So in the past week I have gone about 3 hours north of here 3 times to pick up three horses... All went great. The truck pulls wonderfully and of course has plenty of power. I just wanted some opinions of pulling while in "5th/OD" I have herd alot of opinions from random people, but of course my friends here are the ones that i listen to when it comes to my baby. 4th gear @ 55mph is just over 2200rpm. I know thats not high or going to hurt anything. BUT IF I happen to want to go fast say 65mph or so then thats pushing 3000rpm. 5th gear @ 65mph is just around 2000rpm. I don't try and go up hills while in high gear but some of the nameless people I have talk to say it doesn't matter you shouldn't use high gear when pulling at all. Anyways look forward to your response's.
Just a reminder its a manual 6speed with 33" toyo's.

 

I like to keep the 7.3 operating at 2500rpm or less, steady.

With a 6sp, I'd keep it in 6th as much as possible. Going up giant hills i'd just go super fast so the rpms are about 2400.

Mines an auto, and I always tow in OD.

 

Just watch egts and use the most economical gear you can get by with. Just don't lug it.

 

Downshift anything below 1750RPM if its a heavy load. Kwikkordead has had some chitty luck with the OD going out while towing.. .

 

i pull all the time in od if the exhaust temp doesn't get too hot, i like pulling loads at 60mph vs 55mph because its closer to 2000rpm and the turbo lits easier when you get to a hill
i too am currently running 33's

 

You're pulling what, 8 - 9k? Put the thing in high gear and down shift for the hills if you need to. I don't really have hills here (at least more than a mile long or so), but I tow in 5th (some call it 6th) all the time.

If you can maintain speed in 5th gear then you don't have to worry about down shifting. Your speedo will let you know when it's time to down shift. I towed some gravel home in a dump trailer a couple of weeks ago. Trailer and gravel were about 23k (woops) and when I got away from traffic and could increase my speed, I put it in the OD gear.

You're not going to hurt a stick shift driving in a higher gear, you just want to make sure you're at a decent RPM to keep in the right spot on the HP /TQ curve. The autos have issues in OD because the tranny will hunt back and forth between gears in some cases and either overheat the tranny or burn up the torque converter. We don't have those issues.

 

Basically everything I was thinking yall said!!! LOL.