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SteveCal · 06-17-2012, 09:01 AM

2005 Southwind 32VS. 8.1/Workhorse.

When towing the car should I push the OD OFF switch? Will the engine/trans do just fine on level road using OD?

I'm thinking that in hilly/mountainous areas I should drop the shifter down a gear. Is this correct?

Thanks.

ronmc · 06-17-2012, 09:09 AM

#1 Yes

#2 Shift down as needed,usually just to second gear.

TerraTraveler · 06-17-2012, 09:32 AM

Good Morning,

I do tow a 2008 Explorer Sport Track in overdrive on (2007 TerraLX 32K with the 8.1 and 6 speed allison ) We travelover the Cascade and Coastal mountain range often.

When getting ready to descend, use the grade brake switch for the downhill. The grade brake function tighens up torque converter lockup and will react to downhill braking.

wa8yxm · 06-17-2012, 02:31 PM

IF towing on nice level ground where the transmission on your tow vehicle goes into a gear and stays there.. Leave the Overdrive on.

IF it's constantly shifting in and out of O/D.. Turn it off.

That is the rule no matter if you are towing or not.. So long as it's not HIGHlowHIGHlowHIGHlowHIGHlow leave overdrive enabled.

**CLIFFTALL** · 06-17-2012, 02:35 PM

Not sure about Workhorse but the Ford will suffer about 1 mpg with the OD off. I therefore only use it on steep hills or city driving.

SteveCal · 06-17-2012, 04:33 PM

Thank you for the replies. Going to take a test kruz with the toad next week end.

alvinc · 06-18-2012, 02:26 PM

As everyone says; if the transmission will stay in overdrive, leave it on.

As the grade increases, and the transmission will not stay in a single gear, manually downshift.

On a 2002 Southwind Workhorse, the downshift pattern is as follows:

tooling along in OD, no problem; grade begins to change and transmission is shifting back and forth between OD and 4th, turn the OD off (switch on dash);
if grade again increases and transmission is now shifting between 4th and 3rd, then using the steering column shifter change to 3rd gear;
repeat with 2nd and 1st gear till you reach the summit.

SteveCal · 06-19-2012, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alvinc

As everyone says; if the transmission will stay in overdrive, leave it on.

As the grade increases, and the transmission will not stay in a single gear, manually downshift.

On a 2002 Southwind Workhorse, the downshift pattern is as follows:

tooling along in OD, no problem; grade begins to change and transmission is shifting back and forth between OD and 4th, turn the OD off (switch on dash);
if grade again increases and transmission is now shifting between 4th and 3rd, then using the steering column shifter change to 3rd gear;
repeat with 2nd and 1st gear till you reach the summit.

Again, thanks for the information.

This long trip was kind of a test trip for us. 3070 miles at about 6 days driving. NW Florida to Indianapolis. Pick up Mom and go to Norfolk, VA. Then turn around and do it in reverse. Now. In WV there are two passes that are 7% grade for something like 7 miles each. This is where I started having problems because I left the cruise on (had a brain cramp I guess). The trans would down shift to 4th and rpm to about 3200. Then a sudden downshift to 3rd and the rpm went to over 4200. The radiator fans would kick on and the engine would start to rattle and the oil light came on. It absolutely would not come out of cruise control until I used the brakes to get down to about 40 mph. Happened twice. I hope I've learned to turn off the cruise control in the hills. I hope I didn't damage the engine. $4500.00 for a rebuilt plus installation is a harsh lesson.