Down shifting an automatic

I downshift all the time. Nothing crazy, though. Like others have stated, be mindful of your engine speed.

 

When I do much braking at that speed, it downshifts automatically to 4 . I see nothing wrong with that. If you did it preemptively and the RPMS are below 3000 or so, what's the problem. Btw, in town, I shift immediately to 4 for speeds less then 35-45 mph. My wife's six speed auto, similar to a 3 r gen Taco trans, we do the same thing. Town driving means, into S mode which defaults to 4 th before you change gears.

 

I was taught to recognize inexperienced mountain drivers by watching their brake lights. Downshifting on steep hills is necessary to avoid brake problems. The last automatic transmission I had was on a T100. At 130 kmiles the brakes were still less than half worn, with lots of mountain driving.

 

I do it often, mostly just to 4 (coming off interstate ramps, cornering, passing quickly) the truck will corner and go if YOU can. 3 if I'm going slower.

 

You can put it in any gear you want to use engine braking. If you look in the manual there is a chart showing the top speeds for each gear for both the manual and automatic. Just don't go from 4D to 2 if tour going above the maximum speed for 2nd gear. Look at the chart in the manual then refer to the speed you want to go while going down a hill select the gear that matches the speed you want go. Then the engine will do most of the breaking and you won't need to use your foot brake much if at all.

 

Section 2-1

2WD 5 speed
4 to 3 81MPH
3 to 2 56
2 to L 22

4WD 5 speed

Same as above unless in 4Lo
in which case RTFM if you have a 4 banger RTFM.

So on a steep hill if you want to stay below 55 use 2 you will be good and should hardly need the foot brake at all.

Its on page 136 for the 2015 manual .

 

If your max rpm is too high the truck won't let it shift down , for example 4 to L

 

exactly.

You could be going 80mph and put it in L (1st gear) and it MIGHT go down to 3rd.... the trans has measures to protect itself. I use my gears all the time when doing long grades.... its MUCH better than burning up your brakes and its also much safer as you will actually have brakes to stop if there is an emergency.

 

Though I agree with preemptively downshifting for long hills, I use Cruise control so much along with just touching the brake at times and the truck downshifts at least to fourth itself. That is does, is just a reaffirmation that down shifting is more acceptable then the old argument. " it's better to replace your brakes then your transmission." Toyota cars and trucks downshift by themselves at least one gear for engine braking except in town driving and lower speeds, all the time.

 

Totally agree. I have seen this many times following inexperienced drivers in the mountains of CO. I'll be cruising down hill at 65mph in 4th gear barely ever touching my brakes, while some folks are riding the brakes all the way down.

 

I just got back from a mountain trip and would like to share my 2 cents. I treated big long steep inclines like I was towing. Put it in 4 so the transmission didn't have to constantly go back and forth. As far as declines are concerned I used mainly brakes but the declines weren't bad. A good rule to live by though is brakes are cheap, engines are expensive.

 

Hope you can use that engine to power over through a corner when the breaks are too faded to help...

Proper engine breaking is the norm. people using the brakes to control speed is a new thing. Think about driving a semi back in the day with drums all around...

 

Old, old, old wives tale. All Toyotas use their computer controlled downshift to engine brake automatically. Put your cuise control on...step on your brake comming down from highway speeds on the interstate to an off ramp. Your Toyota downshifts automatically. Just because you did it preemptively does not mean the Toyota would not do it alone if you didn't.

 

Also worth noting is I've upgraded my rotors and pads to ebc slotted. It's supposed to help dissipate heat better. As I stated we are talking about the Appalachia mountains not the Rockies. Declines weren't steep and my vehicles not 15000 lbs.

 

It shouldn't hurt a thing when being smart about it, many times I have downshifted when towing, and hauling. Mines a 4cyl auto (4 speed) I've run down the interstate cooking at 70, engine up around 3500- 4 grand. In the family truck, (2005 Suburban 1500) we were going over mt. Eagle. Going down, shifted it into 3rd, taped the breaks every couple hundred feet, no problems.