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Transmission question

Snook

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As I posted in another thread, we just got home from a long trip in our new 2022 Mojave and I’m still trying to get accustomed to the 8-speed automatic and it’s shifting characteristic. I had a 2019 4Runner that had the same quirky operation that I never quite got used to. Prior to that I had a 2007 Hummer H3 that we bought new. That transmission was GM’s 4-speed automatic which had what I would call a normal shift pattern. I understand there is a “learn” process with this trans, so how long does that take? I dont drive my vehicles aggressively and it will take about 4 years to get to 50k miles (we work from home). I do tow a bit more than most since I fish quite a bit.

anyway, just looking for more insight from those who have had the opportunity to put some miles on their Gladiator.
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brianinca

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I guess I'm not sure what the issue is.

We just ran over to the Central Coast to go to a pickup party at a winery - we took the back roads into and out of the little mountains over there. The manual mode is wonderful for engine braking, but leaving it in Auto works amazingly well. Long highway drive, tall gears for cruising at 75-80, short gears for scooting around hills, easily my favorite automatic ever.

Is it the holding a gear that seems weird? The H2's 4 spd was as traditional as it gets, which is why I drove manuals all through that marriage (the ex kept her Hummer). Soft smooth shifts aren't always what I want, personally, so the differences may be in expectation?
 
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Snook

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I guess I'm not sure what the issue is.

We just ran over to the Central Coast to go to a pickup party at a winery - we took the back roads into and out of the little mountains over there. The manual mode is wonderful for engine braking, but leaving it in Auto works amazingly well. Long highway drive, tall gears for cruising at 75-80, short gears for scooting around hills, easily my favorite automatic ever.

Is it the holding a gear that seems weird? The H2's 4 spd was as traditional as it gets, which is why I drove manuals all through that marriage (the ex kept her Hummer). Soft smooth shifts aren't always what I want, personally, so the differences may be in expectation?
it must be the holding of gears I guess. It just seems odd. Cruising at 70+ is nice with the rpm’s around 2k. Perhaps I need to be a little more aggressive and les old man like in my around town driving.
 

brianinca

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It's a little spooky when it holds 2nd or 3rd in stop & go, like I wouldn't upshift if I was driving a stick. Super cool, but yes, different to "traditional" automatics.

And yeah, with 35's, 75 MPH is 2000 rpm, which is sweet.

it must be the holding of gears I guess. It just seems odd. Cruising at 70+ is nice with the rpm’s around 2k. Perhaps I need to be a little more aggressive and les old man like in my around town driving.
 

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Quirky can mean a lot of different things to different people. For one thing, do not ever compare 8 gears to 4, or even 5 or 6 speeds.
It's going to do what it thinks best based on the torque applied, road speed, engine RPM and more.
Mine is a totally different truck when I'm towing - it senses the torque and changes shifting - a lot. Then I have to get used to it again when the trailer is off.
Mine shifted one way for the first 2 or 3 thousand miles, then settled into a different, milder pattern where sometimes you don't notice the shifts unless it's under load or trying to make a hill.

Every transmission is different anyway, but you have an 8 speed and that's going to behave a whole lot differently than one with fewer gears. That's one thing right off the top.
Then you have it trying to make that 3.6 behave in a truck that's not all that light (well, it's roughly the same as a Grand Cherokee, actually, as far as weight, and the GC has the same transmission)
I note a difference between the transmission in my wife's Jeep compared to mine - the Grand Cherokee actually is made for comfort and MPG, it's sleeker and is aerodynamic for a Jeep. 24-25 mpg is pretty normal. And a ton less WIND resistance. So I notice her 8 speed, same transmission, same engine, feels a lot different. it's not having to deal with keeping up speed against wind hitting a big brick.
Almost every truck out there is far more aerodynamic than a Gladiator ( I know, I lose 15 points for using aerodynamic in the same sentence as Gladiator)

Anyway, unless it's doing something that indicates it's broken - you'll have to forget everything you know about other transmissions, especially those with fewer gears and different engines.
It's likely doing what it can to make that engine deal with the size, shape and weight of the truck, giving consideration to many factors.
 

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Snook

Snook

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Quirky can mean a lot of different things to different people. For one thing, do not ever compare 8 gears to 4, or even 5 or 6 speeds.
It's going to do what it thinks best based on the torque applied, road speed, engine RPM and more.
Mine is a totally different truck when I'm towing - it senses the torque and changes shifting - a lot. Then I have to get used to it again when the trailer is off.
Mine shifted one way for the first 2 or 3 thousand miles, then settled into a different, milder pattern where sometimes you don't notice the shifts unless it's under load or trying to make a hill.

Every transmission is different anyway, but you have an 8 speed and that's going to behave a whole lot differently than one with fewer gears. That's one thing right off the top.
Then you have it trying to make that 3.6 behave in a truck that's not all that light (well, it's roughly the same as a Grand Cherokee, actually, as far as weight, and the GC has the same transmission)
I note a difference between the transmission in my wife's Jeep compared to mine - the Grand Cherokee actually is made for comfort and MPG, it's sleeker and is aerodynamic for a Jeep. 24-25 mpg is pretty normal. And a ton less WIND resistance. So I notice her 8 speed, same transmission, same engine, feels a lot different. it's not having to deal with keeping up speed against wind hitting a big brick.
Almost every truck out there is far more aerodynamic than a Gladiator ( I know, I lose 15 points for using aerodynamic in the same sentence as Gladiator)

Anyway, unless it's doing something that indicates it's broken - you'll have to forget everything you know about other transmissions, especially those with fewer gears and different engines.
It's likely doing what it can to make that engine deal with the size, shape and weight of the truck, giving consideration to many factors.
thanks! That helps me to understand it better. I took it out to run errands today, drove it a little more aggressively and it was fine, far more responsive and quicker than my 4Runner.

fo you mind me asking, what are you towing? I’ve towed our flats boat and it did great, but I kept it under 65 on the highway mainly for safety reasons.
 

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On my second Gladiator and have found both to take almost 5K-6K miles for the adaptive learning to settle in to somewhat acceptable to me shifting for a given situation. Seems to like to hang high in the RPM before shifting into the next gear. Colder the starting temp, the worse it was.

The more you use cruise control early on, the longer it seems for the adaptive learning to settle in when driving without cruise control.
 

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it must be the holding of gears I guess. It just seems odd. Cruising at 70+ is nice with the rpm’s around 2k. Perhaps I need to be a little more aggressive and les old man like in my around town driving.
Or just slip it into manual and put it in the gear you want on the highway.
When I get into the hills of NH on I93, I'll sometimes just put it in 7th. Then its not downshifting every 20 seconds only to upshift 5 seconds later.

Its a great automatic. The problem is that in 8th gear, the Pentastar can't maintain highway speed without downshifting. Even with the 4.10 gears on my Mojave.
 

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For me it's when it down shifts coming to a stop. Almost like a standard trans using engine braking.
Thought maybe because I have the Ecodiesel and the torque of the engine was causing it. After reading a few of these threads it seems that's how this transmission works.
 

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I guess I'm not sure what the issue is.

We just ran over to the Central Coast to go to a pickup party at a winery - we took the back roads into and out of the little mountains over there. The manual mode is wonderful for engine braking, but leaving it in Auto works amazingly well. Long highway drive, tall gears for cruising at 75-80, short gears for scooting around hills, easily my favorite automatic ever.

Is it the holding a gear that seems weird? The H2's 4 spd was as traditional as it gets, which is why I drove manuals all through that marriage (the ex kept her Hummer). Soft smooth shifts aren't always what I want, personally, so the differences may be in expectation?
Mine doesn’t hold back worth a crap for engine braking. Does yours hold back? Weird.
 

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If you keep it at 80 or above, the JTR on 35's it holds 8th no prob even up a mild hill.

Or just slip it into manual and put it in the gear you want on the highway.
When I get into the hills of NH on I93, I'll sometimes just put it in 7th. Then its not downshifting every 20 seconds only to upshift 5 seconds later.

Its a great automatic. The problem is that in 8th gear, the Pentastar can't maintain highway speed without downshifting. Even with the 4.10 gears on my Mojave.
 

dcmdon

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If you keep it at 80 or above, the JTR on 35's it holds 8th no prob even up a mild hill.
I'm sure you realize how impractical that is for most of us most of the time.
 

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Ah, where there's no traffic, no rules and no limits.
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