When towing 4000lb boat do I tow in overdrive or with it off? My 2001 Supercrew 5.4 3.55 limited slip runs VERY HIGH rpms in drive at 70mph. Then turn overdrive on again the Rs drop like a rock.(Have no towed anything yet) Thanks for help.

 

So long as your not in the hills, you can leave the overdrive on, but it's best not to! The transmission will try to get into overdrive as fast as it can, and then it won't let go of it once it's there. This will adversly affect your performance when your trying to pass another vehicle, or climb any hills. I tow a 3000lb pop-up and all the firewood I can load up, and I turn my overdrive off when I'm towing. Belive it or not, I don't really lose much on the mileage, these motors aren't gas champs anyway!! Driving with the overdrive off only affects your mileage.

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2001 Screw XLT
Oxford White, 5.4L,
Towing, Posi, Slider
Power seat, keyless
bedliner, Ford tonneau

 

Thanks Alot, Had to put truck in shop, to get something fixed. Cant wait to pull something. Does your camper/wood make the rps really high when towing? I have 100 miles on mine what is your milage with/without load.

 

I tow over 6,000 lbs. The procedure I use to determine if the tranny should be in overdrive or locked out is this:

On flat land, I leave the OD on so long as the truck doesn't seem to be straining. On hills, you will notice that you have to press more and more on the gas. If the truck isn't accelerating, that's reason enough to turn OD off. I leave it off until I'm over the hump.

Staying in OD doesn't hurt the tranny. It does hurt it, however, if the transmission is constantly going in and out of OD.

As far as gas mileage goes, I think it just depends on how far down you press that gas pedal. If you press it further down in OD, than you would with OD off, then you're burning more gas. Turn OD off and you'll get better mileage. If you can maintain the same speed with OD on and not press down on the pedal any more than with OD off, leave the OD on.

 

Goochy,

I'm not really sure what the exact milage is only when I'm towing, because I just lump all of the figures together. But I can tell you that my milage runs between 14-15mpg for my 4x2 with the 5.4L and the 3.55 diff., doing mostly city driving. When I'm going camping, I'm traveling the freeways for anywhere from 1 - 3 hours. And then I'm on plenty of 2 lane hilly Pennsylvania roads. The amount of miles per tank on these trips coincides with the amount of miles I would normally get out of a tank of fuel anyway. And this is summer driving, up and down large hills, OD off and the A/C on!! The RPM's run right around 2800- 3000 at 70mph. Realistically, with the camper on the back, thats all the faster I'm going to travel. Good luck on your towing, and enjoy your new truck!!!!

Now repeat after me... "COME ON SUMMER!!!"

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2001 Screw XLT
Oxford White, 5.4L,
Towing, Posi, Slider
Power seat, keyless
bedliner, Ford tonneau

 

Thanks love the truck, I have a Mastercraft ski rig for summer, and a dirt bike ,race 4 wheeler when it cools off. On the weekends I'm always in tow. Custom open 14ft trailer with boxes, extra wheels for quad,air tank,and lots of other heavy stuff. Ready for tow next weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!