Towin' in OD

[Roc Doc]

Sorry if this has been covered before...
I have a 2000 F250 PSD, with the R1004 or whatever the E4OD is called now, and I want to tow a flatbed trailer, (dual axle 18' or so, pretty stout construction), to pickup my new rockcrawler in SoCal. The load is an '85 4WD Toyota xtra cab with some extras.

Im figuring about 6000 lbs on the truck/trailer combo, and I want to know if I should take it out of OD when going up the Baker grade, etc. Having never towed anything heavier than my SeaDoo's, I don't know if it will even pull it 60 -70MPH up such a grade.

I don't have any modifications to the tranny or engine. The only change is a 4" lift and 315 MT's, so my gearing is increased about 9%, I figure. It will be 100+ degrees by the time I get back into Vegas, and I don't want to smoke the tranny.

Real world experience is appreciated.

Thx

Doc

[Loco]

Take it out of overdrive. My friend tows his 40' sprint car trailer in drive just without overdrive.

[Haole]

If you have a tranny temp guage look at it. I flattowed myheep up the Grapevine in OD accelerating and the gauge never moved. I am looking at about 3600# with the heep.

If you don't have the gauge, go to drive.

[mr4x42u]

I tow in drive till I get to 55 or so then hit o/d..Otherwise my mileage drops to crap,,,engine\ sounds like it too high on the r's..I have never had a problem so far and have been doing this from the day got my rig.I tow some pretty heavy loads on the trailor..Had 60k or so on it when I got it,,now pushing 175,500 and never missed a beat..guess it would depend on your gears and where its putting you trans temp and rpms..

[postal]

I don't get it - a 3/4 ton diesel pickup that can't pull a Toyota in OD.

[Roc Doc]

I have a temp gauge, but it went toes-up yesterday, and I don't know if I'll have time to get another one before I go. I know my cooling system is in good shape and coming back last weekend, the temp never rose even at 80 MPH up the Baker grade, w/AC on. So as long as the water temp stays down, hopefully the in-radiator tranny cooler will do its' job.

I don't have any doubts that I'll have enough power to pull this load, it's just the tranny.

Doc

[RE:Todd]

I leave mine in OD until it shifts down by itself. Then I pull it into 3rd. If it starts hunting, downshift it, other than that, shouldn't be a problem.

[TEX]

With a 3/4 ton truck, you should be okay in OD with stock tires. Hard to say with the 315's. You'll have to play it by ear. OTOH, anyone who tows in OD with a 1/2 ton (at ANY speed) is going to be visiting their local tranny shop sooner or later, guaranteed.


TEX

[kwrangln]

RE:todd has it right. I tow our hazmat response trailers all the time in od (11.5K). Shifting is what builds up heat, as soon as you encounter a situation at highway speed that forces a down shift, or it starts hunting for the right gear, go ahead and down shift it. Running in drive on strait flat highway as high speed is just too damn hard on stuff with the engine screaming at near red line. You can really feel it when you get above the power band.

I usually tow with:
PSD excursion 4x auto
PSD 350 4x auto
ctd dually 2x auto

I follow the same gear selection with all of em.

[Bill Collins]

i have stock size tires on my powerstroke 2 wheel drive,and always leave the OD on.i have towed a 37 ft.holiday rambler 5th.wheel,i also towed my toy,a honda 400,and all out camping gear up monarch pass.it did just fine,when it needed it would shift back down and i would stand on it...

[DSI]

well i've loggged exactly 50k on my PSD in 11 months, and over 25 of that towing

i've got a tranny gauge, and with our double car, with two rig's, weighing a total of 16,940 with no enguine mod's last year, i had the cruise set in OD and ran all the way from the rubicon to seattle and the tranny never broke 195 degrees...

the few key thing's to worry about are letting it run withthe torque converter unlocked, as a rule of thumb, 50mph in drive is right at 2k RPM, 70 in OD is right under 2k RPM don't let it hang out around 2750/3k in drive when it downshift's, that builds heat!!

i've got mine pumped to put 650ft lbs to the ground and still have never broke 195 on the tranny, it's a big heavy tranny, with regular fluid changed and not letting it run all day with the converter unlocked, i wouldn't think twice about using OD until it kicks down, and when it does, lightly lift your foot off until you feel the converter lock up, then power into it again

also, running 315's on 3.73's withno chip, i could not break 925 degree's on my exhaust, so you're pretty safe there too

[Roc Doc]

Thanks for the input guys, I made it back from SoCal no problem and at 65-70MPH in 100+ degree heat, with the AC on it barely went over 195 on the tranny temp gauge.

Next up the Diablo Predator, an exhaust system, and some sort of tranny mods.

Doc

[DSI]

Originally posted by Roc Doc

Next up the Diablo Predator, an exhaust system, and some sort of tranny mods.

Doc

be careful with that chip!!!

i had a 100hp sport for a short while... it was fun ebing able to smoke 3-4 tires in high range on dry pavement, but i wasn't able to tow my light buggy and trailer up a small grade without running 1200+ EGT's! i had to run without my chip for a majority of my last hammer's trip, which is 1100 miles one way!

[one eye]

All i know is that I towed in overdrive and had to rebuild a tranny at 50k, it is not good at all. Just my expeirence