Okay, here are my comments from my first driving/trip experience with a fully loaded trailer. My camera sucks, so the pics are few and stinky. I did a 700 mile one way trip to Road Atlanta with both my track bikes, bicycle and gear in the 6x12 enclosed trailer. I decided to turn the OD off. This truck rides sweet, and I mean sweet. She drunk gas like a drunk going crazy,and I attribute that to have the OD off, and sorry to say, but I was in the 80 to 90 mph range. It was that smooth. On the trip back, I will cut back my speed to about 65, and see how thirsty she is now.

BTW, at the Nesba trackday at Road Atlanta, there were many truck freaks there too. (grin) Sheesh, I had to regulate my time from talking to other F150 owners, and other truck owners and keeping my focused on the cold track!

Saturday, I didn't get to ride, because they were filled up, and it was ice on the tonnuae cover too. I got a pic of that..The same crazy writing that is on the back of my trailer is on the back of all my race suits too. (grin)

You all must realized that I am not dealing with a full deck on this side.. (grin) Dam, I love this truck..(smile)

Few pics, more when I get a better camera..
That fool you see kneeling in front of my truck is my crazy son.







BTW, the F150 pulls the trailer and all my bikes like it wasn't there!! And if I get a buck for all the waves I get from the old ladies, and young ladies too, and gents, when they see this old gray haired old nut driving this combo, I would be rich!! (smile)Everybody wants to wave, come up to see who is driving, I don't know what it is that draws their attention(smiling like mad), I guess that is one of the perks of being an F150 owner. (proudly smiling)

 

This how cold it was on Sat morning, this was ice on the cover too



My son wanting his 15 minutes of fame..

 

Nice setup.

I pulled a Kubota LA 481 tractor last weekend on a heavy tandem axle trailer. It had a front end loader and a bush hog on it. It was actually hanging about two feet of the back of the trailer. The truck did well, and had power to spare. I would say the entire trailer and tractor weighed right at 8,000lbs. I will say this, I would NOT have pulled my setup at 90 mph, but I felt comfortable with it back there.

 

I am not going to make a habit of the 90mph thing. That was my first trip, and this thing felt so daggone smooth, I didn't know I was doing 90 until I looked down! She was thristy at that speed too, real thirsty! Somebody told me that I might damage something going that fast, with the OD off. The engine was just spinning up around 3.5 rpms. The weight of my rig with all the gear don't exceed 2500 lbs.

Another track rider had a Lariet, and he was showing me his chip he had put in it to make it faster. Shucks, my bikes were jealous. Usually my Honda RC51 the bike you see me on in the picture gets all the attention. Not so that day, the F150 stole the show.
I am a happy camper...

 

So where is the trailer? lol. Just playin. You only need to lock out OD if the tranny is hunting in between 3rd and 4th and that usually happens in the 50-60 range. Otherwise your just spinnin your motor and gulpin gas.

Also from experience, 90 is not a good idea with a trailer. Panic stops or if that thing starts whippin can be trouble. Also being a single axle trailer, you would be SOL if you lost a tire.

Nice pics!

Adrianspeeder

 

Could you break that down a little plainer for me? You know this is my first truck, first automatice transmission,and first overdrive.

For example,if I am doing 65,70,75mph I can leave the OD on???

 

Nice rig! I love them chrome rims. I have seen that logo on the back of the trailer somewhere else too, maybe another forum?? Seems like it was being pulled by a mini van, maybe it was somewhere on this forum.

 

One and the same, the minivan(which my x girlfriend said was gay)blew its tranny. So, the F150 is the masta now.

 

I've found that with a load like that you have to run at 75 and up to keep it from shifting to 3rd too often on somewhat hilly terrain so I prefer to just go ahead and take out of OD so I can run around 65. OBW, mine will keep it's speed up with the cruise on until RPM's go thru the roof.

 

Sorry, no problem. I'll try to break it down.

Fourth gear in your tranny is overdrive. Nothin "magical" about it, just a discription of how in that gear the tranny output speed is faster than the input speed. Third gear is a directdrive where the input and output speeds are the same. First and second gears are underdrives where the output speeds are slower than the input speed from the engine.

Overdrive lets you go at highway speeds but with a lower engine speed to save fuel. This comes at a price of not having "grunt" to accelerate a trailer. You can notice with a load (or even without) and you nail the gas to accelerate while in OD, the tranny downshifts to thirdgear for more revs/power. Nothin really wrong with that except if the tranny keeps doing that shiftin in and out of OD constantly. This usually happens in the 45-60mph range or hilly terrain. Constant shifting or "hunting for gears" builds a lot of heat and heat is the number one killer of automatic trannys. That would be the time to lock out OD.

Some say to lock out OD whenever towing. This is true for the older AODs, but for the 4R70w, E4OD, 4R100, and 4R75E, they can pull fine all day locked in overdrive.

Hope that helps,
Adrianspeeder

 

Looking good It would look cool if you could put some matching rims on your trailer, or maybe even just chrome one's.

 

Okay, I think I am catching on with this OD On/off stuff. If I have the OD on, and with this load, I need to keep my speed up to 75+ to keep it from shifting back. Anything lower than 75mph, with the OD on, the tranny is going to hunt for 3rd. Got that down.. Now,if I am going to cruise at about 65, turn the OD off... I am doing the latter on the way back.

You all with have to excuse me, because I am one slow learner. Plus, it is hard for me to see, and my hearing and thinking is going to pot too. However, after going over things, over and over again, finally it will sink in my thick skull.

Thanks much

 

That's coming...

 

Why can't I see the pics?

Edit: Nevermind, now they are showing up.

 

why did your son take that prison stance photo?