Over Drive

[jjo]

Can someone explain when to use and not use the O/D feature? I've never had a vehicle with it before.

It seems when I turn if off, the engine works harder (higher RPMs).

 

[-=JoN=-]

it's used mostly for towing....
some use it for city driving....

 

[SRotblat]

The only time I have switched mine out of over drive really was when towing to keep the trans from shifting gears a lot when driving on steeper sections of roadway.

I dont know if this is a good rule of thumb or not but basically with the auto trans you want to keep it from shifting more than needed. Overdrive is great for the highway or constant speeds in town, but when your constantly shifting in and out of over drive your hurting the trans over time. When towing large loads keeping it out of over drive will help, and if your constatly changing speeds in town you might want to keep it out also.

 

[04RkMtnKJ]

The only rule of thumb that I know of is to turn it off when towing. Towong a heavy load is alot of work on the overdrive unit. Otherwise I keep mine on all the time. I do know alot of people that have theres off and only turn it on when they get on the interstate or highway speeds and they do not use it in town. To me if this was the case I think Jeep would have made it so the button would turn O/D ON and it would always be OFF when you started the vehicle. But that is only IMO.

 

[Trodo]

I turn mine off in stop/n/go freeway traffic. That way the transmission is not hopping up and down. Climbing a mountain, towing. Otherwise I just let it be.

 

[2003KJ]

Last fall when Lowe's had a major sale on fertalizer for the yard I picked up about 1200lbs worth. The only to get back is on the highway runnin about 75mph, so i took it out of overdrive while I was goin down the highway, didn't switch gears a bit when it came time to pass people.

To give you an idea of how loaded it was, The front end was now higher up than the rear end...LOL

 

[CHUD]

Last fall when Lowe's had a major sale on fertalizer for the yard I picked up about 1200lbs worth. To give you an idea of how loaded it was, The front end was now higher up than the rear end...LOL

That's a load of crap....

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

 

[lavalva]

www.lavalva.com/rimshot.wav

 

[Bennett]

Last fall when Lowe's had a major sale on fertalizer for the yard I picked up about 1200lbs worth. The only to get back is on the highway runnin about 75mph, so i took it out of overdrive while I was goin down the highway, didn't switch gears a bit when it came time to pass people.

To give you an idea of how loaded it was, The front end was now higher up than the rear end...LOL

HAha I did the same thing, but with salt. It really does jack it up quite a bit in the front.

 

[2003KJ]

Last fall when Lowe's had a major sale on fertalizer for the yard I picked up about 1200lbs worth. To give you an idea of how loaded it was, The front end was now higher up than the rear end...LOL

That's a load of crap....

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

LOL....dammit I walked right into that one!

HAha I did the same thing, but with salt. It really does jack it up quite a bit in the front.

Kinda makes it look ********. But I was impressed with the overall handleing and pick up with that ammount of weight (I went up some steep hills from a dead stop), and how it did on the highway. Yes, there was a notceable difference in performance, but that was expected.

 

[grogiefrog]

My wife's old Dakota would start to act like it was "searching for the right gear" on hills, etc. That is when it was time to shut it off. So far I have left it alone on my KJ. But then there are no hills here!