[silver_pilate]

Hey, if you want to use your OD around town, that's fine. And if myself and rbatson don't, that's fine, too. I understand our setups are different, and if I had 4.10's, I might choose to do the same as you do.

However, with my setup, with the car in the OD position, the tranny will shift EARLY from third into OD...say around 35-40 mph. This is the cruising speed on many larger streets. That's fine if I'm going that speed for a long time. However, as it is, I have to slow down, then speed up, then slow down, etc. for traffic and lights. When my tranny shifts into OD at that speed, it becomes sluggish and doesn't respond well. So when I step on the gas, the tranny usually drops back into third.

I don't think it's the cruising in OD that kills the tranny, but rather the frequent downshifts into third which are hard on the OD band. For instance, many people lose their OD after cruising on the highway in OD and then accelerating hard, causing the tranny to downshift into third. I choose to simply lock out the OD to avoid this shuffle back and forth which does wear down the OD band.

I don't know why Lentech designed the VB that way, but it works, and it's a quality piece of work. It's a fully automatic valve body with manual shifting capabilities, and that's just what I need.

--nathan