Towing up a long steep grade

MIBuckeye

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id say tow mode and roll on. truck will figure out what it wants to do gear wise. id give a quick glance down to the temp at the top of each climb just to see how things are. nothing to worry about if it goes up a bit. but if the temp needle heads far west then worry.
Had this very thing happen heading up I395 in CA near Mono Lake. Just driving along 65mph in tow mode on a long 4 mile 6%er and the truck just raced to red on temp, went into limp mode and the dash lit up out of no where...it returned right back to normal. The whole ordeal took seconds....and didn't have a problem after that for several thousand miles. No problems since. I think the temp guage flaked out because no way the truck would have recovered that fast.
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brroberts

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I run a scanguage with cylinder head temp, water temp, voltage, and trans temp. Nothing has ever gotten close to hot.
 

Floyd

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I have experienced hunting when towing at hiway speeds. If it goes up to 9th or 10th it will inevitally hunt between 8th thru 10th depending on the minor up and down grades. To avoid this and the locking and unlocking of the torque converter I lock out the upper two gears. 8th is still overdrive. Tow mode does not by itself lock out any gears.

Works for me, you do you.
While you are right that tow mode doesn't "lock out" any gears, it just about never uses 10th when towing a 4000# trailer. I seldom if ever use tow mode when towing my 2000# Scamp...
 
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9zero1790

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Had this very thing happen heading up I395 in CA near Mono Lake. Just driving along 65mph in tow mode on a long 4 mile 6%er and the truck just raced to red on temp, went into limp mode and the dash lit up out of no where...it returned right back to normal. The whole ordeal took seconds....and didn't have a problem after that for several thousand miles. No problems since. I think the temp guage flaked out because no way the truck would have recovered that fast.
makes me wonder if the truck has a temp sensor on the turbo and kicks into limp mode if it gets to a set temp. E g T or something like that. when i had diesel trucks id see the egt go up a bit if i pushed them hard on a long grade.
 


Frenchy

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Use no or low ethanol fuel, also mid grade or higher. An extra few bucks can go a long way in avoiding issues..
Owners manual already states to use premium fuel(91 and higher) for towing and better performance. With that said no on the mid grade fuel unless its 91 or higher
 

fORdEGON

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I’ve towed my 5k enclosed trailer up the Coquihalla summit a few times. The last section heading north of the great bear snow shed is brutal. The ranger does very well in tow mode. RPM and gear selection are dam near spot on. Wish I had pre turbo pyrometers though as I’m used to running my 5.9l Cummins based on EGT gauges on long pulls. Granted I can run 25mph faster in the old dodge with the same trailer on the final approach to the summit but the ranger holds its own. Guess it’s safe to assume the ranger knows how to not cook it’s pistons. I would also add that I’m impressed with the downshifting on the ranger I swear it uses a combo of the inclinometer sensors, brake pedal pressure , speed/rpm to detect when to drop down a gear in tow mode. First auto truck I’ve ever owned that makes me feel ok about not having a clutch
 

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When towing, which is most of the time, I use premium. The rest of the time regular, but almost always top tier fuel.

I do agree the computer does a great job on the downhills. so I end up not touching the shifter. I really wondered about that at first.
 

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We've towed our Black Series HQ15 up and down some pretty steep grades. With this 6K trailer we've found Sport mode better than Tow mode, with manual shifting on grades steeper than a few degrees. Not sure where it is over-heating, but we did drop into limp mode a couple of times until I learned to keep a closer eye on things. Now we turn off the AC and drop a gear when the gauge gets above halfway with no further limp occurrences. We've found that off-road on anything other than easy fire service roads it likes 4L much better than 4H from a heat management perspective. We do drop a couple mpg with 4L, but still plenty of speed available when the road smooths out.
 

Rock squirrel

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I agree with most others and think the truck has it figured out. I don’t always use tow mode when I’m going up, but it works great going down.

Lower RPMs seem to control the temp best if you’re really pushing it like I did when I found the load conditions that made an apparent difference:
https://www.ranger5g.com/forum/threads/finally-found-the-towing-limit.20948/#post-454647

I’d also say premium fuel makes a big difference, but requires some consistent use for the computer to figure it out (I.e. don’t just go from 87 to 91 in one tank before towing and expect to get your money’s worth).

If it feels like it’s shifting too much up and down, usually easier to adjust speed to manage lower RPM and keep it smooth going up vs trying to maintain a set speed.
 

Montana Ranger

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The transmission in "tow" mode knows what to do. When crossing a pass or going down steep grades, I shift into "sport" mode and will downshift and hold it in 2nd or 3rd gear and at or below 55mph.
 

awd.nv

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Only issue I find the trans to do on long grades is that it waits too long to down shift, so then it drops two gears when it only needed to drop one gear (earlier on). Nothing wrong with letting the computer do its thing, but what I do is below.

I keep an eye on engine load through my Scan Gauge ii. I try to keep it under 80% for long periods of time. I do not mind letting it break 80% if I know it is just a tiny hill but I prefer keeping it at 80% or less on climbs.

So, when I tow I put it in tow mode and lock out 9th and 10th. Generally I let the trans do its job but if I am coming up on a long climb and know I will need to drop a gear, I lock out 8th as well and have it climb in 7th. If that's not enough, then I lock out 7th and have it climb in 6th. Once the hard part is nearing completion I bring back the gears so that only 9/10th are locked out and the trans will shift when ready.

Keep in mind, I have 285/70/17 (~33" tires). Prior with the stock Tremor 265/70/17 I could climb usually without getting into 6th but with the diameter increase, sometimes I might get into 6th on climbs. We tow with a Geo Pro 19BH which is 3200lb dry and likely 4200lbs for the weekend.
 

Kemo Sabe

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I tow around 4,000 in trailer mode and let the computer do the thinking... The Ranger pulls real good up hills., much better than my '05 5.4 liter Lariat!

Depending on the grade I'll slow to 55-60 mph in cruise control unless it's a crazy grade.

Enjoy!
Yep! My precise load and standard; c omputer, trailer mode.
 

khyros

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For all of you concerned about temperatures, keep in mind that Ford has to pass the J2807 trailer test in order to say that the truck is capable of towing 7,500 lbs.

The relevant section for this would be to be drive the 11.4mi stretch of davis dam (average grade of 5.8%), >100degF, max AC, never dropping below 40mph, and without any warnings or part failures.

There are a lot of other requirements, but that's the pertinent one to the temperature discussion. Though in all honesty, that's only measuring the cooling capability of the truck. The other tests do a better job measuring the engine performance, the braking capability, and the sway control of the truck, but those always seem to take a backseat to the cooling conversation.

And as I've said elsewhere, in case you are in a position where you're over heating the truck, it's smarter than you. It will tell you that temps are too hot and will start limiting power (which will have the effect of slowing you down, and generating less heat) before it overheats to prevent it from overheating.
 

Montana Ranger

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For all of you concerned about temperatures, keep in mind that Ford has to pass the J2807 trailer test in order to say that the truck is capable of towing 7,500 lbs.
We've towed our 7,000 lbs travel trailer all over the northwest, including high altitude passes with extreme grades during some of the "heat bomb" heatwaves where temps were around 100. The temp gauge has never budged.

I've tried the higher octane gas when towing and could not detect any difference in performance or mileage.
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