I have a 2014 F150 w/Ecoboost, MaxTow, and HD package pulling a 6500# wet travel trailer. I've pulled it for a year in Florida and Alabama but no mountain towing yet; so far, towing has been great. I'm planning a trip to Colorado and Utah this summer and have a question. Do most of you put it in tow-haul mode and go on your merry way going up and down steep grades or use the manual shift? I've never used the manual shift so don't know how it works in actual practice. I'm not so much worried about uphill but downhill with curves. Thanks.

 

I will follow along with this. I am seeing so many folks now towing with 1/2 tons, I suspect the Ecobooost will change the way we think about trucks and towing. I am also seeing plenty of folks towing with GM's half tons.

Steve

 

Tow haul and drive. You can use the manual shift if you want, but I find it clumsy.

 

I would use tow haul and then on the downhills move to manual mode and downshift to save your brakes.

It will do fine with the weight that you are towing with.

 

A MaxTow EB....just use the tow/haul and enjoy. Your truck will do great with that 6500# load. I have played around with the manual mode when towing with my last EB, but really found that most all of the time the tow/haul mode worked great. The time for manual select for me was on snow/ice roads to control my rpms down the hill. You have an awesome truck set up to tow!

 

Thanks guys!!

 

Yea I have a 15 max tow and the cool thing about it is when you use tow haul it essentially has a transmission break. So you don't have to worry about manual shifting on down hills to save your breaks. It's actually pretty aggressive. I came out of a 6.7 diesel and it was actually more aggressive at stop lights then the 6.7 in towhaul with a jake brake.

 

Going up the mountain tow/haul doesn't do much. Going down it does put you in lower gears faster & keeps you there longer which is nice. In hilly areas tow/haul can get annoying with the shifting. In those situations I like normal mode & lock out the gears I don't want.

 

There's all kinds of opinions regarding tow/haul.
But that's why it's called just that. It shifts quicker, works as a brake for downhills, and most important...according to the owners manual, keeps the transmission cooler.
Pretty important points.
Ford wouldn't create a towing mode unless they felt the importance and value.

 

The F150 has a transmission temperature gauge which I watch closely. In the hilly areas my transmission runs cooler when I lock out 6th gear.

 

Exactly. The big thing with TH mode is that the transmission does a better job of keeping the torque converter locked; thereby reducing trans temp.

If you are on a hilly 2 lane road with a 55mph limit, lock out 6th.

 

I leave mine in tow haul and lock out the upper gears as desired. Most of the time I lock out 6th only. On a real steep grade I lock out 5th and 6th both up and down.

 

I lock out 4th sometimes :-)

 

Pulled 7500# travel trailer with a 2013 f150 3.5 eb in tow haul from oregon to california and back this month
Return trip over the siskiyous at 88 degrees F ambient temp
it overheated and reduced power
Had to reduce speed to 45, turn on the heater and that moved the temp gage just enough below the redline to continue
That is a long hard pull and i chalked it up to pushing too hard up the hill (60 mph)
I have made that trip before with no problems but ambient was about 40 degrees F.
I also limit the transmission to 3rd or 4th on the downhill grade. It handles that well.
Power has never been an issue
I am concerned about the overheating as i am well under the trucks rated tow
Capacity as its built.
On the next two grades i backed off the throttle and turned the heater on as soon as i noticed the gage heading past the halfway point.
Not much on the forums about overheating while towing with the 3.5EB
Truck is in great shape and radiator is clean.