Overdrive Question
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Senior User
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Overdrive Question
Is it OK to use overdrive gear when towing a trailer? In my previous trucks the owners manual always warned against using the overdrive while towing heavy loads. With my 2001 F-350 V-10 with a 4R100 the owners manual doesn't have this warning. I was told by a transmission guy several years ago that the overdrive gear is the weakest link in an automatic transmission. At that time he was referring to the AOD which was not the best tranny Ford ever produced....... Is the 4R100 overdrive beefed up enough for towing?
Posting Guru
Joined: May 2003
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Tow in the tallest gear that the torque converter will stay locked. I tow in OD all the time. When I can't pull OD I manually downshift to a lower gear. What I don't do is use cruise control when towing in OD because any upslope will downshift under power. I'm always in control of what gear I am running in.
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I was told "never tow in OD" and if i did it would ruin my trans, well I read on this board, that it is okay, if it starts to hunt than lock it out. well last weekend i towed my 16' car trailer with my jeep cherokee on it, and the truck ran great down the interstate never got above 180*. the engine was running 190* and this was with 92* outside temp and high humidity. I haven't calculated my gas mileage but it was a lot better than my buddies dodge V10.
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From: Villa Rica, Georgia
I was told on an RV forum to never tow in OD unless engine was running at 2900+ RPM. I dolly tow a 2000 Honda Civic. CC was never mentioned. I have always run my Aero* in OD so that's' what I have been doing with my RV. That is, until my tranny let go on my last trip. It had nothing to do with the TC though. The planetary blew up. I'm supposed to pick it up this Sat. and I'm going to ask the tranny tech about this. I'll come back and post what he says. He might not know though. He is a Pontiac tech.
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Great. I would like to hear what he says. I was hoping to hear from some of the senior users of this forum about this issue as I am still getting conflicting information from people I talk to. It seems like the folks that do use overdrive for towing usually wind up having problems or having their transmissions rebuilt sooner.
Sit. Stay.
Joined: Oct 2001
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From: Washington State
This is one of those subjects that seems to constantly come up.
Those "against" will always come up with some story of a failure. Those "for" will talk of bazillions of miles towing in OD with no problems.
Simple fact is to maintain the proper fluid change intervals, get a real tranny temp gauge to monitor your temps, add a cooler if temps are too high in your situation and let the transmission do the work. If it hunts, drop it out of OD.
Going down a hill and need more compression braking? Drop it out of OD (or more).
Towing in OD with the cruise isn't really an issue either except that you do give up a measure of control. If you held the pedal in the same location/setting like the CC does, it would downshift at the slightlest grade also, right?
It isn't the CC's fault.
If I could tow, say, across Oklahoma's flat plains in OD and the CC on, I would. But I can't since I live on an island in the middle of the Pacific ocean...
Those "against" will always come up with some story of a failure. Those "for" will talk of bazillions of miles towing in OD with no problems.
Simple fact is to maintain the proper fluid change intervals, get a real tranny temp gauge to monitor your temps, add a cooler if temps are too high in your situation and let the transmission do the work. If it hunts, drop it out of OD.
Going down a hill and need more compression braking? Drop it out of OD (or more).
Towing in OD with the cruise isn't really an issue either except that you do give up a measure of control. If you held the pedal in the same location/setting like the CC does, it would downshift at the slightlest grade also, right?
It isn't the CC's fault. If I could tow, say, across Oklahoma's flat plains in OD and the CC on, I would. But I can't since I live on an island in the middle of the Pacific ocean...
Logistics Pro
Joined: Jan 2002
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Paul...You 2001 owners manual has a section on towing and trany gear selection...
The 4R100 will tow haul in OD just fine... like said else where when the trany goes into the lock unlock dance (seen by a 150 to300 RPM change on the tach) then it is wise to push the stem mounted button and Lock out OD until back on level ground... I towed heavy a lot with my 01 and just about wore out that button!... grin
Biggest thing to watch for on the 4R100 is trany temps exceeding 208F for any duration... 180 to 195 is about normal for heavy tow...they will spike hot with the torque converter unlocked and spinning 4800 rpm in second gear to climb a tall hill... I always added a secondary aux cooler and fans ...easy mod and can be done around $100...very good insurance
The 4R100 will tow haul in OD just fine... like said else where when the trany goes into the lock unlock dance (seen by a 150 to300 RPM change on the tach) then it is wise to push the stem mounted button and Lock out OD until back on level ground... I towed heavy a lot with my 01 and just about wore out that button!... grin
Biggest thing to watch for on the 4R100 is trany temps exceeding 208F for any duration... 180 to 195 is about normal for heavy tow...they will spike hot with the torque converter unlocked and spinning 4800 rpm in second gear to climb a tall hill... I always added a secondary aux cooler and fans ...easy mod and can be done around $100...very good insurance
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