Won't move with heavy load

[Sueco]

This isn't about my own truck luckily. But I'm still curious...

I've been helping my neighbour now for a few days to haul some loads of rocks.
He's building a wall out of natural rocks.

So, we've been using a friend of his 1500 Silverado. Though, we've noticed it's become less happy to climb the hill up to his house. Today the last load it refused to move uphill with cargo.

What did we break? Engine still running and trying but the truck's not moving. Clutch burnt? Without cargo it runs like normal.

Haven't been able to check the oil in the trans yet. There's few flat spots in this area...

It's a mid to late nineties Silverado. Not sure.

Thanks!
Roger

 

[350runner]

Did you tow in overdrive? Does the trans have as separate cooler? Just a few good questions

Sent from the dust in front of you!

 

[Sueco]

Did you tow in overdrive? Does the trans have as separate cooler? Just a few good questions

Sent from the dust in front of you!

We were driving at walking speed, put it in Low. It's pretty steep, almost too steep to walk. I don't know if it has a separate cooler. My bet is no.

 

[bucket]

Pull the dipstick and smell the fluid?

 

[350runner]

X2 on the fluid. Darn. Maybe simple like a tq converter

Sent from the dust in front of you!

 

[Sueco]

Will check the level, color and smell at first opportunity

 

[chengny]

Maybe the most important question - when the accelerator is depressed (and the truck does not move) does engine RPM increase or does the engine bog down and feel like it is about to stall?

In other words is there slippage within the transmisson or does it stay locked up?

 

[Sueco]

It sounds like its pulling heavy, but it's not moving. But rpm aren't increasing, neither does it stall. Just a heavily working engine.

 

[chengny]

If the engine speed doesn't run up (while the truck is not moving) that's good news. The transmission is not slipping. The torque converter is absorbing all the force of the engine as it tries to drive the transmission. That is part of it's design.

Imagine pressing down heavy on the brakes while you rev the engine. The truck won't move and RPM is somewhat restricted, but the engine doesn't stall - the T/C is acting as a viscous coupling and taking all the abuse.

Having an extremely heavy cargo load in the bed (and attempting to make the truck climb a steep hill) is effectively the same as applying the brakes and revving the motor.

 

[Sueco]

So we're 'only' overloaded the truck then? Each cargo ofcourse might've varied in weight. No way to tell just by eye. We'll check the oil and be more careful with load next time.