Hey guys.

I'm planning a trip from just South of Chicago to the Florida keys in February. I'm going to take my 20' boat (I'm guessing approx 5000-5500 lbs?) I've towed it up to Wisconsin a few times with no problems, but a 24 hour drive each way and 2400+ miles has me a little worried. I got a new trans (auto) 30000 ago and have since installed the guages. I'm planning in the next couple of weeks to install a trans cooler, which I'll search the old posts for the most reccommended model. My question to you guys simply, what other advice can you give me before I head out on the long haul?? What kind of top speeds should I stick with? Overdrive on or off. Is it ok to leave the OD on so long as the temp stays ok? 5 years ago we smoked the trans on my Z71 making the same trip without a boat, that was the big decision maker when I decided to become a MAN and buy my F250. Thanks in advance for any help you all can give.

 

Sounds like a fun trip.
Most recommended cooler: TruCool or 6.0 cooler
I use the truCool and never see temps over 165 grossing #16,400.
Use your OD unless it's hunting for gears.
Make sure your trailer brakes are working properly.
Drive the speed limit if its safe to do so and you feel comfortable with it.

 

In addition to what Ponypower said, get a BTS valve body. Brian is the master of E4OD and 4R100 transmissions.
If you want to really make sure you get there, there's a lot of triple disc torque converters to choose from.
But I have a stick shift and don't know which ones are the good ones, so someone else is going to have to chime in on that one.

 

Also make sure your bypass valve is good. That's a weak spot on the ATF cooling system. They fail open a lot and then the ATF just recirculates back to the transmission without going through the cooler itself.

 

I agree with Pony Power regarding using OD unless it is doing a lot of hunting. I have a 2000 F-250 Crew Cab with the 7.3 PSD and I pulled a 29 foot travel trailer (7500 pounds) from Wisconsin to North Carolina last June. Truck did really well although the hills in West Virginia and kentucky provided a bit of a work out. I bet the boat is a lot lower profile than my trailer so I don't think you will have any problems. As far as speed limits, I averaged 68 but really paid for it at the pump. I think if you keep the RPM's below 2000 (in OD) that should be right about 65 MPH. My truck has the towing package so it has a trans cooler but I would suggest making sure it is working properly like Kwikkordead says, especially if you don't have a temp gauge. Finally, unless you are on a good flat highway, I would stay off the cruise control so it doesn't hunt as much. Hope this helps.

 

Dude, just hook it up and enjoy the trip. 5000lbs shouldn't even be giving that truck a good work out. Plus it's almost all level driving. With any luck I'll be in key Kargo in January and you can take me fishing. No kidding, I have the same truck and have pulled my 5th wheel about 60K miles with no mods except those listed in my signature. Other than the mandatory cam sensor failure I've had no problems at all.

 

BTW, I just went back and reread your post. That's an alwful heavy 20ft boat. I think if you weigh that boat you'll find it's cloer to 3000 than 5000. In another life I had several boats and my 26 ft Searay with twins only weighed 6000lbs or so dry. I also once had a 24 ft Searay fishing boat and as I recall it weighed about 3500. In fact we towed that thing from Fort Lauderdale to Pensacola with a small V6 Jimmy, you know the little one. Took about 17 hours and a case of beer. I'll never do that againbut we made it and didn't hurt the little truck. Have a nice trip, I love the keys.

 

Stanley's right hook up an go. I hauled cars with my 99 pure stock 7.3, put 180,000 miles on it in 2 years without a hitch from the motor, only tranny problem was a shift sensor. my trailer is 9000lbs empty, I made alot of trips from seattle to miami and elsewhere, a 5000lb boat is a no brainer.

 

Thanks for the input guys. My main issue was that I got stranded 3 hours from home last year due to a TC failure. That sucked, buy not as bad as if I were 24 hours from home. My truck has the factory trans cooler, but it's kind of dinky. When I add the tru cool, should I leave the factory cooler installed and use both, or remove it and just use the tru cool??

 

I have the TruCool mounted in a series with the stock coolers. This is the way it was recommended to do by Dieselsite's instructions. It is mounted behind the grille in front of the a/c condenser core.