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Will be towing short distances, about 100miles highway, but at the maximum limits for my 99 with a 5.4 and auto. (32' 5th wheel). Looking for advise on a good trans fluid and or additives for towing, (heat). I'm at approx.10.000 lbs but i am also pushing alot of wind with a 12' high trailer. any input is apprec. thanks
Do you think something is wrong with your fluid now??
Towing that much weight, I would recommend a tranny temp guage before I recommended a diiferent (other than stock) tranny fluid.
No, but i have only plowed with this truck and i have not worked it as hard as it going to be worked pulling this thing. It's due for a fluid change anyway and i want to make sure a mistake is not made in what i have put in. I prefer stock products but sometime that is not the best choice and i am new to ford, so just making sure. The temp gauge is a very good idea....Will put one in , any suggestions on additives, or are things better off left alone? thanks........
A 32' fifth wheel can weigh quite a bit. When you add a load to the trailer, like water, food, clothes, toys etc, the weight goes up really fast. What truck model and gear do you have? I suspect you might be over limit now. Have you checked your tow ratings? Unless you have a 250 or 350 I bet you are over limit. Even some of these models have a surprisingly low tow rating.
If you insist on towing over limit I would definitely get a gauge and probably a big cooler. You may still have handling and safety issues but at least the tranny might have a chance if you keep it cool.
I checked most of this before we bought, thanks for pointing that out though..The trailer empty is 8600Lbs the tow limit for the 250 is 10.000 and i am looking at a 1600 pin weight. The fully loaded weight is 11,500 and i plan to avoid that much as we will not need to carry water and other heavy items at the time we tow. I know i am pushing the limits and is the reason for asking about any good advice on the proper fliuds. We may be planning more travel in a year or so ,,, by then we hope to have a 350 with a powerstroke, in the meantime i will put a gauge and check the cooler in this one as suggested ... THANKS Oh, the 250 handled the trailer/weight very well, but i know it's working to pull it along.
No additives but flush out the old fluid (all 18 qts.) and replace it with a synthetic MERCON fluid like Mobil1.
Have you had any first hand experience with the synthetic. I have been useing synthetic motor oil for 7-8 years now and swear by it,,,can't seem to find any straight info on gear or trans fluid yet, any leads??? Have asked at one mobil station, not much luck.....Will probably stick with a regular change right now but would like very much to learn more on the synthetic for the future....thanks....
I would definitely go with a synthetic, will be much more resilient to the heat. If you just put gauges on it and watch the heat go up - what are you going to do - stop and wait for it to go down? Put a good syn in there and let the oil do its job.