My 2004 F150 with auto tranny will not produce enough torque to pull the truck and trailer away from a stop in 1st gear. Shifting into Drive corrects the problem. My dealer tells me that is the way this new electronicly controlled tranny is supposed to work. Unlike older transmissions, one must select Drive to pull away from a stop. They tell me that 1st is used ONLY for engine braking. The say the "coasting clutch" in the tranny is engaged thereby restricting RPM's and not developing enough torque to use 1st for towing.
Do I have to relearn how to drive or are they feeding me a line of bull?

 

So are you saying that the truck litterally won't move if you put it in "1" and step on the gas??? If that's the case, then there's definately a problem. Either (1) the trailer is WAAAAAAY too heavy (ie. 15,000lbs, but even then I think it would 'move') or (2) there is a mechanical problem.

Now if you're just saying that the engine just feels "weak" when you put it in "1", then yes, that is 'normal'. There have been sevaral threads on the fly-by-wire (electronic throttle control) that the new f150's have. It was designed so that "1" is used in those conditions when you need extra traction & control, such as driving in sand, mud, snow, etc. The power range in 1 is much different than 'D'. Some have even suggested that it cuts the power in half (if 'D' offers 0%-100% of power, then '1' offers 0%-50% power). Whether or not that 50% stuff is true, I have no idea. But I do know that '1' behaves much differently than it did in the pre-ETC f150's... Hope that helps.

 

Thanks for your input. Your second paragraph describes my situation perfectly. You also confirmed what my dealer told me. If what you say is true, then my tranny is acting correctly and I'll just have to learn to shift back into "D" before pulling away from a stop. Never had to do that with previous transmissions!

 

I pull A fifth wheel camper with my 04 5.4, I put it into drive and leave it there, there is no need to manually shift a automatic trans when pulling, even on hills if the trailer is that heavy than you should have trailer breaks, even with my 90 f250 c-6 I don't feel the need to manually shift they tranny. Just keep it out of OD when the trailer is heavier.