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View Full Version : Towing with an LBZ / 6-speed Allison



mcmonroe
10-18-2005, 11:16
In the past with the LB7/LLY and the 5-speed Allison you basically could just leave the truck in overdrive, hit the cruise, and let the truck pick the gear and whatnot when pulling through mountains.

At least that is what they did on the Duramax Tour a few years ago. I do the same thing and my truck does very little down shifting. The truck is easy to drive this way and it always picks the right gear and the correct RPMs for that gear.

Now that the LBZ has a 6th gear, I am wondering what the recommended procedure is for towing? Also, If you leave the truck in 6th gear will you see far more downshifts versus a 5-speed Allison? Does the owners manual suggest towing in 5th? Etc?

I really like the simple towing process with the 5-speed Allison and am curious how all of this will change with the new "manual" features of the new 6-speed and the extra over-drive 6th gear. I get the feeling that something that used to be simple might have just become complicated.

Thoughts/Ideas?

Mark Monroe
Harrisburg NC

Kennedy
10-18-2005, 12:23
Just use the D on the selector to let it do what it wants most of the time. If it hunts or if you don't like it, just pull the ugly stick into M and use the button to select the highest gear you want it to go to or to manually downshift and enhance grade braking.