constant shifting pulling hills

[10yearoldgmc]

New member here with a trans question, excellent site, TIA. When I pull my two wheeled trailer with my 95 4X4 Suburban (170K miles original trans) over the hill country of Texas it may shift from OD to D and back again two or three times on a single hill. The trans performs as it should, it is just that the incline of the hills are slight and with the cruise on it tries to maintain the set speed by shifting up and down several times. My question is will this constant shifting damage any part of the transmission and if it will cause damage will the truck continue to drive if that damage does occur? The ATF is clean and red as it should be with no burnt odor. I have depended on this rig for many years to take me and my family on many long trips and I dread the thought of this rig leaving me stranded with a broken trans. I am no stranger to automotive repairs, having worked as a mechanic for many years, years ago. I still stay very handy with a wrench and I have done my share of road side repairs, however having to R&R a trans in an Auto Zone parking lot in not my Idea of a vacation. How can I determine the condition of my trans? Auto transmissions are notorious for going out with little or no warning.
10yearoldGMC

 

[tattooed4life]

You could go have it looked at and or serviced at a trans shop. I am far from an expert on transmissions so i couldn't be for sure. I pull a tandom sixteen ft. enclosed trailer with my work truck. I go down south and out west alot with it. When I am approaching a decent grade I turn the overdrive off or in your case you could just downshift. This has solved my up and down shifting thru hills. My truck has 227,000 but it is a diesel. It has pulled an 8,000 pound trailer 90% of it's life with no tranny problems so far.

 

[Greg]

with the huge hill by my house, even if i'm not pulling a trailer, i downshift into 3rd gear from OD. no more constant shifting. It was annoying the **** out of me. Easier to stay in one speed too.

 

[chevy_man]

Just manually downshift it. Every shift causes some heat, and heat kills automatics so you can be sure to say that constant shifting will shorten the trans life somewhat.

 

[Greg]

Just manually downshift it. Every shift causes some heat, and heat kills automatics so you can be sure to say that constant shifting will shorten the trans life somewhat.

what he ^ said.

 

[CodyB]

Change the filter and fluid every 50k miles or so? or is it still factory? Even if I have bright red fluid I still change it out around 50k or so... Filter kits and a few quarts of fluid are cheap compared to a full rebuild of an auto trans.

 

[6chevy9]

first off you should not be in od towing. yes it will over heat as everyone else said and that WILL kill your trans and pretty fast belive me. it is better to just down shift. if your running flat land put it in od same with going down hill. if thats an annoance and you tow all the time id re gear.

 

[Hodges87]

first off you should not be in od towing. yes it will over heat as everyone else said and that WILL kill your trans and pretty fast belive me. it is better to just down shift. if your running flat land put it in od same with going down hill. if thats an annoance and you tow all the time id re gear.

I agree, even if a bike was hooked up to my bumper I wouldn't tow in OD. I would rather drive 55 than replace a transmission. All that access shifting is asking for heat build up and clutch deterioration