do you turn your cruise control off when towing tt

[OldCoot]

Tow/haul engaged, cruise control off. Only use cruise control when unhooked or in the car.

[dsrace]

Originally Posted by Brother Les

Someday is today, for tomorrow will never come.

sooooo true lol btw i saw 6.0 tans cooler in your sig line.....nice choice!!

[Big Bad Allis]

I put mine on Tow/Haul. When on flat ground it usually drops into 6th gear on the freeway. Pulling a heavy 40' 5'er

[Ford Idaho]

13 days out cruise control as much as I could with T/H on onboard read out 9.4 MPG @ 65-70 MPH.

Pencil it out tomorrow but the diff will not matter.

[BamaBob]

Tow/haul engaged (ALWAYS when hooked up!) Cruise control always when towing flat, never in hilly areas

[CBergstrom]

Ram 3500 Cummins, tow-haul and engine brake on and I use the cruise as much as possible especially in hills with no traffic as the truck will maintain the speed better by using the engine brake and allowing me not use much brake. IMO, people should use cruise more often for all driving as you will get better fuel economy and traffic flows better if you don't have yahoos that can't keep their speed constant with their foot.

[johnleann]

I use the Cruise when I can. Everywhere is uphill from home as we live in the coastal ranges of Central Cali. Always tow with overdrive off no matter what. Mileage bites but that is the way it goes. Usually cruise from 59mph to 62mph. Get about 9mpg when towing. Figure 8mpg when trying to guestimate the amount of fuel needed for a trip.

[fvstringpicker]

I put my Duramax in D, press the T/H button and let the Allison figure it out. If I'm in hilly country or a two lane/secondary road I don't use cruise control. If I'm pulling a significant grade, I will usually restrict the transmission to 5th gear if the RPMs drop much below 1700.

[SKnight]

It pulls so well that if I don't set the cruise in clear areas then I'll end up keeping pace with traffic at 80mph.

Seriously, I do set it for that reason, I'm also a bit more judicious about how tight traffic gets before I turn it off.

[Chuckinca]

For Info:

Just drove from central Fla to Norcal in 4 days in our 08 Ram 3500 Cummins 6.7 L with a camper shell and loaded with 2 cats and wife's crafts stuff - Cat scaled 8860 lbs with no trlr. Ocala - Vicksburg - Amarillo - Kingman - Lakeport (an hour north of Napa Valley).

Always use cruise on open road. Use tow/haul in hilly areas (always use it with trailer).

MPG on open flat interstates going 68 - 74 MPH calculated at near 19; truck display was 20.5 +/-.

[Jammer3025]

Originally Posted by Chuckinca

For Info:

Just drove from central Fla to Norcal in 4 days in our 08 Ram 3500 Cummins 6.7 L with a camper shell and loaded with 2 cats and wife's crafts stuff - Cat scaled 8860 lbs with no trlr. Ocala - Vicksburg - Amarillo - Kingman - Lakeport (an hour north of Napa Valley).

Always use cruise on open road. Use tow/haul in hilly areas (always use it with trailer).

MPG on open flat interstates going 68 - 74 MPH calculated at near 19; truck display was 20.5 +/-.

This is how I do it also. I failed to read the OP's original question that was about cruise control. I do use it on flat terrain. As soon as I see a hill I take it off. I use the tow/haul feature as soon as I have the TT hooked up and ready to go.

[Bryce]

Originally Posted by dsrace

a dp tuner adds trans shift points for pulling which is a huge plus and out of od in 3rd gear in that trans which is most likely a 4r100 or e4od trans at that rpm you must have 3.55 gears cause with 4.10's you'd be at 2800 rpm ish at that speed. i have had 3 ford 7.3's and 1 was an auto with 4.10's. if you read the owners manual in your f250 psd you'll see that it states to pull in od, i added a bigger and better trans cooler and gauge just so i knew. and the bigger cooler was real easy to install and dropped the trans temps down 25* on the interstate at 75 mph towing my toyhauler loaded at almost 11k lbs.

I totally agree. As long as the engine and transmission are healthy, get a tuner from a respected tuner company (I use PHP), gauges(trans, pyro, boost), bigger trans cooler (like one from a 6.0) and go for it. A high flow exhaust and intake will give better performance and lower EGTs.

The RPMs do seem high but I never tow ours out of OD unless it starts hunting gears.

[prof_fate]

We live in an hilly area and with our expedition I'd often turn OD off.

On our Silverado that's not an option, but it does have a tow/haul button and I do use that religously. It changes the shift points, perhaps more.

With my cargo trailer I've tried w and w/0 the button and it's more comfortable towing with it on (cargo trailer runs 1500-1800lbs). Easier starting, less shifting. Can't say if MPG is better or not.

My assumption is since you can load the truck with 1500lbs and tow 9600k - or use it like a car with no load, the trans/computer is setup to get better mpg (shift into higher gear) with it off. So towing or being loaded it would be better with it on.

As for cruise control...in flat areas sure, in our hilly area nope.

[Kuba]

My silverado also brakes with its engine when in tow/haul mode. Depending how hard i punch the brakes

Sent from my Lenovo P780 using Tapatalk

[Jammer3025]

When I first responded to this thread, I was thinking it was a tow/haul question Jeez! Sorry for the confusion. To your question is yes I do use it when the road is flat. I always use the tow/haul function as soon as I hitch up, as per probably all vehicle manufactures will advise you to do.

Towing with cruise control is not advised on hills. If I have the cruise on and I see a hill coming up I cancel it until I'm through that section of the road. On a long day it's easier on your leg if your using it. Using the CC without turning it off in the hills could make your transmission oil get hot, due to all the shifting it will be doing. You sure don't want that to happen.

I tow at 55-60 mph, and this method works good for me.

[prof_fate]

Originally Posted by Kuba

My silverado also brakes with its engine when in tow/haul mode. Depending how hard i punch the brakes

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Being hilly here I see that often 'engine braking' or some such message on the dash DIC display.

Don't have to be in tow-haul mode to have it activate. I think it may pertain to how long you 'ride' the brakes?

What I find MOST annoying is we have backup camera/alarm and built in brake controller. DIC will say 'trailer connected' and then 'backup system blocked'...DUH! There's a trailer connected you stupid computer! Just my hitch ball is enough to block the sensors.

[jevanb]

Originally Posted by prof_fate

Being hilly here I see that often 'engine braking' or some such message on the dash DIC display.

Don't have to be in tow-haul mode to have it activate. I think it may pertain to how long you 'ride' the brakes?

how does the gas engine have a engine brake? have not owned a gasser for such a long time and don't follow them. Our diesels use the VGT vanes on the turbo to build back pressure, and yes tow haul and 2k rpm for it to activate

[TURBS]

Originally Posted by jevanb

how does the gas engine have a engine brake? have not owned a gasser for such a long time and don't follow them. Our diesels use the VGT vanes on the turbo to build back pressure, and yes tow haul and 2k rpm for it to activate

8.1 liter gm ' s using the Allison Trans had the same feature in to haul mode down shifting.

Course I'm not sure about the new models.

[jevanb]

Originally Posted by f1100turbo

8.1 liter gm ' s using the Allison Trans had the same feature in to haul mode down shifting.

Course I'm not sure about the new models.

that is not engine brake it is trans brake or down shifting

[TURBS]

Originally Posted by jevanb

that is not engine brake it is trans brake or down shifting

Correct.
But I'm assuming that's what there talking about. "Trans braking"

To my knowledge I've never seen a gas "engine brake"