I was coming down a really steep hill with my horse trailer and decided to use Tow/Haul mode (2012 stock 6.7). I am a little uncomfortable with it because the engine does a great job at holding the truck back but it is at like 3K rpm in second gear as the hill gets steeper, it stays in second and the rpms go even higher. Is it ok for the engine to run like this? It's pretty loud. I really don't even touch the brake.

The other weird thing is when the hill flattens out, I want to start going faster so I start giving it gas but the engine rpms are already high and it only goes higher but doesn't shift out of 2nd gear. I find the only smooth way to get it to shift up is to take it out of tow/haul.

The other thing I thought is maybe just shift in manual. Then I could shift down low to have the engine hold the truck and shift up as I come out of the hill. Is this ok? Is it the same as tow/haul mode? Someone told me tow/haul mode protects the drive line better?

 

If you have engine breaking you need to get it fixed. Breaking things are not good. If it has engine braking, all is well.

The computer will not let the engine overspeed. It will shift to a higher gear if it gets near the maximum speed the engine can spin.

You can use manual mode. That's what it was designed to do. It doesn't protect the driveline any less or any more. In both cases the computer will prevent you from doing anything that can hurt it.

 

Karen, I've pulled a fifth wheel trailer for many years--over 150,000 miles. I had the same problem you had with the tow/haul mode. I learned, over time, that when going down steep hills, that by going to "manual", I could do a better job than the computer. I didn't like the way the transmission would downshift (some times two gears at a time) and make the RPMs run so high. My technique is to slow down a little before going down the hill, then downshifting with the manual mode to keep the speed down. My new truck has a engine-braking system that helps. In a previous truck, I installed the Banks "SpeedBrake" to help. I do use tow/haul anytime I'm pulling the fifth wheel though, because it changes the shift points to be more efficient. When accelerating at the bottom of the hill, just up shift with the manual mode--that will take it out of whatever gear you're in and allow the engine RPMs to come down.

Hope this helps, and I hope I didn't stray too much.

 

I think you've figured out what to do, best thing is to use the M shift and drive the truck how you prefer.

I tow almost 100% of the time I drive and I use M almost 100% of the time I drive. We have so much power and such a nice transmission, it all works very well when you shift it yourself.

If you ever get a 2015 or newer, the new exhaust brake is even better.

 

OK, so I live in south florida which means my only knowledge of hill towing is limited to what I read about or see in the movies.
Having said that, I have always been told that tow haul is for climbing mainly (the dash info system says that TH isn't necessary on flatland) and using the exhaust brake is to control speed going down hills so its not all brakes. I don't know what year the exhaust brake feature came out and I don't know if it is an option or standard, but as I was researching prior to getting my trailer this is what I was told / read somewhere.

 

I had the same concerns using tow/haul mode on my 2012 until I came across a video where some Ford engineers were running a towing comparison between the Ford and Dodge Ram (this was before the engine brake redesign for 2015....sorry cannot find that video). In the video, they were demonstrating the engine braking going down a grade and they had the engine RPM quite high (around 3000+). The engineer in the video didn't seem the least bit concerned and indicated that it was working as designed. After that, I no longer worried about it. I do, however, experience the same thing you do as far as getting the truck to upshift once the grade flattens out. I'll sometimes momentarily take it out of tow/haul at that point to get it to quickly start upshifting. I may try manual mode as others have suggested - don't know why, but I've never really thought to give it a try.

 

I know that the shift parameters change in TH by design. The trans will shift when the engine hits a much higher rpm that in normal operation.

 

ssunit1,
Tow/haul makes little difference in your Florida flatlands towing, but I would still use it. It would give you shift points that may be a bit better when accelerating from a stop, and more importantly help with the braking when the seniors get in the way.

 

I had a Pacbrake exhaust retarder on my '02 F250 and it really worked. I was a little concerned about the new '16 F350 dually I had ordered ..... until I got it and tried out the factory unit, this thing is just as good as the Pacbrake and with these huge service brakes I have no worries whatsoever.

 

I just run cruise control and tow haul generally.

Really steep descents I switch to manual at the top of the crest.

Typically only pulling around 16K so this does well.

Switchbacks I will use manual too.

 

Agreed, but I'm thinking if they are driving a Prius or a Smartcar I may not even notice the bump

 

Sorry for my delayed response. Thank you all very much. Just got back from vacation in flat lands Florida.