Question: At what weight do you have in the bed of the truck, that you need (or should) turn on the load/haul button for the transmission?

I put 2200 pounds in the bed [concrete @ 80 lbs per bag (26)]

and didn't even set truck down three inches.

But to be carefull, pushed the button from town to North Pole...

just wondering, cause the truck didn't even act like there was any weight or load on it....


Chris

 

oh and by the way the ride was still great..

Not like having a load on my ol 1/2 tons!

Chris

 

You're not even starting to stress the engine or transmission at that weight. The trucks are rated to tow up to 16k depending on options. Especially out there, if you were just going (I assume) from the HD over by Freddy's to NP, it's all so flat and easy that you have nothing to worry about.

That area up there is fantastic. I love visiting Eielson for work, especially because I can really get my fill of Pagoda.

 

I don't usually turn the Tow/Haul button on when pulling our 8k trailer. If I am on a hill and the engine is lugging I might force the transmission to shift down by turning it on.

My main use for the Tow/Haul button is for engine braking. If you turn it on when going downhill and the truck speeds up, or you press the brake, the transmission will shift down to control your speed, I believe it also locks the torque converter to increase braking.

The following is copied from the Tech Folder:

Tow-Haul description:

The Tow Haul mode does a few things to help when towing or hauling a heavy load:
1) The shifts occur at higher vehicle speeds (RPM's) for a given acelerator pedal position to improve aceleration, reduce excessive shifting and increase coast braking.
2) Torque converter lock up at lower vehicle speeds for a given acelerator pedal position to improve transmission cooling and efficiency.
3) Upshifts temporarily delayed while decreasing acelerator position during hill cresting to reduce excessive transmission shifting and to prepare for possible grade braking downshift.
4) It increase in line pressure for shifts
5) With tow/haul mode on, you average 100* cooler egt's when you are in the throttle running 3k rpms and 29lbs of boost.

 

I use tow haul more for braking in hilly highways than for the acceleration shift points, and I use it when I am towing over around 8K lbs. I like to coast down hills as much as possible, not using the vehicle or trailer brakes, so tow haul is a good compromise. Given the weight of my truck, that is a combined weight of 15K. I turn it off in city driving, and country road driving, where the shift points annoy me. Also, the light is a PITA at night.

Brian

 

Wow nice information. I knew about all of those except the last one. I did not know that about the EGTs. Does it basically just put out less power in order to lower the temps?

 

I copied the blue text from the Tech Folder so it's not my information. (Bismic)

However, if you want a guess, at higher RPM the engine would not be lugging down as much and might be getting less fuel per injection cycle and therefore lower EGTs.

 

Great info!

Thanks for all the answers.


Just new to this 1 ton truck.

And DON"T want to break it


Chris

 

Thanks for pulling that info up Dave, I use tow haul on down grades towing heavy trailers its like a jake brake with less noise, and also saves on heating up those brakes.