Hello Everyone,

First time posting here, have owned my 2006 F350 SRW for about two months now.

I purchased this truck with the purpose of towing a fifth wheel weighing approximately 10k-11k pounds fully loaded, which from what I understand is not much weight for these trucks.

My truck is equipped with a 6.0 PSD with the ZF6 manual transmission.

I'm wondering how you all start out from a stop towing a load of this weight. From a dead stop, do you use 'L' gear, or do you have no issues starting out in 1st gear?

I'm in the process of moving cross country and I have towed the fifth wheel all the way from Ohio to western Washington. In the hills of South Dakota I started noticing 1st gear just wouldn't cut it for starting off. Is this normal, or at some point did I toast my transmission/ clutch? When not towing, the truck starts just fine in 1st. But here in the mountains there is just no way I can get moving in 1st gear. I've gotten fairly good at doing the 'L' to 1st gear shift, but I'm not sure if this is acceptable or normal for daily towing.

Anyone's experience with towing with the 6.0 and ZF6 would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you.

Mark

 

From a dead stop always use the gear that allows you to move with the least amount of clutch slip and least amount of throttle. Depending on what gears you have starting in L gear sounds perfectly acceptable.

 

Appreciate your response, what you said makes total sense.

I believe my truck is equipped with a 3.73 rear axle.

I am wondering what others experience, as I recall starting off in 1st with no issues when towing back in the Midwest, and now the truck will barely get moving - I was worried I had damaged something.

In general, I have always preferred manual transmissions, but having towed the fifth wheel continuously for nearly a month now, I feel as if my truck is extremely slow getting moving from a stop. I'm interested if guys in their automatic trucks feel the same way towing.

Thanks.

 

When I had a 7.3L/ZF6 and towed 9,000 pounds I ALWAYS started in L. There is no reason to start in 1 with a load. It just makes the clutch work harder.

 

I have a 6.0 zf6 dually with 4.10s. I can guarantee that you should be starting in L. Secondly the bread and butter is between 1800 - 2800 rpm. So towing loaded my upshifts are 1800rpm first three gears, 2200 3-4, and 2500+ 4 -OD.