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Old 07-20-2018, 08:42 PM   #41
jack65
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken / Claudia View Post
My opinion is not to put anyone down but, I think MOST people have always had vehicles with auto transmissions and ALWAYS put it in drive, park and reverse, nothing else. Use the brakes to slow on down grades, use the gas to speed up. Never moving the gear lever to any of those other gears. When getting into RVing do not understand towing heavy trailers and the need to find the correct RPM range by OD, no OD, TH, no TH and even shifting the auto transmission gears manually to keep the engine in peak RPMs to go up and down hills or even in stop and go traffic. That stuff should be in every vehicles manuals, it has been in all the pickups I have owned or used for work under towing.
I follow RVers on our mountain passes towing still doing the same thing, brakes to slow down, rarely do the brake lights go off unless they have a newer diesel.
That is what happens when almost everything is automatic now. I guess the Tow/Haul mode is suppose to help that problem. Having owned muscle cars (Corvette/Camaro) over the years, I'm used to stick shift and watching the rpm's when I have automatic, rarely actually using the automatic. Being hard of hearing, almost deaf, I don't hear the engine or what it's doing, so I've always had a TACH to watch. Firmly believe in NOT lugging the engine whether towing or not.
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Old 07-21-2018, 03:47 AM   #42
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Does anyone know if my 2014 Ram 1500 SLT w/5.7 Hemi has MDS which is the function of shutting down 4 cylinders of a 8 cylinder engine. I really hope my truck doesn't have that.
NOTE: I answered my own question by looking at:
The build sheet
https://www.jeep.com/webselfservice/...RR7GT0ES367523
Window sticker:
https://www.chrysler.com/hostd/windo...RR7GT0ES367523

So now the questions is how to prevent it from coming on. Any way to turn it off other than to use manual shifting or Tow/Haul? If I wanted MDS I would have gotten a four cylinder engine. Besides if MDS kicks in a lot wouldn't that mean that four cylinders used are going to get more wear and tear? Another thing is how will 4 cylinders give you better gas mileage? The engine has to work much harder to move the big truck than 8 cylinders....
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Old 07-21-2018, 07:54 AM   #43
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My 6.4 has MDS. I can always feel/hear it when it kicks in. It is VERY annoying and I see no discernable difference in mpg because I have it. When it kicks in I hit the throttle to make it go away but it comes right back on. On other hand, the manufacturers may have some sort of procedure they use to enable the MDS to raise their EPA ratings for the feds. I have found no way to disable it and when I asked the service dept. about it they said there was no way as well. There may be one but they wouldn't do it if there were; I would think there would be some way in the ECU but...…..
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Old 07-21-2018, 12:14 PM   #44
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sourdough View Post
My 6.4 has MDS. I can always feel/hear it when it kicks in. It is VERY annoying and I see no discernable difference in mpg because I have it. When it kicks in I hit the throttle to make it go away but it comes right back on. On other hand, the manufacturers may have some sort of procedure they use to enable the MDS to raise their EPA ratings for the feds. I have found no way to disable it and when I asked the service dept. about it they said there was no way as well. There may be one but they wouldn't do it if there were; I would think there would be some way in the ECU but...…..
I did a couple hours of online search at 2am in the morning and came up with this.... I know the first one works for sure.

1. Manually shift. Works for sure.

2. Tow/Haul is suppose to do it too, but not confirmed. Tow/Haul prevents eco mode, as does manually shifting they say.

3. 8-Speed - Downshift once and then upshift to 8th gear. It will still shift automatically with MDS disabled. Set it in 8th gear before you leave your driveway or the parking lot.

4. Put it in drive, then press the "gear -" button on the steering wheel. If you haven't started driving, the number 1 should come up on the dash. Then press "gear +" button until the 1 goes to an 8 on the dash (assuming you have the 8 speed, go to 6 of you have the 6 speed obviously), then drive. It will not go into Eco mode.

5. (from Ram forum) This is direct from the chat with the Ram Hemi Engineers. To disable the MDS, put your shifter from D to 5 (as displayed on the EVIC or cluster). With the console shifter, this is just one hit to the left. With the column shifter you need to push the +- button - one time. Your trans will still shift up and down automatically through all the gears. Tow/haul button is not the correct method.

If you do the above a few times before leaving your driveway or where ever your parted it, it will become a habit and not so much a hassle. I'm gonna do it.

I'm gonna make a separate thread on this.
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2014 Ram 1500 SLT Quad Cab 4x4
5.7L V8 Hemi 395 HP, 410 TQ 8-speed auto, w/3.92 rear ratio
K&N 71-1561 Air Intake w/FlowMaster Exhaust system.
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Old 07-22-2018, 09:53 AM   #45
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Since this post was on the best RPM range for towing, I was checking out the different rigs towing trailers at two campgrounds I was at a couple weeks ago. I was surprised at several 20' plus trailers that were being towed by by smaller rigs that shouldn't be able to tow them, such as a Ford EcoSport, Honda HR-V, Toyota C-HR to name a few. I guess they can be used if they manually shift and keep the rpms high or maybe they just don't know... back in the old days, pre 70's, they towed with stick shifts and kept the RPM's up. Nowadays, everything is automatic.
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2014 Ram 1500 SLT Quad Cab 4x4
5.7L V8 Hemi 395 HP, 410 TQ 8-speed auto, w/3.92 rear ratio
K&N 71-1561 Air Intake w/FlowMaster Exhaust system.
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Old 07-22-2018, 12:08 PM   #46
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With the 8-speed it's pretty simple to disable MDS. After putting it into D, you just hit the + until the 8 shows in the dash cluster (for everyday driving). When you hit Tow/Haul it disables it as well.

I really like the 8-speed overall. It will downshift nicely to maintain speed going down hills. If you are going down a grade, lightly tap the brake. The transmission will downshift and raise the RPMs. If it's really steep, you might need to downshift one more gear to hold speed manually. Most of the time I don't mess with manually shifting (just put it in Tow/Haul and lock out the overdrives).
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Old 07-22-2018, 05:27 PM   #47
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Originally Posted by mfifield01 View Post
With the 8-speed it's pretty simple to disable MDS. After putting it into D, you just hit the + until the 8 shows in the dash cluster (for everyday driving). When you hit Tow/Haul it disables it as well.

I really like the 8-speed overall. It will downshift nicely to maintain speed going down hills. If you are going down a grade, lightly tap the brake. The transmission will downshift and raise the RPMs. If it's really steep, you might need to downshift one more gear to hold speed manually. Most of the time I don't mess with manually shifting (just put it in Tow/Haul and lock out the overdrives).
Are you sure that Tow/Haul disables MDS? The green ECO emblem is still lit where as if your shifting manually the ECO emblem light is not lit. Can you tell listening? By locking out the overdrive, you do that by putting it in D, then hitting the + until 5 or 6 shows up... that will lock out 7 & 8, right? For around town, I've been locking out 6, 7 & 8.
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2015 Starcraft AR-ONE 14RB
2014 Ram 1500 SLT Quad Cab 4x4
5.7L V8 Hemi 395 HP, 410 TQ 8-speed auto, w/3.92 rear ratio
K&N 71-1561 Air Intake w/FlowMaster Exhaust system.
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Old 07-23-2018, 06:27 AM   #48
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Not 100% sure on the Tow/Haul MDS. I've seen conflicting info. I always lock at least 8th and usually 7th, so MDS is off.

Yes, I lock out overdrive by hitting the Gear + (or -) until just 6 shows up. This will shift all of the gears up to 6th.
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Old 07-28-2018, 04:32 PM   #49
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I just towed up Raton Pass yesterday. I didn't touch the gears on the way up. On the way down, I downshifted to 4th to hold speed. The RPMs were at 4200, but it helped keep the speed under 65.
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