Gear 2

[Kevin Lang]

Is the transmission designed to be used in second gear for extended periods of time? I always find myself forcing her into second. Whether it be those ultra hairpin roads at night at an 18%+ grade that the map books didn't tell me about, or the person who goes 20 on a backroad in a 40 zone, and I'm coming down a hill (and don't want to waste the brake), there is always a need to downshift.



**Not to mention that the changed characteristics of the Trac with forced 2nd gear max are cool to play with



This practice isn't going to kill my transmission, is it?



(No one I know has ever even used anything but "R" and "D"....heck, when I was growing up, most of my relatives didn't even know that transmissions had fluid....point being that I'm asking a novice question due to lack of indirect edjimakation)

 

[Todd Z]

$30.00 brake pads, or a $2,000-$3,000 transmission ????



Your choice....



Some one did that all the time in my 04 and cooked the tranny....



Todd Z

 

[Dave S 2]

"Some one did that all the time in my 04 and cooked the tranny...."



Hey, what's a warranty for???



Kevin...errrr....Gary...Is that you????????

 

[Michael Cacioppo]

Kevin, I believe it's OK AS LONG AS the tranny temperature stays in the safe range. If you don't have a temp gauge in your tranny, then you'll only be guessing.

 

[Kevin Lang]

I'm not Gary...the only Gary I know is from Team America lol.



So...as I feared, the transmission isn't designed to be dictated into certain gears. D or bust

 

[Tom Schindler]

Kevin,



No automatic tranny is designed to be run in one gear like that. They are not made to withstand that abuse....and yes, that is abuse.





Tom

 

[Kevin Lang]

If that's abuse, then why do they even bother giving us the option to run it like that? Just for looks or to eliminate complaints about lack of versatility?



If the transmission can't handle driving around in 2 at 40, isn't something wrong?



.....more reasons to get a Manual transmission

 

[Tom Schindler]

If that's abuse, then why do they even bother giving us the option to run it like that? Just for looks or to eliminate complaints about lack of versatility?

Couple reasons. First is safety. If your brakes fail, you can manually shift down to help lessen the change of something going bad. If your life is on the line, the last thing you worry about is your vehicle. Second is control. If you find yourself on a slick surface, switching it to 2 will send less torque to your wheels helping to get traction. Another is if you are pulling heavy weight up a long hill, you can hold out in 2 longer to get up the hill.



2 is not made for hot rodding something that was neer made to be driven as such.





Tom

 

[Johnny O]

I turn off the OD when going down a hill but rarely need to go as low as 2nd gear. Note that it is very hilly where I live and I just traded in my '05 Trac with 44k on it and the original brakes were still fine.

The wife on the other hand thinks that downshifting, even out of OD, is the work of the devil, so we get the rotors on her Taurus cut about once a year. :lol: I have learned that if I get the heavy duty rotors at NAPA I can get them cut three times and they're still legal. NAPA's Ceramix brake pads are tough to kill as well.