Friday afternoon I installed this kit in my 2005 to see how it worked. After driving it a bit to check it out I really liked it. On Sunday I decided to put it to the test:


http://www.kennedydiesel.com/photogal/images/dmaxwbulldozer.gif





Yes we cheated ratings/carrying capacity in a big way with the TP trailer. That pic was my 2002 2 years ago. I didn't have time/forgot to get a pic with the 2005. Both trucks carried the load well, as both are long wheelbase and set up for heavy towing/load carrying.
We kept the machine back over the axles, but in reality, it was still biased ahead of center a good bit. There was also a 5.5HP Wacker packer on the nose of the trailer. We scaled the combo at 28,200# then added 250# of corn, 220# for me and 135# for my daughter. I used a small pintle mount in my Draw Tite receiver. The 2002 carried this on the OE receiver.

So on to the 6 speed. I started out with my Economy tune which got us up to speed and handled the load quite well, but the pedal position
necessary to maintain speed did not allow us to get into 6th gear at 60 mph except on very flat or downhill. Standard 5th gear was no problem. I switched to the big tune and it ran in 6th most of the time. When I got to a hill that it couldn't handle, it dropped out of 6th smoothly and remained in 5th for the rest of the hill dropping back to 6th as soon as the hill was crested. The truck really wanted to run 65-70+ but I didn't. I think if it were run that fast it would have held 6th gear much better on the few hills that it couldn't.

Nice Mirrors..........):h

They worked awesome to see around the 8.5' wide dozer blade!

How about unloaded driving? Did you check out shifting with T/H in and out?

BTW- Those are nice mirrors. Where did you get them?

John, when will you get a chance to run a road trip empty?

How hard was the install and how long did it take you? Thanks for the report.

Nice Mirrors..........):h

Thanks!:D

How hard was the install and how long did it take you? Thanks for the report.

Like bobo said...

Is the kit avalible know for the public to upgrade to the 6 speed? About how much does it or will it cost?

Install was as simple as it gets. Drop out the old valve body and install the new one (after transferring the internal harness) refill and swap TCM's.

Took me about 3 hrs as I seldom get anything done without taking countless phone calls while I work...

Availability is good and I'll be listing on my site shortly.

Unloaded it's smooth as silk just like towing. It WILL hold 6th in TH when in cruise too. Not sure on the empty road trip as I don't get away much...

It WILL hold 6th in TH when in cruise too. Not sure on the empty road trip as I don't get away much...


I thought pressing tow/haul disables 6th....??

It was my understanding if you used OD lockout it disabled 6th and T/H worked normally. Maybe I read something wrong??

...Is the kit avalible know for the public to upgrade to the 6 speed? About how much does it or will it cost?
My guess is he didn't pay retail, and I don't think he's allowed to post anything price-wise as a vendor in any case...

Good to see it works smoothly & simple install's a big bonus for DIY'ers :ro)

I thought pressing tow/haul disables 6th....??

Ben you have mental block.

3. 6 dis-able: depress tow-haul button

Smoop

how do we turn tow/haul on and off?

I read this as meaning that when you enable the tow-haul mode it disables the 6th gear option as well as engaging the tow-haul mode. If I am reading too much into this forgive me. That is however what would make sense to me.

John

John,

You are 100% correct. Thank you.
Smoop

It WILL hold 6th in TH when in cruise too.

I thought pressing tow/haul disables 6th....??

Ben you have mental block.Seems like a legitimate question to me. I was wondering the same thing.

where can I find more info on this kit?
thanks

With the cruise control on activating TH does not downshift my truck out of 6th. With cruise control off, it will not go into 6th with T/H active and/or wil drop out of 6th when actvated. I did not test to see if there was a particular speed at which TH would hold 6th without cruise on nor did I test where the 5-6 shift at WOT came in. I'll save these for the dyno.



According to Smoop, this is specifically designed for Ben as a grade braking enhancement. When in cruise control at 60mph+ in TH mode the second you tap te brake to drop cruise, it immediately drops to 5th gear ;)


BTW Watch yourself when testing this as I got a little distracted with the operation and got the "stink eye shake finger" from a County cop for doing about 65+ in a 55mph zone...:eek:

With the cruise control on activating TH does not downshift my truck out of 6th. With cruise control off, it will not go into 6th with T/H active and/or wil drop out of 6th when actvated. I did not test to see if there was a particular speed at which TH would hold 6th without cruise on nor did I test where the 5-6 shift at WOT came in. I'll save these for the dyno.



According to Smoop, this is specifically designed for Ben as a grade braking enhancement. When in cruise control at 60mph+ in TH mode the second you tap te brake to drop cruise, it immediately drops to 5th gear ;)


BTW Watch yourself when testing this as I got a little distracted with the operation and got the "stink eye shake finger" from a County cop for doing about 65+ in a 55mph zone...:eek:

Just make sure you don't get the stink finger from the County cop! :eek:

Sounds like great results with the kit so far.... :cool:

where can I find more info on this kit?
thanks

There are 3 threads (including this one) covering this kit. The one started by Smoop had pretty good detail if you can weed throough all the whining about cost. I started this thread to offer prove that it works.

According to Smoop, this is specifically designed for Ben as a grade braking enhancement. When in cruise control at 60mph+ in TH mode the second you tap te brake to drop cruise, it immediately drops to 5th gear ;)


ah ha!! Grade braking that works!! :bow:

John have you noticed that grade braking works significantly better than before? Or has your grade braking always been sufficent. I wont go into how mine is/has always been terrible.:D :banghead:

Ben

With the cruise control on activating TH does not downshift my truck out of 6th. With cruise control off, it will not go into 6th with T/H active and/or wil drop out of 6th when actvated. I did not test to see if there was a particular speed at which TH would hold 6th without cruise on nor did I test where the 5-6 shift at WOT came in. I'll save these for the dyno.



According to Smoop, this is specifically designed for Ben as a grade braking enhancement. When in cruise control at 60mph+ in TH mode the second you tap te brake to drop cruise, it immediately drops to 5th gear ;)


BTW Watch yourself when testing this as I got a little distracted with the operation and got the "stink eye shake finger" from a County cop for doing about 65+ in a 55mph zone...:eek:Very cool. Thanks for explaining it.

I still think Ben has a mental block :D

ah ha!! Grade braking that works!! :bow:

John have you noticed that grade braking works significantly better than before? Or has your grade braking always been sufficent. I wont go into how mine is/has always been terrible.:D :banghead:

Ben

Your grade braking works just like it was intended to, of this I am quite certain. If you start to lose the battle, it will back you up, but in order to work, you need a real trailer on a real hill of substantial length.

John, does this kit use the tap shift tranny lever or does it just use the lever in the truck?

Hmm... could you use the 06 dash cluster and lever and have tap shift now?

Hmm... could you use the 06 dash cluster and lever and have tap shift now?

maybe.

any electrical engineers out there want to help me with something...?

"IT" works perfectly in my ghetto-rig fashion; I just dont know how to make a little widget to make it work the specific way I want it to..................

Go big or go home....I'm looking into the fesability of using the Grand Prix steering wheel monted Tap Shift levers.

Go big or go home....I'm looking into the fesability of using the Grand Prix steering wheel monted Tap Shift levers.

Haha, I was thinking the same thing.

John, does this kit use the tap shift tranny lever or does it just use the lever in the truck?

Hmm... could you use the 06 dash cluster and lever and have tap shift now?

It is my belief that the functionality is there. Not sure about cluster display (doubt it) or interchangeability (again doubt it) but the function is likely there. I just haven't seen the need...

Cluster does not need changed to read for the tap shift. Its the TCM that gives the cluster the info.

Greg

Cluster does not need changed to read for the tap shift. Its the TCM that gives the cluster the info.

Greg

so the 03-05 clusters would show 1 2 3 4 5 (6) if you had a 6-speed TCM in there and moved the selector to "3"??? (the "M" position on a 6 speed NSBU)

does this suncoast special magic TCM have the tap-shift capability if it were to be wired in? Do the 5-speed TCM's have the capability to ahve "tap-shift" wired in? Is it something thats simply enabled and disabled in DOC? Is the suncoast TCM some super special unique calibration made JUST for the 2001-2005 1000 valve bodies with the 6-speed conversion kit, or is it used in some other application?

I know I probably wont get any answer for that last question, but its worth a shot...

so the 03-05 clusters would show 1 2 3 4 5 (6) if you had a 6-speed TCM in there and moved the selector to "3"??? (the "M" position on a 6 speed NSBU)

does this suncoast special magic TCM have the tap-shift capability if it were to be wired in? Do the 5-speed TCM's have the capability to ahve "tap-shift" wired in? Is it something thats simply enabled and disabled in DOC? Is the suncoast TCM some super special unique calibration made JUST for the 2001-2005 1000 valve bodies with the 6-speed conversion kit, or is it used in some other application?

I know I probably wont get any answer for that last question, but its worth a shot...


My guess is that the tap shift functionality is there, but the cluster will not display it. I could be wrong.

John, anymore driving the 6-speed empty? How does it work around town? What about with a big tune?

Works awesome. I need to reset my 4-5 TAP during TH mode, but it basically drives like stock only lower RPM's

Kennedy, did the TCM that came with your conversion kit already have the tap cells cleared? I have mine and am planning on doing the install on tues. Just wondering if I will have to get to a dealer to have the tap cells cleared?

wellgeo03
You will need to clear the Taps before driving the truck. Sun Coast states on their installation document that "it is Imperative that the transmission is "fast learned" or each Tap cell is cleared and reset, after installation. Failure to do so is at your own risk." I would also recommend your Garage Taps.

For you guys that may not know what a garage shift is; it is the nuetral to drive and nuetral to reverse application and they have their own adaptive learn that need to be reset.

For you guys that may not know what a garage shift is; it is the nuetral to drive and nuetral to reverse application and they have their own adaptive learn that need to be reset.


Is a Tech II or the Allison software the only thing that will reset them? Does EFI have that capability?

The TCM sent with the valve body has the TAP cells cleared so you are starting fresh. In this case a fast learn or reset is not imperative. I would suggest a fast learn only if you have remaining issues after a normal driving period.
Smoop

Thank you Smoop, I assumed that the tap cells would all be reset and everything would be good to go, but figured it wouldn't hurt to check. ;)

Am i correct that if you order a SC4 kit , and a 6speed kit at the same time that you will get a overall price break ?

I moved some posts by scandia to his own thread. http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=118355 is the location.

Am i correct that if you order a SC4 kit , and a 6speed kit at the same time that you will get a overall price break ?

Would like to know this as well, as I will likely be in the market soon.

Jon