How often do you shift your Torqueflite out of "D"?

[68PK21 440.6bbl]

Leave it in 'D' and as you leave the on ramp entering the Interstate... foot to the floor and listen to the secondaries HOWL!

Seriously "1" is for roasting the tires and I outgrew that at 17 when I paid for my first set (5) of radials.

 

[The Goose]

Never.

Bolt action is no slap stick LoL!!!

 

[stubs300]

Lived in San Francisco for 20 years, downshifted on hills all the time. Keeps you from burning up the brakes.

And I bet you drive a clutch car?

 

[cantflip]

Damnit John, I blame you for this...

 

[polara71]

The manual says to down shift as needed and explains when that is.

This lady told me on the way to her cottage in her used to be convertible that I must downshift going up the hills of middle Pennsylvania. That is the way you did it back in the day. I did not downshift for her and the car did ok.

I however frequently take it out of drive when I'm at a light. I slip it into neutral and take my foot of the brake. My Pop Pop believed that it saved unnecessary strain on the engine and brakes. It is more habit than belief on my part.

 

[cantflip]

I however frequently take it out of drive when I'm at a light. I slip it into neutral and take my foot of the brake. My Pop Pop believed that it saved unnecessary strain on the engine and brakes. It is more habit than belief on my part.

Takes a little load off the engine... but I promise you won't wear the brakes one bit sitting still with them applied

Hi Dave

 

[Turboomni]

This lady told me on the way to her cottage in her used to be convertible that I must downshift going up the hills of middle Pennsylvania. That is the way you did it back in the day.

Well that's what I do in the hills of the Berkshire Mountains in Western MA. As I said I don't have part throttle downshift on my car. If I am going up a steep hill at 35 mph and the car is stuck in 3rd my 440 doesn't care other than gets a little louder but I figure the trans is getting a lot of torque input and needlessly heating things up for no reason. So I drop it in second gear.

 

[lemondana]

Anyone on here having a pre 71 Mopar, should add the A&A Transmission part throttle kickdown. It is well worth the 90,00-95.00 it costs. It doesn't help the people that are using the downshift to help slow the car. You do have to remove the valvebody though, to install this kit.

 

[EurekaSevven]

Leave it in 'D' and as you leave the on ramp entering the Interstate... foot to the floor and listen to the secondaries HOWL!

Well mine is the Carter 2BBL, the only secondaries I have are from the grace of god. I still enjoy the sound it gives, however.

Anyone on here having a pre 71 Mopar, should add the A&A Transmission part throttle kickdown. It is well worth the 90,00-95.00 it costs. It doesn't help the people that are using the downshift to help slow the car. You do have to remove the valvebody though, to install this kit.

I'll keep this in mind for future reference, not seeing any for a 383-2BBL however, at least from a cursory google search, did find one for a B/E body though.

I mainly asked the question because in my other car, which is a 2009 Toyota Yaris (it goes from point A to B so I can't complain), I never really need to shift gears to slow down, as it's fitted with front discs brakes (I'm not sure if the back are discs or drums, but I think drums). But I would say that since the car is far lighter than the Chrysler so no real reason to with how lightweight it is.

 

[70bigblockdodge]

Brakes are cheaper than engines.

 

[marty koirtyohann]

I had this question in my head for a while now, as when I bought my Newport, it came with the original owner's manual. One of the pages in it was describing when to shift the TorqueFlite when in different situations, such as using "2" when going down curvy country roads that require more controls, and using "1" for steep hills going up and down hill.

Do you guys actually use this method, or do you keep it in Drive the entire trip?

i ran mine through the gears all tye time when i raced it

 

[marty koirtyohann]

i ran mine through the gears all the time when i raced it

View attachment 451732

+ i road raced it the trany was rebilt 3 times in the 120,000(12 years )i owned it

 

[Rustyrodknocker]

I pulled a dirt bike trailer a fair amount with the 300. With the 2:76 rear I would drop it down when coming off the mountain. The only time I remember dropping down while going up hill was on 3" minus and I went until it just would not pull any farther. I finally unhooked the trailer and went up to a landing and turned around.
At the end of the day after we loaded bikes and were coming back down in low the sound of all that large rock going across the floor was horrendous. I said that was retirement day for hauling bikes off of the pavement.
I did smoke the trans a few weeks later but the pump seal galled up and it blew all the oil out at hiway speed. I don't think it was related.
I have hauled bikes up through the Siskiyous on I5 in drive the whole way, but we were doing 75 mph because big block.

 

[notsosan]

I live on a mountain side. My 300 has a console shifter and I always shift down when going down hills. If I don't I can really feel the brake fade by the time I get to the bottom. It's too bad these old transmissions don't have locking torque converters to make engine braking more effective.

I also use the paddle shifters on my daily car quite a bit even though the 8 spd ZF is a really smart transmission.

 

[notsosan]

I however frequently take it out of drive when I'm at a light. I slip it into neutral and take my foot of the brake. My Pop Pop believed that it saved unnecessary strain on the engine and brakes. It is more habit than belief on my part.

View attachment 450760

That actually is a good idea for transmission cooling. If you leave it in drive the engine is still trying to move the car and fluid slippage in the torque converter continues to make heat. I do it all the time to give the tranny a little cooling time when I am towing heavy with my truck. It would do the same for your car.

On edit: I don't take my foot off the brake although if they are hot and you can, it will help cool them as well.

 

[Rustyrodknocker]

My step brother would put his 62ish plymouth in neutral when coming off the mountain on his way to school. It was several miles of windy gravel.
He said he did it to save gas but he also did it to see how fast and far he could go.

 

[3C's & a D?]

My step brother would put his 62ish plymouth in neutral when coming off the mountain on his way to school. It was several miles of windy gravel.
He said he did it to save gas but he also did it to see how fast and far he could go.

Sounds like my kind of guy! I used to completely shut off my 1980 Rabbit, manual 4speed, manual brakes, weighed next to nothing, when going down unoccupied hills. Only import, and small car I've ever owned. Had it not been for electrical gremlins, it would have been a great car. Original manderin orange paint, with brown infinitely adjustable high back buckets.

 

[68PK21 440.6bbl]

Sounds like my kind of guy! I used to completely shut off my 1980 Rabbit, manual 4speed, manual brakes, weighed next to nothing, when going down unoccupied hills. Only import, and small car I've ever owned. Had it not been for electrical gremlins, it would have been a great car. Original manderin orange paint, with brown infinitely adjustable high back buckets.

My first attempt in May of going to the top of Mt Lemmon in Tucson Arizona on my motorcycle was a fail as we went around a scenic overlook we were met with a very cold wind and snow flurries and had to turn around. This I learned via the second attempt was about 1/2 way so a very wise decision. The second attempt (after checking the weather) was a success in reaching the summit and there was still some snow at the top but I didn't fill the 3 gallon tank at the desert turn off to the mountain and about half way down had to go on reserve which would only get me about 15/20 miles which would be way short of the gas station at the turn off. So I just killed the engine and enjoyed a silent coast down the mountain. I only had to start the engine on one fairly level part as we got to a rolling crawl, once past that it was smooth sailing to the base access road where I knew I had enough reserve to get to the gas station.
Now remember this was Tucson in the mid 70's and the sprawl was nowhere near what it is today.

.

 

[stubs300]

I put it in N all the time when I crest the top of Dry Lake Summit, and that's going both ways!

 

[Rusty Muffler]

2.5 tons downhill + drum brakes = 2. If you leave it in D bye bye brakes.
2 going up hill if it starts pinging.

There's nothing like going on a long down hill section and first smelling your brakes and soon after having them fade away. Do that once and you'll use your transmission more for braking.