Towing Gears - Best Practice

[6S1284]

I traded in my 2008 EL for a 2020 MAX. The owners manual in the 2008 with the six speed tranny said take the tranny out of Over drive when towing more than 6000 lbs. (or thereabouts),
I have read nothing about that in my new owners manual.

Also, what's up with the drive 1000 miles before towing specification (recommendation?)

Any advice would be appreciated ...

Thanks !

 

[lobsenza]

A recommendation against towing is typical for new vehicles for the first 1000 miles break in. The tow haul mode keeps the vehicle in a lower gear longer when towing. I would see how it tows when allowed to shift into 10th gear. If it tows well, I would allow it to shift automatically, otherwise you can block 9th or 10th gear. It may depend on whether you are on flat terrain or hilly terrain.

 

[Fozzy]

The 1K tow restriction has always seemed odd to me. You can buy a one ton fleet vehicle. Load it up with 2000 lbs of tools and equipment then hook it to a trailer with a backhoe on it and go to work. We have over 80 one tons to F550/4500’s that have gone to work the first day. We never see early brake, engine or ring and pinion failure. No oil burning or any problems due to going straight to work. I have personally towed with every new vehicle I have ever owned within the first 100 miles. Including my Expy with no adverse effects. The only reasons I can see it they want you to get use to how the vehicle drives before you hook up a trailer. Or rack up some miles before you realize you bought the wrong vehicle and cant take it back.


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[byathread]

I agree with @Fozzy here on the 1K miles point. Doesn't make any sense, can't see a compelling reason for it aside from the points he mentioned.

I've done ~8K miles with the camper now and I just let the 10 speed decide what is best/use tow mode for best trans and suspension performance. I've run a few times with 9th or 8th as the highest allowed gear and it doesn't make a difference to me. At highway speeds with that wall of air behind you the 10 speed and this engine pull a 7K# camper great/trans stays in what gear is needed and the turbos are pretty much always whistling away. If you're in 10th it'll downshift to eighth, if you're in 9th, downshifts to 7th and turbos do their thing nicely. With either flavor of cruise on, I do find I'm quick to cancel and take over with my foot based on what is going on with traffic. I wish I could disable brakes coming on at all due to over speed set point, but, really that is a minor annoyance that I'm used to at this point and just mitigate by applying a little accelerator or canceling cruise based on situation.
No tune/bone stock so far, YMMV...

 

[6S1284]

Very helpful feedback gents - thank you!

I agree with @Fozzy here on the 1K miles point. Doesn't make any sense, can't see a compelling reason for it aside from the points he mentioned.

I've done ~8K miles with the camper now and I just let the 10 speed decide what is best/use tow mode for best trans and suspension performance. I've run a few times with 9th or 8th as the highest allowed gear and it doesn't make a difference to me. At highway speeds with that wall of air behind you the 10 speed and this engine pull a 7K# camper great/trans stays in what gear is needed and the turbos are pretty much always whistling away. If you're in 10th it'll downshift to eighth, if you're in 9th, downshifts to 7th and turbos do their thing nicely. With either flavor of cruise on, I do find I'm quick to cancel and take over with my foot based on what is going on with traffic. I wish I could disable brakes coming on at all due to over speed set point, but, really that is a minor annoyance that I'm used to at this point and just mitigate by applying a little accelerator or canceling cruise based on situation.
No tune/bone stock so far, YMMV...

 

[DCS_express]

We tow a 6000lb boat and trailer and don't do anything special other than put it in tow drive mode (I can't remember if that happens automatically when it senses the trailer is attached or not). Mileage is pretty bad at 12-13 mpg but I let the transmission do it's thing. I do have it in tow mode though which may hold gears longer, but the most noticeable thing to me is when slowing/braking it downshifts to help slow you down. Doing 75mph on a flat Florida highway it stays in 8 or 9 and rarely makes it to 10 anyways. I have heard that hunting for a gear is the issue when towing and I haven't noticed that it is up and down gears constantly. However, with 10 speeds gear changes are much less noticeable than they used to be.

My salesperson told me that the 1000 mile break in was to give the turbos time to break in and I have no idea if that is legitimate or not. I will say as @byathread said that the turbos are typically running pretty constantly.

 

[Randy_270]

I started towing before 300 miles with mine, just over 25k now and no after effects. I’m not a person to just put the truck in tow/haul and let it do it’s thing. I watch gauges and find where the truck runs the best. For me, I find running in 7th is best for fuel economy with mine while towing at about 62-68mph depending on the trailer tire speed rating.

 

[Dice Roll]

I found it felt more stable in tow mode, like it messes with the ccd to compensate. It only hit 9th once on a downhill and I never thought it found the wrong gear for the situations.

 

[byathread]

I started towing before 300 miles with mine, just over 25k now and no after effects. I’m not a person to just put the truck in tow/haul and let it do it’s thing. I watch gauges and find where the truck runs the best. For me, I find running in 7th is best for fuel economy with mine while towing at about 62-68mph depending on the trailer tire speed rating.

Tried this 7th gear thing on my way back from FL dragging the camper for one tank of fuel. I run about 5-10% over speed limit tops on these longer trips and wasn't a fan of how in ran locked out of the overdrive gears in 7th. I get 7.2-8 mpg when dragging it and wind/traffic conditions matter much more than anything else in my experience. Found a sweet spot when I'm running at 72/73 instead of 75, when there is too much busyness between 7-10 shifts up and down, I found 8th and cruise on will walk pretty much all the slight grades coming up I-95, still ~7.5 mpg average. That being said, I'll just keep messing with it. Our trip to MT/WY/CO last summer I found that leaving the 10 speed alone was best with the longer/steeper grades. I never noticed the engine temp popping up in the hot temps out there when towing. I grabbed a video of it cause I never saw it before:

 

[Wayne Decker]

We tow a 6000lb boat and trailer and don't do anything special other than put it in tow drive mode (I can't remember if that happens automatically when it senses the trailer is attached or not). .

I tow a 6600lb Airstream and use tow mode. I think it handles engine braking and shift points very well. It doesn't go into tow mode automatically. For me that's ok because I also tow a very light trailer as well. But I wish that once you put it in tow mode it stayed there upon restarts as long as the trailer is still plugged in. It's a nuisance to have to engage it all the time.