Have you ever used this hill descend function while towing?

 

Yes.

I used it to descend a 10-15% grade on loose gravel and dirt while retrieving our scout trailer from scout camp this year.

it works awesome for that kind of situation.

it will do a great job of controlling the vehicle and trailer speed and attitude and will not freak out when a tire slips on loose terrain.

it does not activate the trailer brakes though, so you could possibly overheat the brakes if unused too long, but for the quarter mile descent I used it for wasn’t a problem at all.

 

not sure what you are towing or what you are towing it with, but yes I have used it on my 2019 F450 towing my 5th wheel down a steep logging road.
If I remember correctly it only functions below something like 20 mph

 

Well I have a 2011 SD FX4 6.2 and have never used it with my totally plugged 7.5k bumper pull.
I have never experienced any issues with grades, as I keep it in tow/haul and before I really descend, I am already going slow with barley any need to touch my brakes.
I've done I-90 through Idaho - Montana continental divide pass both ways a few times, Siskiyou Pass on I-5 both ways, as well as many trips over the Cascades and Hwy SR 20 coming and going and have never had any problems.
Not sure if giving up my trailer brakes is a good idea?
I forgot my truck even had this option; I have never used it.
The user manual is written poorly, it seems to contradict itself ??????

Can you use it above 20 MPH, or not?

WARNING: Hill descent control cannot control descent in all surface conditions and circumstances, such as ice or extremely steep grades. Hill descent control is a driver assist system and cannot substitute for good judgment by the driver. Failure to do so may result in loss of vehicle control, crash or serious injury. Hill descent control can maintain vehicle speeds on downhill grades between 2 mph (3 km/h) and 12 mph (20 km/h). Above 20 mph (32 km/h), the system remains armed, but descent speed cannot be set or maintained. WARNING:Hill descent control does not provide hill hold at zero mph (0 km/h). When stopped, the parking brake must be applied and/or the vehicle must be placed in P (Park) or it may roll away. Hill descent control requires a cooling down interval after a period of sustained use. The amount of time that the feature can remain active before cooling varies with conditions. The system will provide a warning in the message center and a chime will sound when the system is about to disengage for cooling. At this time, manually apply the brakes as needed to maintain descent speed. Enabling hill descent control and setting the descent speed 1. Press and release the hill descent button located on the instrument panel. A light in the cluster will illuminate and chime will sound when this feature is activated. 2. To increase descent speed, press the accelerator pedal until the desired speed is reached. To decrease descent speed, press the brake pedal until the desired speed is reached. Whether accelerating or decelerating, once the desired descent speed is reached, remove your feet from the pedals and the chosen vehicle speed will be maintained. Note: Noise from the ABS pump motor may be observed during hill descent control operation. This is a normal characteristic of the ABS and should

OK...so reading it again it seems it only works up to 20, if you go above that it will be armed, but not controlling decent, and to set the decent spend you gas up until desired speed as long as its under 20...... right?

 

I treat it as off road only. And as described, I think that's what Ford intended.

Cruise control will control downhill speed to some degree using downshifting. But you will still need to be on the brakes on most hills.

 

Cruise control going up or down I shut off.....
I have found it likes to shift too much.
Going up if I keep my 6.2 around 4K RPM which is normally 3rd or 4th gear, I can maintain 55 mph easy and have pedal if I need to pass, occasionally going into 2nd and over 5K on the really steep stuff.
Going downhill it will really get wonky shifting with CC on..... just use tow/haul and tap the brake when you first start to accelerate faster than you want, it will drop down a gear.
Works for me and I have never smelled my brakes
BTW, when pulling my trailer, I only use CC on level or slightly hilly roads, and only to relax some...... I never want to get too comfortable; I like to stay in the game and only do around 300 miles a day when towing.

 

As far as I'm concerned the Hill Decent feature is even more useless than the locking differential ..... if that's even possible.

 

If you never leave well established/public areas, then I can see why you wouldn’t see much use for it.

Both features really excel when you are in very steep terrain with loose surfacing.

the road to the scout camp was between 8 and 9 degrees on the off road angle meter which is around 15% grade and all loose gravel. The ELDS allowed me to pull the trailer up in 2WD and never spin a wheel, and the hill descent allowed me to come down at 20mph without ever hitting the brakes.

the trail to our camping pad was steeper yet and was washed out with loose gravel. Hill decent got me down at 2mph with the trailer with full contol. And the eLDS pulled the trailer up in 2WD without spinning the wheels.

both work really well, but outside of fairly extreme situations, they probably don’t have much benefit to most drivers.

 

My truck does not have the Hill Descent feature. I've taken my 11K toy hauler down some gnarly Forest Service and BLM roads that were steep. With 4Lo, the transmission in Manual mode and the rear differential locked I've done just fine. I keep it slow and steady.

 

Yeah..... nope, I ain't pulling on any roads like that. I bet you get into some really nice pristine areas, but ever since I watched the movie Deliverance........ I only venture out to where they have streetlights, no Ned Beatty for me thanks!

 

Yeah 4L and you ain't go anywhere fast.
I have used it on the boat ramp where I live on an island.
We have some pretty extreme tidal movement, and our ramps are very primitive.
They try and clear them at least once a day with a tractor, of logs that float down from the rivers, as well as other rip raff, kelp, and shifting sand, etc.
I try and fish/crab the higher tides to avoid too much exposure to the less-than-optimal condition found at the lower elevation of the ramp.....HOWEVER, it's hard at times to leave those biting fish....haha.
I think in 4L I could climb up the side of one of our big cedar trees ")

 

Because you NEVER need both rear wheels to put power to the ground - one wheel drive works in all situations and conditions.

 

I think over the past 15 years I’ve probably had my truck unable to move in 2wd drive about 200 times. Just for kicks I almost always waste my time by locking the rear differential only to see that the truck still won’t move. (I honestly think there has only been one time that locking the rear axle made a difference) Then I unlock the diff put the truck in 4 wd and away it goes. The diff locks on my class 8s make a huge difference but in my experience locking the diff on a pickup does nothing.

An unlocked differential puts the same power to both wheels so long as both tires have some degree of traction.

 

I helped a guy that got his F-350 stuck on a trail. 4x4 didn't help. All I did was tell him to enable the rear differential. He drove right out of the situation without any external help.

I use the rear differential to ensure there isn't any loss of traction. I also lock the rear differential to ensure that I'm not tearing up the trail/road. This is for situations that don't involve snow.

In the right situations, a locked rear differential is very effective.

 

An LSD or locker is extremely helpful when trying to back up parked nose down with one rear tire on dry pavement and one on ice. Can’t tell you how many times as a kid I had to sand one rear tire in my crown Vic when the other one was on bare dry pavement.


my 2020 expedition has the eLSD rear differential as part of the max towing package. I haven’t had an LSD on my last two expeditions and I can tell you hands down that this one with the eLSD is much better in the snow, ice, and mud than my last two by a wide margin. Despite everything else being very similar, including the tires, this one just grabs and goes in a way the other two never would.

As overly complicated as the eLSD is, I can’t complain about the effectiveness. (The $5500 replacement bill aside)