Hello all,

I have 02, 7.3 Ex and just recently purchased a few toys that will need to be trailer-ed around. Towing a 12x6 trailer with about 3000 lbs on it, do I have to run the transmission with overdrive off or can I leave it on and switch off on hills? My other trucks had a tow button so I am a little lost.

 

Run it in overdrive, your Ex won't know that thing is back there.

 

I'm towing my camper for the first time with my new X. The camper weighs around 4,500 - 5,000 lbs. Should I use overdrive for that much weight? I used to pull with my Dodge Dakota and rarely used overdrive. I was told that's a good way to burn up a transmission. I did run overdrive on some flat roads while heading to the beach but with very little incline it would downshift so I just always ran with it off. Plus it had more power to pull when not in overdrive. I don't want to hurt anything on the X but I have a feeling it would be ok to tow in overdrive as long as it's not hunting for a gear.

 

As long as its not hunting overdrive is fine. My granny seemsto run about 30 degrees cooler in OD

 

Tell us a little about your Ex.

A Dodge tranny and Excursions are different beasts, the Ex is a heavier truck made for pulling. I pulled my flat car trailer loaded about 5500 lbs many thousands of miles with my Durango (5.9L) with OD off because it strained, my Ex pulls the thing like it is not even there. When my Dodge dropped it's tranny I was pulling the open trailer with a Pathfinder on it, the front pump went out and left me sitting.

When I am pulling my 8,000 lb car hauler with the Ex I kick the OD off in the mountains and keep the OD on otherwise, in the mountains I also use the tow/haul mode. You are right, when the truck starts to hunt for a gear, take it out of OD and when the terrain changes, put it back in.

 

I pull this with OD on until I come up to continuous hills where the trans starts kicking down a gear on every hill, then I take if off.

 

You can tow that with OD on. As others have mentioned, if it starts to downshift on hills, turn OD off. That constant shifting is what heats of the transmission quickly.

I would look into getting a 6.0 trans cooler mod with your 7.3L. Also, get an aftermarket trans temp gauge.

 

The X has the V10 with 3.73 LS rear. I pulled the camper around town to see how it would do and I was blown away. I've heard people say "it's like it's not ever back there" and I'm here to tell you that is the best description of the tow that I can give. I have a Seadoo I pull and pulling the camper behind the X was like pulling the Seadoo behind the Dakota. The power felt the same with or without the camper and braking and control was completely unaffected. I've heard many people say I would not believe the difference in towing with a large truck but I didn't think it would be this good. I say all of this because my intuition tells me if it pulls this good then I would be ok using overdrive but again I don't want to tear anything up. I know one tow using overdrive probably won't hurt anything but I plan to keep this thing for a while and like my Dakota I want to take care of it.

Thanks for the replies. I know I'm not the one who started this thread but hopefully this will help the original poster answer this question as well.

 

I don't ever want to find that out about my Granny!

Sorry Joe but I couldn't resist!

 

I too was blown away the first time I towed with my Ex, it is a great feeling. My Durango pulls the small utility trailer now and the Ex handle the bigger stuff.

 

Yes, thanks all for your responcses. Like I said, I am use to that tow button that makes it easy.

It didnt feal like the Ex was struggleing while in OD but figured I was ask to be safe.

 

Lol I guess I need to stop using my smart phone or start proof reading before I send something

 

To be honest, I tow in normal "OD" all the time, flat or hills or even mountains. I think the Torqshift 5 speed tranny can handle this. I don't know about other transmissions, but the Torqshift behind a 6.0L allows you to set and forget. I even use cruise except on the steepest of hills.

This may be wrong, but I've towed heavy with 2 Excursions (both 6.0L) for at least 60,000 miles without a single transmission issue.

 

My experience with the Ford trucks is that when they first started putting OD on the light trucks it was an issue (which is why the caution persists to this day) but not on anything made in the last 15+ years. As others have said if it is a light trailer, say under 5000 lbs, and gentle terrain you generally don't even notice a difference with the transmission shifting pattern.

Also as was mentioned the vehicle will tell you when there's a problem. If you notice it changing gears then drop down one. If it isn't then you are fine.

Repeating again from an earlier post it isn't the strain that is a problem. After all ultimately the same amount of power is being applied through the transmission regardless of the gear. It is the wear and heat on the bands from constantly changing gears that burns it up.

 

We just returned from a 2000 mile Yellowstone trip pulling a 31ft travel trailer. I used OD for most of the trip with the exception of the big hills. No problems, I don't think the EX knew anything was back there!!