Should overdrive always be off when towing? I am going to be towing my car on a car dolly from Florida to Oregon so I will be on the highway/freeway most the time. Is it always better to have O/D off when towing or does it depend on the load? Thanks.

 

If the tranny is hunting for a gear, take it OUT of o'drive. On the flat and level, if tranny is not laboring, leave it in o'drive.

 

yea what he said, highway if you can use it i would, me i hardly use it in town or anything unless i'm doing 60 or higher with the hills and stuff around here it is a useless gear to me.

 

Well, at least throughout Florida there are no hills and it is 70 through the whole state so hunting for gears shouldn't be a problem. The main reason I ask is because on my older Bronco I was towing a small empty Uhaul trailer on the freeway in O/D when my tranny blew the front seal and one of the mechanics said it could have been because I was in O/D. I had a hard time beleiving that was the cause since the trailer couldn't have been more than 800 pounds or so, but I didn't want to take any chances with my brand new F150 with only 50 miles on it.

 

You may also want to consult the truck manual to see if it lists whether or not you can tow in overdrive and if you can how heavy of a trailer. I heard some of the older transmissions were not recommended to tow in overdrive due to the bands or clutches not being as strong for the overdrive gear versus direct drive. I would not think a 800lb trailer would have caused your other transmission to fail since you could have a 800lb difference between a 2wd short bed F150 compared to 4wd supercab long bed fully loaded F150, do they expect you not to use overdrive in that heavy of a truck?? I wouldn't think so. But I can see how they would not recomend towing a car in overdrive (probably 3000lbs more minimum?). You also have to consider even if it seems to tow good in overdrive, you may be lugging the motor down and may get better gas milage at the same speed in direct drive (try watching the instantaneuous mileage meter if you have one). This happened to me when I was towing with my dad's 5.2L Grand Cherokee. It also seemed to constantly engage/disengage the lockup on the torque converter in overdrive when towing a U-haul trailer around 1900lbs loaded. The tach would hunt from 2000-2300rpm, but it was not shifting back to 3rd. So I would watch that if you do tow in overdrive. This may not be an issue with your truck; I believe the auto transmisisons Ford uses in the F150 don't use a lockup clutch in the torque converter but rather drive the OD gear directly off the engine driven side of the converter through a two piece output shaft in the transmission. Maybe some else can shed some light on the lockup features of the newer Ford F150 transmissions. I would also recommend putting a few more miles on your truck before towing a heavy load to allow everything to break in ie. transmission clutches, ring and pinion gears, engine, etc. Just my two cents.

Kevin

 

I think Ford recommends not towing until you have over 700 miles on vehicle....that what they say in manual for 6 liter diesel.

 

They recommend 500 miles in my manual. Luckily I bought it a couple months before the move so it should have that many right about the time we leave.

 

According to the manual it says to tow in a lower gear to avoid excessive gear changes. If it is staying in OD without shifting would I be ok? It also says not to use cruise control when towing. Is that for real? I am going to be upset if I have to make the 50-60 hour trip from Florida to Oregon without cruise

 

I use the cruise control when i am towing just the same as they recomend for you with overdrive. as long as you are on open flat land it wont hurt a thing.

 

Sounds like you have the "Idiot-proof" owner's manual. The one for the rest of us that know how to watch RPM's and tranny shifting says to use common sense. Personally, I would never, ever, ever tow anything while in overdrive, but that's just the way I was raised. Sound funny? I grew up on a cotton farm and we towed some pretty heavy loads - no light stuff. I was taught all my life about not towing in OD, so I have a mental block against it. I don't know if they make the OD different now or whatever but I think the main idea is to (1) Not lug your engine, and (2) Not let your tranny hunt for gears. If you're 100% positive that you're not doing either, go for it.

Like say, personally, no OD for me. I also always take it out of cruise control while going up a hill because I can control the tranny shifting myself rather than slowly burning anything up. Going from Florida to Oregan, you're bound to hit a few hills, and I would be very aware of what your truck is doing if I were you.

Also, be sure and push up the service schedule on your transmission after a trip like that. Probably wouldn't hurt to change the fluid sooner than later. I know with a brand new truck you usually don't think about things like that, but you're giving your transmission a real crash course if you know what I mean.

Enjoy your trip in your new truck!

 

I could find what kind of setup you have so i'll use my truck for example. i have a fx4 scab 5.4l. in OD i'm turning 1800rpm at 70mph. With OD turned off i'm turning about 2400 rpm. i use OD when i tow unless i'm in traffice or in hilly areas. i dont use it in traffic to let the engine help stop the truck. Turning OD off is just a click of the button. we've towed with cruise w/ no problems but i normally dont use it cause i like having control over the engine with my foot. I tend to have a better feel whats going on with my foot instead of my finger.

 

My truck is a 2006 XLT Scab 5.4. Sorry, I forgot my signature doesn't show anymore.

 

that cool. i dont really think you have anything to worry about. But no you are not going to just tear it up if you tow in OD. You get in some hills you'll turn it off or go crazy. But anyway my point in my example is if your pulling at 70mph using OD is fine if it aint gear searching although i havent had a ruck search for a gear at 70 mph either. you'll really notice the biggest differnce wheb
n in slower traffic. In OD you mush on the gas and nothing happens, but if OD is turned off the truck comes alive.

 

I don't tow in overdrive and I use cruise control. The fuel savings is negligable and the slightly higher engine speed increases the fluid flow (coolant and transmission fluid) and as a result, everything has less strain on it and stays cooler. In the "bad old days" I had transmissions and engines overheat due to running in a higher gear but towing in a lower gear always lowered the temperatures and stopped the fluid from coming out of the dipstick hole and landing on the exhaust. Why try to save a little and risk a lot? Anyway, the engine speed is much lower with overdrive locked out than it used to be in the highest gear.

 

You make some great points while at lower speeds and while in traffic, but at 60-70 miles an hour you have enough fluid and air cooling going on. The whole idea of OD is once you have gotten mass in motion it doesnt take as much force to keep it in motion untell it find a negative force "a hill". on the open road i feel the higher engine speed is causing more useless wear.

I say listen to your truck it will tell you what it needs. the 1st clue is it keeping switch from 3rd to 4th gear. If you dont seem to have the ump to pass then turn OD off so you can take advantage of 2nd gear becoming the passing/pulling gear.