I just had a question about towing.. when you tow the manual recommends that you dont use over drive correct? so if you dont use over drive the engine seems to be reving higher all the time is that what its suppose to do or are you just not suppose to use overdrive on the hills?

right now on flat i use over drive and on the hills turn over drive off? is that how you guys do it?

thanks

 

most newer trucks have a tow/haul mode that does it all for you.

 

so what does the mode do? thanks

 

It depends on the truck.... What kind of truck do you have?

 

its a 2004 toyota highlander

tow ready with trans cooler, auto

 

towing my gutted cx civic with a tow dolley

 

I've always kind of wondered this myself. What most trucks call overdrive now a days seems to be just a 4th gear. I like to tow at about 65-70mph, which was over 3k RPM in third gear on my 5.4 Expedition (3.73 gears) but was right in the sweet spot of 2200-2400RPM in 4th. What I always did was keep it in 4th on flat roads and if I came up to a hill I would downshift into third so it wouldn't have to kick down itself. This worked for 3 years with no problems. Now I have an Armada with the Big Tow package, which has 3.36 gears and 5 speeds. I just keep it in 4th all the time since it is right at 2500 at 70mph, which seems perfect.

 

I *think* the reason for locking out OD/4th when towing is to stop the transmission from slipping in and out of OD/4th in hilly areas. It's the constant shifting that causes the heat/wear that the engineers want you to avoid.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Crack Monkey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the reason for locking out OD/4th when towing is to stop the transmission from slipping in and out of OD/4th in hilly areas. It's the constant shifting that causes the heat/wear that the engineers want you to avoid.</TD></TR></TABLE>

What he said. If it's hunting for gears, switch off OD and slow down to a comfortable RPM.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Crack Monkey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I *think* the reason for locking out OD/4th when towing is to stop the transmission from slipping in and out of OD/4th in hilly areas. It's the constant shifting that causes the heat/wear that the engineers want you to avoid.</TD></TR></TABLE>

On a somewhat unrelated note, I keep my automatic tranny locked in 1st, and shift it up to 2nd once, to avoid this same problem when AXing...

 

What the others said... If it's hunting between gears then you need to turn off overdrive.

On some (not all?) trucks turning off overdrive does a few other things as well. It will often lock the torque converter much earlier/all the time, and that will keep tranny temps way down.

Scott

 

hmm, towing with a highlander...

i'm interested in how your pull goes, just because if and when i start towing my car, as much as i'd like to have a 7.3L diesel monster, a 4.0L V8 Tundra will probably be more realistic for my everyday needs and preferable to a F250 or the like.

i'm assuming you're towing to WSIR and BW from the greater LA area? update when you can, thanks.

 

I am never in OD at all on my truck unless I'm on the highway period. Whether I'm towing or not. My era trans has a stupid method of switching gears based off the TPS sensor mainly (dumbest idea ever). So around town it ALWAYS goes to OD and lugs the hell out of the engine. Not a good thing with a diesel.

I only put it in OD when I have to. My truck goes from 0-3000RPM. 55mph without OD engaged is at 2250rpm. Once I hit that OD goes on.

 

i have no problem towing my civic to streets of willow, i havent towed it to button willow but it should be ok. but you need the tow package or tow prepped car

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mr Milano &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I am never in OD at all on my truck unless I'm on the highway period. Whether I'm towing or not. My era trans has a stupid method of switching gears based off the TPS sensor mainly (dumbest idea ever). So around town it ALWAYS goes to OD and lugs the hell out of the engine. Not a good thing with a diesel.

I only put it in OD when I have to. My truck goes from 0-3000RPM. 55mph without OD engaged is at 2250rpm. Once I hit that OD goes on.</TD></TR></TABLE>

ditto

 

A friend of mine tows his EF hatch to BW and WS pretty often. He uses a tow dolly and his wife's RX300, which is basically a Highlander. Says he's had no trouble with it, even over the Grapevine.

With a 4.7l Tundra, you'll have nothing to worry about. I towed with one for 6 months, and it was actually fun in the Grapevine, in 2nd gear at 50-60 mpg. That 4-cam motor was pretty powerful when you revved it up. I still prefer my PSD tho