Tips for towing on the interstate hwys

[Brother Les]

Originally Posted by jpaskell

Brother Les,
Thanks for the note. If I leave the OD turned off, will the transmission not hunt back and forth? Owners manual says keepOD off ( button pushed in and no OD available) when towing. Or am I getting confused between off and on. To me off, is as normal driving and overdrive available. On is when towing up a hill and you don't want transmission to shift in and out of OD.

The V10 has no problems pulling it's just going by a gas station that's an issue. I love my truck. Thanks again,

Jim

OD is the Over Drive Gear. This is a Higher gear.... ie.. 1st gear...2nd gear... 3rd gear... OD..ie.4th gear. The higher the gear when going faster the better the gas mileage. "On" is 'normal' driving'... no towing.... to get to your highest gear when driving faster...

With the OD 'on' or 'off' the truck will hunt for the 'gear' that it needs based in the RPMs and gear shift setting in your transmission. Your owners manual is says to leave it out of OverDrive to force your truck (governor) to run higher RPMs at higher speeds.... to make pulling very heavy loads easier. If the truck is able to pull the load at lower RPMs then your fuel consumption will be lower and the stress on your truck lower. You may be stressing your truck for no reason and burning more fuel than you need to.

On my truck (which is Chipped, Tow/Normal/High Performance modes) when I am pulling my TT at 64-65 mph with OD 'on', my RPMs are 1800 RPMs.... the truck is not lugging down and all is smooth cruising. If I take the OD 'off'...then the RPMs will shoot up of 2200 RPMs and I would be in a lower gear.....

'I' will not race my engine that high and put so much stress on my 3rd (instead of 4th) gear. I leave my OD 'on' all of the time.

I would suggest going to a truck forum with your make and model truck and talk to those guys/gals. They will know your v10... in and out...and give good suggestions.


Blessings

[jpaskell]

Brother Les,
Thanks again for the explanation, it was very helpful. I believe I now better understand how it works. I will see if I can find a forum for my truck. It would be interesting to see what others do.

Thanks again,

Jim

[Skippy38]

So this past weekend I put down a 4.5 hour each way trip to Ft Myers, FL. Going there I had a tail wind and cruised at 59 mph on OD gear at 1700 rpms, getting 12 mpg driving mostly one handed with the cruise on. Coming back I was going into a 15 mph headwind and stayed in 5th gear almost all of the way going 2200 rpm and got about 9 mpg, mostly two handed and cruise on. Got passed by a few big rigs with no sway and all is well. 59-60 seems to be the sweetspot. Still freaks me out a little when the trucks pass.....

[DKRITTER]

Here's what we do;

1. Sleep in

2. Drive slow and pay attention

3. Quit early

4. Have a beer

[BobandArlene]

I try to keep my speed 65 and under. Fuel mpg goes down exponentially over 65 mph.

Also, trailer tires aren't rated for over 65 mph.... not that most people care, but just throwing that out as an FYI.