As per Ford instructions in the owner's manual, it says to shift into sixth Overdrive at 40. Which puts me at 1400 rpm.

The full spectrum from the ford manual is, out of 1st (low) at 5mph, out of second at 10, 3rd at 20, 4th at 30, and into overdrive at 40.

But I guess I should downshift a gear before punching it. That makes sense because the truck is not stock so the Ford manual if not of much use anymore.

When just driving around with no load, my truck seems to be very happy in overdrive as long as I stay above 45. If I have a load on it's different. But unloaded, 45 and up is happy in overdrive and will accelerate going up hill. Slowly albeit.

But we don't have that many hills... Should I really be around 2,000 RPM when just driving around? I've never heard that before.

WWith that being said, when I'm wanting to accelerate, should I downshift into a gear that puts me over 2K?

 

If you have to downshift to accelerate with no smoke, you shouldn't have been in the gear you were.

I havent read that ford book with those shift points, but if I did, I would throw it out as evil bad doer propaganda.

Living in a state of lug is horrid sounding.

with 4.10 I am just grabbing my 1-1 gear at 40mph

heck my auto with 4.30 and stock tires I have tuning set to not allow od until 48, with specific attempt to never allow the truck to hold a gear/lockup below 1750rpm

 

For today try moving the cruising and shift points of your 1.31-1, 1-1, and .72-1 gears up 8-10mph then accelerate and see what you smoke does, also see what the get up and go fun factor does.
Honestly for your set up I would never even consider running the .72-1 gear until at least 55 mph

 

Also your math seems off. 6th aka .72-1 at 40 is way lower then 1400, especially with your larger tires(forget size)

 

Leaky up-pipes are contributing to slower spool and reduced boost which combined with driving style are going to increase black smoke.

My favorite tunes for my 6spd produced zero black smoke ever. I could firewall the throttle at 1100 rpm (although I never do this...) and the truck would accelerate without smoking - like a STOCK truck will. I prefer this because I live in the mountains and I’m often lazy and will lug it a little as I crest a hill instead of downshifting.

There is a very popular misconception that low RPM’s equal better MPG. This is just not the case. Limiting throttle input would be a more effective way to increase MPG. In a nutshell, I shift in a way that keeps me above 1600rpm when I’m trying to accelerate rapidly or when I’m pulling a load. I find myself staying out of OD in Dawn’s truck (Lagertha) on windy backroads. The 3.73 gears and taller tires keep RPM’s too low to accelerate up a grade at lower speeds. Especially with the leaky up-pipes.

Furthermore, ‘lugging’ this engine/transmission is murderously hard on the clutch components. It’s common to see the springs in a clutch disc look like they’ve been BEATEN against the edges of their space in trucks that are lugged regularly. So, even if your clutch doesn’t slip under these conditions, damage is likely occurring.

Basically, some people drive in a way you could never get away with in a Honda or Toyota. If you upshift too soon or fail to downshift in most vehicles - they simply won’t accelerate. Our massive 444cu in Diesel engine makes enough torque down low we can ‘get away with it’. That doesn’t make it a good idea.

 

Not to mention keeping rpms up some would help alleviate some of that turbo surge shown in your video

 

Meh, it’ll stop on its own if he keeps letting it do that.

 

meh, just turn the radio up, this is the way of ssj

 

To be clear, it’s not what I recommend for others....

 

Will do, I will try riding my RPMs higher for shifting.

And also, I usually shift into OD at 45. Which puts me just shy of 1500 rpm. It's hard to take pictures while driving with all this traffic but I took a couple. All of these pictures are in 6th gear.

 

​​​​I just did a hard pull zero to 80 mph, keeping my RPMs over 2K and my turbo didn't surge a lick until I got in 6th gear. I've been driving based off the Ford manual because I didn't know and where i should be shifting at. I will say I went a little bit above what Ford recommended. Here is a video of that. And the second video I increased speed a bit before shifting. is the second video more along what you're talking about I should be shifting it?

 

Tristan, that is way too low to be shifting into 6th gear. When towing, I shift into 6th gear at 65 MPH. When unloaded I shift in to 6th gear 55 - 60 MPH. If I need to accelerate at a slow pace, I will leave the truck in 6th gear. If I need to accelerate at a quick pace, I shift into 5th gear and roll on.

I get no smoke at 1500 RPM and getting on the fuel, even while towing. I also know for a fact I have no boost leaks (boots, etc) and no exhaust drive pressure (up pipes, etc) leaks. So, all of the performance the fuel and throttle pedal are demanding is there as it should be. It is still a 266,000 mile and 22 year old truck though, so I treat it as such and it treats us well. Even in WY at 9,000 feet elevation towing our 5th wheel.

While towing I like to shift ~2800 RPM, but will sometimes kiss or go slightly above 3000 RPM if I am on an incline onramp or something similar.

As an example of towing RPM shift points, check out the video below.

This is a data log from FORScan and video footage I put together about 18 months ago after swapping in the 363 SX-E. Pay attention to the RPM and MPH gauges on the left side. This is towing our 5th wheel camper. Each start was in L and rowed through the gears from there.

 

Try shifting at 2500 to 2700 RPM. Especially if you’re gonna go into overdrive. I think you should also see if you can digitally check your RPM via obd2 port reader what I found is that the dash generally shows 75 to 100 RPM more than it actually is happening, do to the discrepancies in attempts to read a very vague cluster gauge
Your previous method of driving and shifting is definitely way too low in the RPMs at least in my opinion you can hear it in the truck it doesn’t like it

 

You also need to take into account your larger tire diameter

 

Even unloaded and normal driving I should be shifting at 2500 rpm and up?

ok, I checked my RPM via forscan. It varies depending on what RPM I'm at but it's generally off between 65 and 80 RPM.

Does this also mean I can't be cruising at 55 in 6th? 55 is the speed that most of the roads around my area are and I sit at around 1600 RPM when cruising at 55 in 6th.

I had no idea I was shifting too early for unloaded driving.

The truck does seem a lot more responsive this way and the smoke is almost negligible. If I stomp it it's still Puffs a little bit even at the higher RPMs but it's mostly Gray instead of thick black.

So I need to be shifting at 2500 most of the time?