Tow mode all the time?

[Beach]

I was just curious if anybody runs with the tow mode on all the time. It seems like my transmission shifts better and it doesn't feel "luggy" at lower speeds when I do.

I've used it a few times just to see 2nd being engaged and different shift patterns. The problem tho is that it downshifts faster too and you get more downshift shock. So when I use it, its only to start off (typically cold am) and I turn it off

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[dozxab]

I did the FPP Tune 6 months ago and love it. Conservative when you want it and aggressive when you want that. Never use Sport Mode any more. Really don't care about the HP as much as the shifting improvement.

 

[LowKeyTremor]

When I had Unleashed tune the shifting strategy of my truck I had him combine it with his 91 and 87 octane performance tunes. I have been running the 87 tune for a couple of years now and I am very satisfied with no desire to squeeze a few more HP out of the truck with a 91 or 93 octane tune. When I feel sporty I drive my 68 Barracuda or Hemi powered Hot Rod.

FWIW, Over the years I have even toned down the tuneup of the Barracuda in the interest of improved driveability.

thanks for that input! That absolutely makes sense and my take away is that there’s plenty of power without bringing it to the absolute max! In a way, better Safer than sorry. I’m not looking to push it to the limit and accidentally land a little bit beyond!

I found myself kind of doing something similar… But basically just going for a bit more drivability, versus just raw power which I have always been an adrenaline junkie!

I’ll Go A Bit of Topic - but still related to your info: (I actually love that extra part you added about the Barracuda!)

Now you’ve brought up a new issue; I’m extremely jealous of your ‘Cuda?!! My grandparents on my mom’s side would buy a new car every other year, and now it is finally clicked; of course they liked new cars but my grandmother in particular was one heck of a car enthusiast! Now she had a bunch of cool ones, but I’ll just get to the point!

A 68 (pretty positive I have the year right) Cuda was one of her many vehicles! Unfortunately I never got to meet her, but for the first time I’ve just thought about how I’m the only one in my family who loves cars and I know where it came from now!

As far as you switching to drivability- I think I get it also… I could see my 20 something year-old self going with a cam that sounds like the car is about to die, and then say it was automatic, having one hell of a shift… Chirping the hell out of each gear with any amount of power and a high stall torque converter.

On my Mustang Cobra, it was all fun and games with the King Cobra clutch upgrade (my original clutch finally went out… Lots of power shifts… ouch, but I definitely ended up gapping cars that should not have been gapped)!

But that was not so much fun when I found myself in HOURS of stop and go traffic in the Bay Area! I remember thinking, holy shit this is torture! First of all the clutch wanted me to really let it out and did not love being feathered… I won’t forget that one choosing if it ever comes to that in the future.

My left calf was probably larger than my right, because that was one hell of a stiff clutch!

Anyways, in the bigger picture I like the idea of grabbing an older muscle car. I picked one up at the wrong time and ended up not going forward with the project (forged 306 with a Kenne Bell twinscrew, running 5.0 EFI… AFR 185, GT 40 lower… On and on and on and I blew it. Why didn’t I just keep that motor and say bye-bye to the stupid shell)

Well that was my idiotic car move for sure.

All right, I digress lol

Have fun with what I would consider a pretty perfect combination of vehicles!

 

[LowKeyTremor]

I did the FPP Tune 6 months ago and love it. Conservative when you want it and aggressive when you want that. Never use Sport Mode any more. Really don't care about the HP as much as the shifting improvement.

I definitely would like a little more power but I’m starting to realize, especially with the Tow setting strategy, which I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of… anyways, I’m realizing that it’s the shifting that is my biggest problem. The motor is pretty stout as it is. Any extra HP will be icing on the cake!

I just I’m sort of blown away that Ford’s strategy down shifts so much that it is lugging that barely 1000 RPMs at times. Well at least that’s fixable, and it sounds like I’ll be plenty happy with a street tune, and only when I’m feeling a little wild, hit up the performance tune.

All excellent info! Thanks (on behalf of those in my situation) by the way!

 

[Grumpaw]

When using tow/haul mode for every day driving does it effect gas mileage?

This is something that would require several tanks of the same gas, and driving in "drive" and then getting the same # of tanks of gas, driving the same route, in "tow/haul" mode, and then comparing them.
Just not worth my time and fuel to determine if one is more "efficient" than the other....
I'm sure someone here has comprised a spreadsheet comparing the two.....

 

[Friday yet?]

Guy was like 70…. So maybe it was not that impressive!

Oh come on. At 70 you can still stomp the go pedal!

 

[Friday yet?]

I’ve run tow mode a few times just to compare it. But as many have said, I find the down shift pattern to be WAY too aggressive.

 

[Josebd]

i ran mine in tow/haul mode today,love it! the downshifting wasn't bad at all

 

[Dgc333]

thanks for that input! That absolutely makes sense and my take away is that there’s plenty of power without bringing it to the absolute max! In a way, better Safer than sorry. I’m not looking to push it to the limit and accidentally land a little bit beyond!

I found myself kind of doing something similar… But basically just going for a bit more drivability, versus just raw power which I have always been an adrenaline junkie!

I’ll Go A Bit of Topic - but still related to your info: (I actually love that extra part you added about the Barracuda!)

Now you’ve brought up a new issue; I’m extremely jealous of your ‘Cuda?!! My grandparents on my mom’s side would buy a new car every other year, and now it is finally clicked; of course they liked new cars but my grandmother in particular was one heck of a car enthusiast! Now she had a bunch of cool ones, but I’ll just get to the point!

A 68 (pretty positive I have the year right) Cuda was one of her many vehicles! Unfortunately I never got to meet her, but for the first time I’ve just thought about how I’m the only one in my family who loves cars and I know where it came from now!

As far as you switching to drivability- I think I get it also… I could see my 20 something year-old self going with a cam that sounds like the car is about to die, and then say it was automatic, having one hell of a shift… Chirping the hell out of each gear with any amount of power and a high stall torque converter.

On my Mustang Cobra, it was all fun and games with the King Cobra clutch upgrade (my original clutch finally went out… Lots of power shifts… ouch, but I definitely ended up gapping cars that should not have been gapped)!

But that was not so much fun when I found myself in HOURS of stop and go traffic in the Bay Area! I remember thinking, holy shit this is torture! First of all the clutch wanted me to really let it out and did not love being feathered… I won’t forget that one choosing if it ever comes to that in the future.

My left calf was probably larger than my right, because that was one hell of a stiff clutch!

Anyways, in the bigger picture I like the idea of grabbing an older muscle car. I picked one up at the wrong time and ended up not going forward with the project (forged 306 with a Kenne Bell twinscrew, running 5.0 EFI… AFR 185, GT 40 lower… On and on and on and I blew it. Why didn’t I just keep that motor and say bye-bye to the stupid shell)

Well that was my idiotic car move for sure.

All right, I digress lol

Have fun with what I would consider a pretty perfect combination of vehicles!

Here is a picture of my two fun cars.

 

[jflogerzi]

When using tow/haul mode for every day driving does it effect gas mileage?

very little to none

 

[Cabose-1]

I drive either in sport mode, or tow haul mode. Only drive in normal at the last 2 miles coming home. Let the turbo cool down. But absolutely hate normal mode.

2024 xlt, 4x2, elocker. Advanced tow.

 

[jflogerzi]

be careful with the e85 without flex fuel.

 

[jflogerzi]

I drive either in sport mode, or tow haul mode. Only drive in normal at the last 2 miles coming home. Let the turbo cool down. But absolutely hate normal mode.

2024 xlt, 4x2, elocker. Advanced tow.

fellow fx2 buddy ?

 

[LowKeyTremor]

Here is a picture of my two fun cars.

Those are both just flat out beautiful! Dang you got some good taste in rides!!!

Love the pics and always happy when people post those types of things! Thanks for sharing! Just gets me kind of back into the swing of things and wanting to get back into the muscle car/hot rod game!

Almost did the idiotic thing of buying a Corvette Gran Sport, which is only stupid because it was very hard to be a homeowner without a truck. Now that I got the truck, it’s time to get back into my original passion!

But I must say, these trucks are sleepers and most people have no idea just how potent they are! In fact, I’m have to be honest and say that they do satisfy some of my hot rod tendencies and just the visceral feeling!

Even more wild is that it’s before I’ve even added a tune!

 

[awd.nv]

thanks for that input! That absolutely makes sense and my take away is that there’s plenty of power without bringing it to the absolute max! In a way, better Safer than sorry. I’m not looking to push it to the limit and accidentally land a little bit beyond!

I found myself kind of doing something similar… But basically just going for a bit more drivability, versus just raw power which I have always been an adrenaline junkie!

I’ll Go A Bit of Topic - but still related to your info: (I actually love that extra part you added about the Barracuda!)

Now you’ve brought up a new issue; I’m extremely jealous of your ‘Cuda?!! My grandparents on my mom’s side would buy a new car every other year, and now it is finally clicked; of course they liked new cars but my grandmother in particular was one heck of a car enthusiast! Now she had a bunch of cool ones, but I’ll just get to the point!

A 68 (pretty positive I have the year right) Cuda was one of her many vehicles! Unfortunately I never got to meet her, but for the first time I’ve just thought about how I’m the only one in my family who loves cars and I know where it came from now!

As far as you switching to drivability- I think I get it also… I could see my 20 something year-old self going with a cam that sounds like the car is about to die, and then say it was automatic, having one hell of a shift… Chirping the hell out of each gear with any amount of power and a high stall torque converter.

On my Mustang Cobra, it was all fun and games with the King Cobra clutch upgrade (my original clutch finally went out… Lots of power shifts… ouch, but I definitely ended up gapping cars that should not have been gapped)!

But that was not so much fun when I found myself in HOURS of stop and go traffic in the Bay Area! I remember thinking, holy shit this is torture! First of all the clutch wanted me to really let it out and did not love being feathered… I won’t forget that one choosing if it ever comes to that in the future.

My left calf was probably larger than my right, because that was one hell of a stiff clutch!

Anyways, in the bigger picture I like the idea of grabbing an older muscle car. I picked one up at the wrong time and ended up not going forward with the project (forged 306 with a Kenne Bell twinscrew, running 5.0 EFI… AFR 185, GT 40 lower… On and on and on and I blew it. Why didn’t I just keep that motor and say bye-bye to the stupid shell)

Well that was my idiotic car move for sure.

All right, I digress lol

Have fun with what I would consider a pretty perfect combination of vehicles!

Man this brought back a memory. I have a Centerforce dual friction clutch in my 66 Mustang and yeah stop and go traffic in so cal was a pain, my younger self couldn't understand why people who have muscle cars don't daily them. Here I am, with that same car still and haven't driven it in probably a year.

A buddy of mine and I got into an arm chair kinda talk where we kept one upping each other on our next engine build. He ended up going twin turbo on his fox body and I was working on a 408w. I got the long block done, Eagle forged crank an H-beam rods, JE Forged pistons, zero gap rings, AFR 205, well about $8k later I just ran out of money and sold it off to build the 306 that is still in it.

My 66 is a humble car, rat rod'ish because I was broke and it is a time capsule to this day of that time of my life. 8.20's on the 1/8th on street tires but man, lump cam, high compression, smiles for days. She just needs TLC as I haven't weekly driven it in over 10 years. I think the Mustang will hang out in storage until my twins are at least teens. Being self employed means the work never ends either.

I get more interested in considering trading in the Tremor for a Ranger Raptor (RR) over building the Mustang again at this moment, but I can't ever ever get rid of her. She is a special car. I also dig the Tremor, don't really want to get rid of it either even for a Raptor unless the cost of ownership exceeds logic outside of warranty. The reason I love the 5g Ranger is the interior is just modern enough. It bugs me to have a Tesla screen in the 6g Ranger. I can get over it in a RR but no other trim will get me out of my 5g Ranger.

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