Gear shifting when towing

[NW Explorers]

Are you backing off of the accelerator to 'encourage' the transmission to shift?

Since you're driving a Navigator, I assume that fuel economy is not your first concern - and it shouldn't be if you want a good towing experience. Put the pedal to the metal and let your power train work. If it can't do the job, it's time for a lighter trailer or a 3/4 or 1 ton truck.

[drittal]

That 5.4l doesn't make peak torque until 3600 rpm, peak HP at 5100. It's has to spin to do work. Let it.

[Wireman1]

I just towed my Jayco 23RLSW on a 5200 mile trip.

I have a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee Ecodiesel (240 HP & 420lb/ft of torque). Max. tow capacity is #7200.

It has a 8 speed transmission. I have paddle shifters that I used all the time when towing, controlling the shift RPM.

By the seat of the pants driving & towing I can tell you I had a better feel when to shift than that TCM.

To say that always letting the vehicle decide when to shift is BS.

I weighed my trailer hooked up with the WDH attached and the trailer axle weight was #5500.

Actual towing mileage was 13.4 MPG with all the miles out west through Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado & Utah, a lot of mountainous driving.

That's where I have a better feel for upshifting & downshifting compared to the TCM.

[MarkyB]

Originally Posted by drittal

That 5.4l doesn't make peak torque until 3600 rpm, peak HP at 5100. It's has to spin to do work. Let it.

^^^^ This... It does take some getting used to...
Sounds like the pistons are gonna fly out.
Just keep an eye on your temps and let tow/haul do it's thing.

[frankdamp]

The recent years' Fords have much higher revving engines than folks have been used to. Our Class A (sold a couple of years ago) had the 6.8L V-10. It was so different in RPM use, compared to our previous 460, it took a while to get used to it. I was surprised as I'd been driving motorcycles for several years which ran up to 15,000 rpm.

Once I'd owned it a few months, I'd got used to it. The oddest experience was climbing US-20 out of Winthrop west-bound. Close to 20 miles at 35 mph and 3500 rpm!

[MarkyB]

I-70 in Colorado just west of Denver.

[drittal]

Originally Posted by MarkyB

Attachment 141144

I-70 in Colorado just west of Denver.

Forgive me if it's in your signature, but I can't see it on Tapatalk... what are you pulling with and what are you pulling?

my 6.4 Ram towing my 12k WnP would spin at 4200 rpm in 1st going up 7% or greater. That was about 32-33mph. It was the gear hold feature. There is such a jump between 1-2 on the Ram gas HD that it can't hold 2nd, but easily pulls up to redline in 1st so the engineers at Ram put programming in to limit the truck to 4200rpm in 1st until parameters showed it could hold 2nd. This prevented excessive shifting, reducing trans temps. At also prevented the motor from lugging and running at redline too long, lowering oil and coolant temps. This programming has recieved a ton of negative publicity since revealed in the Ike testing. However, as somebody who experienced this at least 5 times when towing the Rockies, it can attest to the fact it lowers temps across the board. While it might cost you a couple minutes of time and annoyance that you aren't able to keep up with traffic, it feel in the long run it will prolong the life of the powertrain over the competition if used a lot in these conditions. TFL TRUCKS and PickupTrucks.Com never monitor things like temps during their testing. They just put their foot to the floor and go.

[MarkyB]

I have a 2016 F-250 6.2L gas 3.73 gears 2700 payload.
And a Wildwood 31KQBTS 36ft long GVWR 10,900.
We were probably close to max weights on truck and trailer. We stopped in Central City so we pulled that climb over 2 days. I just let the truck and trailer find its equilibrium. Which was about what I have pictured. Slow going, but the temp gauges never moved.