I tow in OD and with cruise on. Then again, I have a manual trans. When the speed drops, I kick the cruise off and downshift. On level ground in OD at 60 mph I get 17 mpg towing 3000#.

Lubrication isn't the issue (otherwise, you should never use OD), it's heat. I watch my temps, and as long as the TC is locked, it's exactly the same.

Been like this for 95,000 miles now without a problem <knock on wood :D>....

one point
 

Maybe i have just had good luck, but ive had my 99' F150 4x4 5.4 with 6" lift and 35's since it had 45,000 miles. I demolition derby, and have an 1800lb trailor with a usual 5k lb car. I tow with over drive in cruise control, i only turn OD off when i feel like its about to struggle getting up a hill, then turn it back on down the hill. I have put over 75,000 miles on this truck with half of them being towing miles. Now maybe my truck is just special, but it has never given me one problem, except for a few snapped lug studs. Knock on wood! SO i'd say get to know your truck and trust that what you have is a good truck. :thumbsup:

he is slightly right, the lack of lube does cause more heat. Me and the girl found that out one time... ;)

Ok yall, I am not a mechanical person so can someone please explain to me why towing with OD off is better.

When I am just driving down the road at 65 mph with OD on I am running at 1800 RPMs. When I turn off the OD it runs at 2500 RPMs. To me this means with OD off my truck is working harder, which to me would not be what you would want.

How can running at a higher RPM be better?

I think this thread pretty much covered that, no? I think this thread was split on those that say it's better and those that say it doesn't matter if your truck is capable.

Also, rpm's is not the only measure of how hard your motor is working. It's probably not even half. The load on the motor is a bigger factor. If you're cruisin down the freeway with no trailer or no payload, then the rpm's up high is not that big a deal since there's not that much load. On the other hand, load on a motor with rpm's too low can actually be worse than the opposite.

Running at a higher rpm puts the motor in more 'useable' area power wise. You want the rpm's in a range where it's producing the best power for a given weight/load, thus the motor is actually not working harder. Does that make sense?

When towing or hauling a big load, you get the most efficiency with the rpm's close to the engine's torque peak. I think the only engine in Ford trucks that really loves to lug is the old 4.9 I6.

It's simply a matter of power. In OD you are only producing so much HP/TQ at 1800 rpms. When you add a heavy 'brick' to the equation, you not only have to haul that extra weight, but pull it thru the air. The HP/TQ you are producing at 1800 rpms are not going to be enough to do the job.

If you were to stand driving long enough in third gear, hauling nothing, you would probably find that you don't get that much less mpg then in OD (maybe an mpg or two).... Even with the tach at some 2800 rpms.. Like Galaxy said, it's all about the LOAD that's being placed on the drivetrain.

What happens when you have a LOAD on your engine and it's turning at a low rpm, is that you will have to press the gas pedal deeper to maintain your speed. Assuming the TPS does not trigger a downshift, all you are doing by pressing your gas pedal more is dumping more fuel into the cylinders in order to make more power at that given rpm.

When you are in OD and hit a pretty good size grade (running empty BTW), what do you have to do to maintain your speed? Press the gas pedal more I'll bet....;) Same thing when hauling a 'brick' thru the air on level ground.

In my case, I can be towing my TT on a level road in third going 60 mpg and pulling around 2300 rpms. It'll go into OD, but the rpms drop to around 1300, but then I have to press the gas pedal more to maintain the same 60 mph... That's why I get 10 mpg when towing if I'm in third or OD... So, an engine is actually 'working' less at a higher rpm under LOAD then it is at a lower rpm.

It's the same as riding an old 10 speed bike.... Put that bike in 10th gear and you don't pedal as much (lower rpms).. Increase your LOAD and the first thing you want to do is downshift to say 5th gear (higher rpms).. Makes a big difference in how your legs feel, right?? ;)

Mitch

Galaxy, GLC, Mitch

Thank you, that was what I was looking for. Like I said, I am unfortunately not much of a mechanic type of guy and it wasn't adding up for me. But I understand now. Thank you very much.

Let me buy yall a beer. :beers: :beers: :beers:

Atually, the point is that if you tow with overdrive on the torque converter will constanly be kickin in and out and this quickly raises tranny temps. High tranny temps lead to tranny failure.

This is the reason why I tow with OD off. Has nothing to do with power. If I wasn't concerned about tranny temp I would leave it in overdrive. When more power is needed the tranny would just downshift to give it to me.

No problem dude...any time! That's what it's all about.

What if your towing less than 1500lbs. Let's say your towing about 330lbs. in the bed of the truck and a 290lb trailer with a 430lb atv on it. That's about 1050lbs. Would you still tow with o/d off?

What you tow is completely irrelevant. It's what your truck will do that matters. If your truck will pull that load and stay in O/D with the torque converter locked, then tow in O/D all day. If the tranny will not comply with those requirements, then turn it off. The key to all of this is keeping the converter locked...IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT GEAR YOU DO IT IN, and IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT YOU ARE PULLING. If you are towing a 15,000 lb race car trailer and the tranny will stay in O/D AND the torqe converter will stay locked, then tow in O/D. The engine is going to do what it needs to do.

Yes to everything Galaxy said. The point is you don't want the tranny temps going up. So, simplest thing to do is get a guage that can read tranny temps. Try driving in overdrive. If you feel the torque converter engaging and unengaging a lot and you see temps going up then lock the tranny out of OD. If you aren't seeing temps go up then don't worry about it.

I towed 2k miles a couple weeks ago pulling ~4k. It was a car on an open trailer. I left it in OD and never saw tranny temps over 171. It was relatively cool though. Point is, because I have the guage I always know what I can/can't safely do.

Robert or anyone else,

Do you have a full list of stats that Scan Gauge can read? I have an 2001 F150 that I tow with so its aweome that the tranny temp is in there (I'm quite surprised as I didnt think there was a tranny temp sensor in the tranny), but what other gauges can it read? The website doesn't list the extra stuff..I presume that's because its model dependent?

Actually on second thought, perhaps the first question to ask is, how do I find out what sensors are available in an 01? Perhaps the tranny temp isn't in there...

thanks!
:wave: