Tune to remove kickdown?

arzinet · January 16, 2018

I've got a 2011 Yukon XL 2500 with the 6.0 and 6L90E. I tow a 24' travel trailer, using tow/haul mode and the manual shifter, but the transmission kickdown has always driven me crazy. I just want to select a gear and have the transmission stay in that gear, not downshift for me if I push past 80% throttle.

Every other vehicle I've owned has been a manual, and if I put the transmission in 4th it's because I want it in 4th. If I put my foot to the floor, I still want to be in 4th - I don't want the transmission choosing 3rd for me! Is it possible to tune the transmission so it will hold gears for me, no matter what I do with the gas pedal?

Did some searching, but can't seem to find anything. Surely I'm not the only one who hates this?

swathdiver · January 16, 2018

If not exactly what you want, I believe BlackBear can tune your transmission to your liking. Give them a call.

1SLOW1500 · January 16, 2018

Yes it can be done. On my truck(2016) it is all numbers or values based. It is hard to explain and even weirder to decide where you like it. I was driving around playing with the throttle to see where it holds and holds the rpms. So I can know when I am roll racing or even pushing it hard in a roll there isn't a shift, pause, then go. I see many people just do a 3 triple tune. Sounds like you need at least a dual tune trans. Standard and tow mode.

arzinet · January 17, 2018

Thanks. I'd looked at Black Bear's site before, but it was a little confusing (I'm used to off-the-shelf Stage 1, 2, etc. car stuff.) I see now that it's custom tunes, so I sent them an email to ask about it.

Looks like I'd have to spend at least the $600 for the AutoCal. Kind of pricey for what I want, but maybe worth it for other the benefits as well.

arzinet · January 17, 2018

Black Bear got back to me really quickly, but it sounds like they can't do it. This is what they told me:

"Manual" mode is not really manual within the trucks. It is more of a Maximum mode and utilizes the same shift tables as the normal mode with the limitation of not going any higher than the listed gear. While we can certainly adjust up and downshift points by vehicle speed/TPS, there will likely not be able to be a difference between the normal and M mode."

I suppose playing with the shift points might help a bit, but not sure it's worth the $600 to experiment.