Gudbrand

Hi everyone, I'm new here so I apologize if this is repetitive. I have a 2011 F150 Supercab with the 5.0L. I pull a 2014 Keystone 26BHSWE travel trailer. Dry weight is about 6500lbs. The truck has enough power and torque to pull the trailer (I went from Calgary Alberta to Yellowstone, back up to West Glacier and home to Calgary this summer with the wife and kids). My problem is when the dealership sold me the truck, and I asked for a towing package, they pretty much slapped on the 7-pin harness, didn't wire it, and there is no tranny cooler. I had my tranny overheat when pulling uphill on my trip (through the mountains). I have considered buying a new truck with the 6.2 (I don't have a need for the diesel), but when I asked at another dealership about the tranny cooler, they said they could install a factory one for $1200 (Canadian). I have a great hitch which self-levels and has sway control. I'm thinking this is my best and most cost effective option. Any opinions on this or other suggestions?


Thanks so much!

daveak

I pull a similar weighted trailer with my 2013, 5.0. No issues, but I do have a real trailer towing package. I probably do not pay close enough attention, but I have never seen an issue with the trans temp - a stock cooler is probably fine. However, if you can choose and add your own, you may find you do better with a third party for quality and price. I am sure others here can pipe in on reccomendations either way.

Btw, after the overheating - You did drain, flush, and put in new trans fluid, right?

Gudbrand

The tranny did not overheat to be exact. When I looked down, I saw the needle heading towards the yellow line. I pulled over and let her cool down. I had to do this twice on the trip, but it never got to the red zone or overheat fully. Yes, I did have it serviced when I got back and have had no issues with it since.

brulaz

I pull a similar weight trailer all over with no problems, but I have the MaxTow option.

That includes the tranny cooler but also the select-shift tranny. Does your tranny have the Tow/Haul option and manual shift?

It also includes a larger radiator, built-in brake controller (outstanding!) and few other things.

You don't need to go to a Superduty to tow that trailer. An F150 with the MaxTow or, even better, MaxTow + Heavy Duty Payload option would be fine.

A tranny cooler will defnitely help, but if your truck doesn't have Tow/Haul, I would consider trading it in for a used F150 with MaxTow at least.

smokeywren

Ford has a weird definition of tranny temp on their built-in OEM tranny temp gauges. The stock gauge on the dash looks like an analog gauge, but it's not. It's an idiot gauge.


Green means you're good to go. Yellow, even the lowest point of yellow, means your tranny is to hot and you need to pull over and stop, put the tranny in neutral or park, and elevate the engine RPM to at least 1,200 RPM until the gauge jumps back into the green again.


Red means you're too late. Your tranny is probably already toast. Crawl into the nearest Ford dealer or tranny shop and have it thoroughly inspected and tested. As a minimum, flush the tranny using nothing but synthetic ATF, then change the ATF to synthetic. Then hope you don't have to replace the torque converter and overhaul the tranny for a while.


With a Lariat or higher trim that has the digital tranny temp gauge built into the "gauges" display, 190° to 210° is normal towing temp. 210° to 225° is hot but not yet too hot. 225° is the red line. If you see 225°, notice that your dash gauge is into the yellow so stop and cool off.


Also, if you ever see 225°, replace your tranny cooler with a much bigger heat exchanger.


If you don't have that digital tranny temp gauge in the "gauges" display, then I would add a good tranny temp gauge that has clear markings around 220° so you can easily see at a glance when you are over 220° and may need to find a wide spot in the road before you exceed the red line.

Gudbrand

Thanks for the replies folks! I do have a tow/haul mode, but not the MAX-TOW package. I've actually got a lead on a 2014 F250 that I'm going to go take for a test drive next week when I get home. I've wanted a 3/4 ton for a while and this one has everything I want so I may be trading up anyways.


cheers!