Allison Transmission (automatic


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peanut

New Member
Mr. Allison man, please help. My dad bought a 2003 chevy duramax pick- up with auto allison trany. His idea of how to drive it is.....shift down before getting to the corner or stop sign, so you don't have to use your brakes. Shift down when going up a grade so that the trany can't shift up and down, that will save your trany. Don't be afraid to shift down and wind up the engine, this will keep the engine from over heating. And of course shift down when going down a grade to kept your brakes from getting hot. Shift down in town as well to keep it from going into overdrive. I heard that the allison automatic had a brain or something, is this the way it should be driven. Irene :)
 
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AllisonMan

New Member
Allison Transmission (automatic

quote:Originally posted by peanut

Mr. Allison man, please help. My dad bought a 2003 chevy duramax pick- up with auto allison trany. His idea of how to drive it is.....shift down before getting to the corner or stop sign, so you don't have to use your brakes. Shift down when going up a grade so that the trany can't shift up and down, that will save your trany. Don't be afraid to shift down and wind up the engine, this will keep the engine from over heating. And of course shift down when going down a grade to kept your brakes from getting hot. Shift down in town as well to keep it from going into overdrive. I heard that the allison automatic had a brain or something, is this the way it should be driven. Irene :)
 
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AllisonMan

New Member
Allison Transmission (automatic

Peanut,
Feel safe. The brain (TCM) in this transmission will not shift at any point that damage will occure to your transmission.I know you don't want to hear that because maybe you get a little embarassed when you ride with him LOL! This is really why there are choices on your shifter nad not just D-N-R. I know how you feel, I have a father in law who does the same thing and I feel like i have to shrink in the seat hehe. Have a great day! :)
 
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peanut

New Member
Allison Transmission (automatic

Mr. AllisonMan, This sounds like an age hang-up, and since I have been accused of being the worlds worst driver because I don't shift an automatic like a stick shift.......I read something about these tranys have some kind of a brain and since I can't find anything else about that what is the deal? One phrase said if you shift it your are overriding the brain and not alowing it to do what it is supposed to do.. I pulled a small travel trailer with it once and used the trailer button and it seemed to not shift up unless I gave it enough gas to make it do so, and when I braked it shifted down with out me shifting anything and stayed there until I gave it more gas to go faster. This was without me shifting anything. Was this its brain working or a lack of my brain working. Are you telling me that the gear shifting option is mostly to give your father-in-law and my dad something to do?(LOL)
 
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AllisonMan

New Member
Allison Transmission (automatic

The TCM (brain) is constantly adjusting to one driver then another driver gets in and drives differently ....It just keps making adjustments. This happens over about 2000 miles but it is doing some changing with each driver. If you manually shift, sure you will have rougher upshifts and downshift because you are holding into a gear without letting the TCM look and calculate engine-turbine and output speed.
You are right that you will get better shifts in drive, but your father is not doing anything that will hurt his transmission. He may get crappy fuel milage LOL. Thanks and have a great day! :)
 
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