Hi.

I have never towed anything long distance in my life. The sum of my towing knowledge is that you need to shift down on steep grades (and that is about all I know about towing)...so I'd appreciate some advice as I will be doing a lot of towing long distance in the next couple months.

For starters, I have a 1998 E Bauer. I will be towing a 5X8 trailer with a total loaded weight of 3,500 pounds. The trips will be from Texas to Philly, and from Texas to San Francisco.

What are the do's and dont's??

Is driving in Overdrive the entire distance OK?

Also, I noticed that when I first brought the trailer home (fully loaded), whenever I'd hit a moderate hill, halfway up the hill the engine would shift and the RPM would go up to 2700-3000. It would stay like that for 60 seconds or so until I got to the top of the hill. Is it safe to get over the hill in this fashion? Or should I down shift?

And here is the really naive question.........can I shift on the fly?

Any other tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

For the most part, you should be able to drive in OD. I don't know about your model year, by my '00 has the OD button at the end of the column shift lever. If I'm encountering a grade that I feel is too steep for the OD, I'll punch the OD button which downshifts the tranny, then punch it again at the top of the grade to return to OD. Doing this will keep the tranny from down/up shifting too frequently. If are in an area with continuously rolling hills/mountains, it might behoove you to just leave the tranny in 3rd (drive). Shifting on the fly between drive and OD is quite OK.

 

If you go to "search" and type in "towing" you will find alot of discussion on the topic. I started one at topic #759 if interested. When towing, I've settled on generally keeping the overdrive enabled on the interstate and disabling it when not on the interstate. I'm only pulling about 2000 lbs or so (camper). Lord knows it's a good topic to discuss. Trannys aren't cheap in Expeditions. I have my transmission fluid flushed and replaced every 30,000 miles. It's cheap insurance.

Hope that helps,
Steve

 

Trannys aren't cheap in Expeditions. I have my
>transmission fluid flushed and replaced every 30,000 miles.
>It's cheap insurance.
>
>Hope that helps,
>Steve


I agree with steve on this point however I am willing to forgo a little worse fuel economy and chose to turn my overdrive off when towing (unless under very light load on flat Interstate highy at or near sea level)

 

I agree with the enabling OD during flat interstate driving. For example, we leave tomorrow towing the camper from WI to NC. I suspect I will have the OD enabled traveling north to south through Indiana (what a boring state). Once I get close to the Smokeys I will disable the OD. One thing is for sure, there is nothing like towing with a full size SUV compared to a smaller. I had a Blazer previous to this truck and lost the tranny while towing at 110,000 miles, even though I had the OD disengaged.

Steve