[thetruck454]

Over the fall we purchased a 06 4500 4x4 with the LLY dmax and the RDS1000 series allison. We have it set up for plowing duty and during the season have noticed a few things.

1) while the mirrors are decent.. they lack a viewing area... does any one know of any aftermarket replacements that mount on the arm?.... All of our other trucks use west coast type, but if we can, we'd like to keep the mounting position for the mirrors, since they are power/heated/lighted

2)We keep setting the check engine light during plowing. I have an idea it's due to reving it high.. since its geared so low in revese whenever backing up it revs between 2500-3000rpms

3) also plowing related, the trany gets locked into only first, second, and reverse. If you shut the truck down and restart it seems fine. I've heard this is a so called limp mode.. and it wouldn't supprise me that when shifting from forward to reverse the truck isn't at a complete stop so the trany computer freaks out.

4) the truck has the factory trany temp gauge and even during plowing it doesn't really move beyond 160.. does that sound right for people that plow/tow?

All in all this truck is great. It replaced a old 1990 k3500, and its not even in the same league as it. The visability forward is amazing and makes plowing much easier. Its achiles heel in plowing seems to be because with a 10' plow the front end is extremely heavy. Once it finds soft ground... your stuck end of story

What I am looking for is a programmer/ computer to be able to read codes and clear them. which of the programmers for the 2500/3500 dura/alli work for the 4500's? I don't really need the power of them as this thing can push more snow than nature has been able to throw at us this season.


Thanks,
Phil

 

[roidman81]

Stop

You MUST stop( completely) during your shift from R to D.. you will destroy the allison and they wont fix it.. the trans will tell them you have abused it.. you get stuck in a 4x4? .. lock the hubs and stay out of the deep mud.. good luck and take it easy on her .. it will last:ro) a long time..

 

[kodiak]

Have the codes read. It will be better than guessing. You can buy an OBD II code reader off of ebay for $50 or have autozone read the codes for free.

 

[Dirt Dog]

I have seen people replace the 245 & 225 front tires with 265 & 285's with good luck. The larger tires provide a lot more flotation and you won't sink as bad. The 285 will barely rub on the inside on the leaf spring, but only in a very hard turn and it didn't seem like it was hard enough to cut the tire.

Also, I've seen people mount mirrors on the right front fenders to get better visability along the lower right side of the trucks.