a little bit of power back lost from my tire size. I previously did some research on regearing but I'm a little conflicted, like I said, I don't know very much about the drivetrain past what's under the hood. I almost never go off-road unless I have to (work, chores, etc) and would prefer better highway performance. Would 4.10s be a good choice for my goals?

 

Going to 4.10 gears would get you back pretty close to what you had with stock tires on it. That is a borderline call. It will cost you roughly $2000 to re-gear. If I could live with the performance as is I would. The cheapest route is going down to a smaller tire. And if I were spending money to re-gear I'd go lower than 4.10.