Towing in overdrive

[dhammann]

Re: Towing in overdrive

Common sense and the way you drive determine the longevity of a tranny. Jack rabbit starts are a killer. So is aggressive driving and passing gear.

 

[Northern Eclipse]

Re: Towing in overdrive

Rampart, For a Explorer to tow weight it first must have a tow package, mine is and consists of 3:73 axle ratio, extra capacity cooling aux trans cooler, engine oil cooler and factory trailer wiring harness and 5 speed auto 4.0 sohc V6 and 4 wheel abs disk brakes. Trailer brakes are a must. The Explorer tow well I do not use O/d it holds steady at speed, but is slow to get up to speed and, I do tow in hilly terrian( 400 highway ) but is a 60 to 65mph tops for comfortable towing, Over all I'm pleased with this little trucks ability it does a decent job,so far has been trouble free. Use 4 low at the ramp always and you won't break it, be patient when towing also. I tow about 250 miles round trip 5 or six times a year, but If I was going to make that trip every weekend I would opt for a bigger truck. In a nutshell the Explorer does a fair job, a little slow from a standstill, but once rolling it hold its own, and is decent on hills, that 4.0 has a good torque curve once it turns up past 2500 rpm. The only issue with 2002 Explorer's have been some pinion failure's, Ford does have a correction for it but its not a recall item, so listen for any strange rearend noise, If its noisy Ford will fix it, trust me my family is in the car business we have fixed a few them, I like my little truck its 1998 with about 65000 miles ( 103,000kms) on it no trouble with drivetrain. Hope I've answered your questions.

 

[unixgeek13]

Re: Towing in overdrive

coming into this thread late...<br />who would have thought that posting a question about OD would be akin to asking "So.. what's the best religion?"<br /><br />I pull a 20' cuddy with a 2003 F150 SuperCrew... Ford saw fit to all but hide the OD disengage, so out of sight, out of mind. I'm glad I read through this because it has given me cause to add a reminder about OD to my laminated towing checklist. Once I hit 40 yrs old, my brain starting leaking out details... so I made an extensive list of everything that I want done to the truck or the trailer prior to long or short tows. I find that it helps to have it all spelled out. Last summer, I did my prep from failing memory, and the one thing I forgot to do was the one that almost bit me. "Re-torque hitch ball" was the step that I forgot. Of course the nut came undone and only my luck saved me from a major catastrophe. Thank you God, for safety chains and gravity!

 

[Realgun]

Re: Towing in overdrive

Ford saw fit to all but hide the OD disengage

Is yours not located on the end of the shifter? Thats not hiding it!

 

[demsvmejm]

Re: Towing in overdrive

Originally posted by Realgun:<br />

Ford saw fit to all but hide the OD disengage

Is yours not located on the end of the shifter? Thats not hiding it!

Unless you don't know about it and the little light only comes on when you turn OD OFF.

 

[craze1cars]

Re: Towing in overdrive

I've always towed in overdrive as long as the tranny was not excessively "hunting." If it starts to hunt, I drop it to D. I have owned 3 full size Chevy trucks (all with 350's) beyond 150K miles treated in this way, and burned up one transmission on my '88 with a 700R4 (but not 'till 208,000 miles). So that's my experience.<br /><br />Present truck is an '03 1500HD crew cab 4x4 6.0L, with tow package and tow/haul mode. And I tow year round...snowmobiles, boat, on up to a 6,500 lb travel trailer at 70 mph in OD through rolling hills all day long. I should also probably note that in my past I had no qualms with regularly dropping the hammer to the floor while towing trailers to pass other cars on 2 lane highways (with age comes wisdom...I don't do this as often as I used to anymore, but never had a mechanical problem as a result.) I'm not expecting my current (4th) Chevy to do any worse than my others.<br /><br />I should note that my tow vehicle has always been a 3rd vehicle for us...which means they spend over 90% of their life towing trailers...no daily commuting or unloaded driving for these workhorses...<br /><br />Besides the 208K mile '88 truck, I've replaced 2 other trannys in my life. 1. Wife's 01 Olds Aurora 3.5 at 53,000 miles which never towed a thing in it's life and is driven conservatively by a middle aged school teacher. 2. 1979 Chevy Caprice with a T350 at 80,000 miles which was thrashed to death by a high school kid who learned the magic of a "brake torque." Yep, that High School pumk was me...<br /><br />So I honestly believe tranny rebuilds are brought on by bad driving habits just as much as they're brought on by bad design or a bad build (I presume my Olds tranny was assembled at the plant late on a Friday afternoon...or maybe during a Mon morning hangover)<br /><br />So I've personally seen no ill effects of nearly 600,000 miles of towing fairly heavy loads while thrashing in overdrive at and beyond the speed limit, IF common sense is used (does exceeding the speed limit while towing and "common sense" belong in the same sentence?! Maybe not...oh well!) Tow packages (trans cooler, appropriate axle ratio, etc) are, in my opinion, a must. And when the tranny starts to hunt, take it out of OD 'till things level out or the wind changes. And I always change tranny fluid & filter at 50K, whether it needs it or not.<br /><br />Peace out!