Drive 2 and Drive 1

JeepBeat · **Posted:** Thu Sep 04, 2008 4:57 pm

Hello,

I have a 2002 Liberty Limited with automatic tranny. I have been told it is OK to downshift into Drive 2 when slowing down or trying to brake going down grades/hills. Is this OK to do, and not harming the transmission? What about Drive 1, I assume you can use this to slow the vehicle via the engine when going quite slow?? Can somebody give me the scoop when and when it is not OK to use Drive 2 and 1 to assist in slowing the vehicle and to help save a bit of wear and tear on the brakes? Thanks!!

SoDakJeep · **Posted:** Thu Sep 04, 2008 5:18 pm

those #'s represent what gear the tranny will try to be in. It won't hurt anything as I believe everything is cpu controlled and it won't shift unless it can tell you are going slow enough to downshift. I know on my old chevy cavailer I could be doing hwy speeds and throw it into 1st on the selector but it would only downshift to 1st once I had reached a much slower speed.

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Thu Sep 04, 2008 6:15 pm

Just use the brakes. They are much easier and cheaper to replace than the tranny.

Doing that a lot will cause un-needed wear and tear.

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Thu Sep 04, 2008 6:24 pm

Jeepjeepster wrote:

Just use the brakes. They are much easier and cheaper to replace than the tranny.

Doing that a lot will cause un-needed wear and tear.

No it will not,if you overheat your brakes on long/steep downhill grades then you risk death.

PoorMtnKid · **Posted:** Thu Sep 04, 2008 6:30 pm

I would not use them on a flat road. but when i come down the hill from my ski trips I always use those gears. Helps not warp your breaks from getting them too hot from the downhill momentum.

DryBones · **Posted:** Thu Sep 04, 2008 6:43 pm

One of the prerequisites of driving up and down Mt.Washington in New Hampshire is that you must be able to lock your automatic transmission in 1st gear for the descent. I guess they just don't trust brakes alone for that trip. :shock:

omGoddard · **Posted:** Thu Sep 04, 2008 8:05 pm

Its safe to do, I do it when going down hills to help brake... plus it makes the exhaust rumble a lil bit

BUT, be careful when dropping into first. If you're going to fast (sometimes the CPU will stilll let you) It will cause the vehicle's rear wheels to lurch, esp if its wet out, tires will break loose!

Powdrdaze · **Posted:** Fri Sep 05, 2008 3:26 am

Living WAAAY up in the mountains, I pop out of o/d and use 2nd gear a lot. also much safer when using your breaks to slow down in the snow and ice.

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Fri Sep 05, 2008 8:38 am

tjkj2002 wrote:

Jeepjeepster wrote:

Just use the brakes. They are much easier and cheaper to replace than the tranny.

Doing that a lot will cause un-needed wear and tear.

No it will not,if you overheat your brakes on long/steep downhill grades then you risk death.

So youre saying downshifting the tranny all the time while driving down the hw wont cause more wear and tear on the tranny?????

sleeve84028 · **Posted:** Fri Sep 05, 2008 9:14 am

As long as the transmission stay's in say 2nd gear, there will not be any increased wear on items. Some parts will be spinning faster but that impact is negligible when compared to brakes that are so faded (overheated) that you can not slow down and are actually increasing in speed even with the brakes applied.

Engine braking is a normal proceedure.

Powdrdaze · **Posted:** Fri Sep 05, 2008 5:09 pm

If you are doing 80 down th interstate it's not real good to downshift into 2nd. What we are saying is that going downhill at fifty it is more effective and safer to drop out of o/d or downshift into 2nd and use your engine to maintain speed rather than riding the brakes, over heating them and blowing them out all together. If you are slowing down on the flat interstate it's not going to hurt your transmission if you use the brakes to slow down to 45 or so and then down shift using the engine/transmission to maintain a speed or continue to slow down. there are different applications.

over all use common sense. (if only it were more common) :roll:

Drive 2 and Drive 1

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