automatic "slapshift"

just wondering here but on the automatic gen 2s you can pretty much shift between gears obvs with no clutch, does it harm anything by doing this? my dealer recomended only for towing but i find ripping around town like that is fun and doesnt seem to be doing any harm to the truck

 

Good question. Bump for an answer.

 

it hasnt done anything to mine it only lets you downshift if its safe and upshift whenever but thats why you have a rev limiter

 

I use it all the time when goin up hills or down so I don't ride the brakes...or when I wanna pass up a car, just go to 4th and a lil more gas

 

Use the shift gate as a guide. Positions that can be reached by straight pulls of the shifter are OK to do on the fly, i.e. D to 4, 4 to 3, etc. Easy manual shifting is the biggest advantage of a console-mounted shifter over a column shifter.

 

I've heard alot of people say 'You're gonna screw up your tranny by doing that" Have yet to see proof. I don't do it as much in the taco as other vehicles, but sometimes If you want the power at a precise second, its good to be on the shifter, i.e. downshift instead of stepping on gas to induce a lower gear. Personally, I feel that, if at all, is much harder on the drivetrain then downshifting THEN stepping on the gas.

 

If I'm haulin ass and need to slow down quicker then using the brakes by themselves (engine braking). Works especially well on snowy roads.

 

That right there. My understanding is that this transmission is a ECT-i transmission, so the computer probably wont let you do any shifts that would damage the system.

 

i have accidentaly shifted to first going at 20 or above and it went into first but the tires squawked and it slowed down so fast i almost hit the windshield, and no i dont always do that it was in the test drive that i took from the dealership haha

 

Shoot, I slap shift from D to 4 and right back to D in two situations to override the computer.

1. The first is the situation where it downshifts to 4 on an uphill but won't go back into 5th until you level out for a good distance. Shifting to 4 and back to D manually forces it into 5th again. I have an uphill stretch where I sometimes need to downshift to gain speed (like someone got out of my way that was well under the speed limit), so I let it downshift and once I'm ready to cruise at 65 again I force it back to 5th gear.

2. The second is to cancel the engine braking. Last downhill on the way home is a 35 mph zone with a short steep downhill then it levels off and then goes downhill again. I have to hit the brakes on the first downhill and it always drops down a gear. As I hit the flat section, I hit it into 4 and back to D immediately which sets it to coasting again. That way I never have to apply gas on the flat section...now that I think about it, I never touch the gas for over half a mile on this stretch by doing this. Otherwise, I'd have to give it enough gas on the flat section for quite awhile before it'll upshift.

 

I only shift into D when I'm on the freeway, for any kind of city/rural driving I stay in "4". My buddy is a automatic transmission mechanic/genius and he's always given me good advice to get the most life out of my "slush-boxes".

"D" is basically an Overdrive, and the weakest gear in the transmission. It shouldn't be used when towing or when you are driving slower than 45-50mph.

You should be really careful when shifting from a forward gear to Reverse. This is where the majority of wear occurs to an automatic transmission. So I go to great lengths to avoid unnecessary D/R shifts, even to the point of parking where I can just "pull-through". You only have so many shifts in the life of an automatic transmission, so every time you put it into gear, you are using up one of those shifts. Parking and driving in a way that "saves shifts" will save your transmission. I also always leave it in Drive at take-away windows and what-not.

I also never shift into Drive (or fourth ) while the vehicle is still rolling backwards (or forwards as the case may be). I completely stop, shift, wait a second until everything engages, then I ease forward. I also won't romp onto the accelerator until the truck is already rolling to avoid any kind of "banging" on gears.

dp

 

lol so driving it around slapshift-ing through gears would be a bad thing? sorry im trying to understand all of this transmission stuff here

 

oh ok thanks chris

 

i drove my first gen like this. and my torque converter would get hot and not put power to the ground. but mine was a first gen with like 200,000 miles on it. :/

 

would it sacrifice any power by doing it to the 2nd gens?