Not to be an a$$ but I am curious what your reasoning for that statement is. The computer knows best how to run the truck IMO and I set it at abt 62mph and go, they will even try and maintain speed downhill by down shifting when needed. At least mine have always worked that way, even my Dodges did that. That and the fact these trucks so easily haul that before you know it they have easily exceeded the 65mph safe limit for the trailer tires.

 

On dry pavement there is no issues, but if it is slippery you might unintentionally lose traction when towing, especially if your truck downshifts while climbing a grade. It has happened to me. When you are using your foot to control the speed, the downshift isn't unexpected, so you can quickly react to the rear axle losing traction, but when using cruise control it can come as a surprise.

The Owner's Manual alludes to this:

When towing a trailer:

• Turn off the speed control.

I am not going as far as the Owner's Manual, I am just saying be careful.

 

I guess I always assumed nobody used cruise at all when the roads are slippery seems to be common sense, but then we drive most of the winter on roads with glare ice around here so I guess we have a different perspective. With my Dodge I got to know when it was going to downshift and I would generally force a shift to keep it from dropping too much speed. Also I guess I should have said I only haul our TT in the summer, I haul my 18' flat deck in the winter to get water but that is on dirt roads all the way so no cruise on there either.

 

Common sense is probably more common here than in the general population, but there are dummies found everywhere.

I heard a story, maybe false, of a guy who rented a vehicle with cruise control, and wrecked it when he thought is was like auto-pilot. He failed to steer, thinking that it was unnecessary.

 

I love to use cruise when towing. as said before, it is easy to be watching everything on the road and not your speed, so you end up driving too fast.

that being said, on many vehicles (new f150 for example) i find the cruise control is far to agressive trying to hold speed or accelerate up hills and causes the trans to shift needlessly.

our current SD and my explorer seem to be calibrated much more conservitavely and dont seem to continually add throttle input until the vehicle is at the set speed again. my f150 at work and my old f150 at work both just keep adding throttle regardless if the truck was gaining speed or not. my 2010 seems to always downshift 1 year about 3mph before the speed is reached, even though it was already gaining speed.

 

I'll use cruise control when towing on flat roads, or slow inclines like on the interstate etc. But around towns, in hilly terrain, etc. I don't use it. Like meborder says, it's too aggressive and seems to downshift and speed up too much, and then it overshoots, and then slows down, etc. I find it easier to just let my foot control the throttle, keep it from switching gears, etc.

As far as bad weather, cruise control should never really be used in the rain, snow, etc, towing or not. It's too easy for the vehicle to shift when you aren't expecting it and cause the vechicle to lose traction/control. It is scary how many people don't realize that though. In my opinion that should be taught in driver's ed, be on the state driving tests, etc. I've even seen chain emails go around warning people about it.

 

When i was young, i tried to maintain
Speed limit up every hill thinking that is how
fast i need to go. Now "wiser" i slow down going
up to maintain progress w/o dropping down
2 or 3 gears just to be first/fastest going up.
sort of like exiting a tollbooth, don't hit resume!
Just speed up first then hit resume...

 

Completely agree with this! I used to do the same, but as I get older and gas becomes more expensive I realize that the savings at the pump is worth the extra few seconds to get up a hill. I don't think it hurts the truck to scream at redline all day long, but for me it's just not an efficient use of resources. I towed 15,000 lbs across the country and stayed at 2,000 RPMs locked in overdrive for 95% of the trip. Of course Vermont was a different story, but even then I tried to keep the RPMs not much higher than 3-3,500 RPMs for the sake of fuel consumption.

But if fuel were cheap I would have no qualms about flat-footing it up every hill that I wanted. These things are pretty tough, you're not gonna hurt it.

 

I have had my truck lose traction with the cruise control engaged, as soon as it lost traction the cruise control disengaged........

 

i only use cruise in summer/mostly dry conditions, but what i'll do as a mountain or incline is coming up i'll speed up manually to 5-10mph over the set speed depending on the size of the hill. by the time i hit the top i'm normally right at my set speed. but i have no issue with keeping it pegged to be the first at the top of the hill...its only gas

 

Just remember, statistically, half of all those people on the road next to you are below average when it comes to mental capacity.

 

I was in Northern WI, a couple years back towing our 4 place trailer(no cruise control) but I was in Tow/Haul. I got off the highway and got on the snow/ice packed ramp(I'm sure you're used to seeing this), I was slowing down when the truck decided to down shift...first time ever truck got sideways on me because of it. Boy was I surprised , bottom line though, I should have slowed down anyways.

 

And all of them are idiots and maniacs.