What Steve said in all his posts...
James... you aren't extinct and you'll get this figured out. lol What you'll figure out is what Steve said in the single digit posts ... you don't need the lower gears.
As you know I ran a ZF at 5.72, a 2.0 doubler and a 4.3 Atlas and 4.56 gears with 37"s for years. What Steve mentioned to me a LONG time ago was when I went auto was to try less gears. I setup my 4r with a Klune and Atlas. My TC came from a guy who told me YOU WILL NEVER STOP THIS THING WHEN IDLING in low, low gear. Well, he was right. I went HB immediately because my Bronco would just "Torque Up" and what a pain that was. Looked kinda cool when the LF corner lifted 5" tho. lol
Simple fix was QUIT using all the gears because that's why we have a TC, to modulate the "clutch" so to speak. Converter stall (like Steve said) won't help much unless it's so high that you are generating major heat.
I then went 3 yrs never engaging both low gear sets and realized that I never needed them both engaged at the same time in ANY situation.
So when I decided to go stoopid power for sand and super deep slushy snow I opted for a 3.0:1 Atlas (ProCase). It has just the right amount of low end gearing to allow you to idle up just about anything w/o increasing idle speed. I run my 464ci stroker at 700 rpm. Lopes like crazy and idles me up just about anything with the 4.17 first gear in the 6r (stock F150 converter) with 3.0 ProCase, 5.13 gears and 40"s. Perfect combo - least I think so- thanks Steve
Long winded answer for this: remove the doubler shifter for an entire trip. Problems solved.
You will not be revving up to 2K rpm to climb over some obstacle. Try it, it will blow ya away what the "modern day" torque converter will do for ya. Oh, HB helps a lot. Little bit of pedal and you are stopped. Also, you could/can lock in that TC in gear when dropping over an obstacle but I'm guessing the first couple times you will stall your' auto.
It seems wierd stalling your engine when running an auto but it can happen when locking that TC. You won't need to when you have the HB.
HB really allows you to modulate the TC for climbing and dropping off a cliff face. Like riding a trials bike- keep the rpm's a little higher so you wont' stall it, so you have more power but control your speed with the clutch engagement. I do the same with my HB. Keep the idle maybe at 1,000 rpm on a knarly spot and modulate my speed with the HB pedal. Several ways to do it.
You'll like it James. Like Steve said, you just don't need those lower gears with an auto like you do with a manual- just not needed. Steve posted a couple of the real benefits of NOT being so low geared also.
(HB helps tho).