Hey guys...I'm leaving on a hunting trip this afternoon and I'm going to be pulling my enclosed trailer with my truck for the first time. I have a 2010 with a 5.4L...my trailer is a 6X10 that is loaded with goose decoys and hunting gear. There really isn't much weight in the trailer. My question is...do you guys run your truck with the tow/haul engaged even when you are pulling a light load? Just looking for a some advice...thanks!

 

The trailer aero drag will be worse than the weight. If you're not driving into a head-wind and/or you're not doing 80 MPH, it probably won't matter if T/H is on or not.

Personally, I'd turn it on. It doesn't hurt anything - just changes the shifting pattern. Check out the OM, page 295 or 290 (depending on which edition you have).

 

Thanks shotgunz...I looked at the OM, but it really didn't say anything about running the tow/haul with light or heavy trailers. I had been pulling my trailer with a Ranger that had a 4.0L 6cyl and I had to switch the OD off to have enough power to pull the trailer, but it really killed my MPG.

 

The new T/H mode doesn't disable any gears, so your mileage wont suffer much.

 

I pulled my enclosed trailer for 3 hours empty, gas mileage didn't change much regarding switch position but the behavior was more favorable with T/H on. Your gas mileage will be driven by your speed ie @65 mph I had 12 mpg but @77 mph I had 8 mpg.

 

When towing, always use the tow/haul. Otherwise in time your torque converter will fail.

 

With my 2010 lariat screw.
I drove 800 miles with a 1400 total weight trailer. 700 lb 5x10 open trailer with a 700 lb motorcycle. Traveling on flat Texas terrain for 500 miles, and then 300 miles in the NM mountains.
My experience is on flat ground I drove in normal mode, I did not know the trailer was there. When in the New Mexico mountains it was more convenient to use t/h mode mostly because on downhill runs, the tranny slows the vehicle down substantially. It will rev the engine at 1.5-4k rpm downhill depending on speed, which is really convenient so you are not always hitting the brake. It will spoil you.
In normal mode the tranny will also slow you down on hills but at much less drag.
So, you will 'get a feel' for when using t/h mode depending on the terrain. In all cases the tranny temperature guage never moved off 'normal'. I got abput 14.5 mpg all around with this load.
Hope this helps
Ferd

 

I'm pulling a Travel Trailer that weights about 6500 lbs loaded. My 2010 Platinum has 3.31 gears in it, and I'm not happy. I have about 9,200 miles on it, and I'm getting 6 MPG with E-85, and about 8 MPG with regular 87 octane. Does the milage get any better? And why would they put 3.31 on a Platinum anyway??

 

Towing anything at almost any weight? I think he was getting at around what weight or stress should T/H mode be used.

Do you think i should always use my T/H mode when i tow my single jet ski trailer? Truck dosnt know its there to begin with.