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You will effectively be towing with a 4 speed transmission; far from ideal.
If you are towing for any distance, you will soon tire of that rev'ing engine.
The revving stresses some people out, others don't worry about it. I don't worry about it, 3500rpm is nothing and I rarely hit that when I tow (pretty much just the bigger hills).
I don't lock out anything when I tow. I put it in tow/haul and let the transmission do its thing. Hunting has not been a problem for me with either my 2011 that had 3,73's or my 2015 that has 3.55's. Plenty of hills around here but no real mountains to tow through.
the 331s were a dog towing tge truck was constantly hunting and couldn't even maintain hwy speed up small inclines in the road. the 20 inch wheels didn't help much either. luckily the truck had a ton of issues and my dealer bought it back and I got my current truck which has 18 inch tires and 355s. it seams to pull better and can maintain speed on a rolling interstate way better than the last truck. I think my biggest problem is im used to these bad boys and my instincts are working against me
[QUOTE=AJ8916;5206297]okay I only ever locked out 6th maybe I'll try locking out 5th as well. out of curiosity what kind of mileage are you getting with both gears locked out?
I should have been a bit clear 8000lbs is the maximum I tow once a year and no more than 10 miles from the garden center to my house. when I tow long distance 6500 is the max I would go. the other problem I think im having is I've never towed with a N/A V8 before. I've had an ecoboost truck as well as towed with powerstrokes, I drive heavy spec tractor trailers for a living so I think my experience with forced induction motors is hindering me getting used to the 5.0 while towing[/QUOTE
1st truck reading a lot about locking out 6th gear. exactly how do you accomplish locking out 6th or even 5th for that matter.
The revving stresses some people out, others don't worry about it. I don't worry about it, 3500rpm is nothing and I rarely hit that when I tow (pretty much just the bigger hills).
I don't lock out anything when I tow. I put it in tow/haul and let the transmission do its thing. Hunting has not been a problem for me with either my 2011 that had 3,73's or my 2015 that has 3.55's. Plenty of hills around here but no real mountains to tow through.
It doesn't stress you out but it wears you out. I don't miss the high revving V8's one bit.
If you tow heavy enough and with big enough hills it will start downshifting to 5th quite often. If so then it needs to be locked out to keep the tranny from getting too warm.
If you tow, I always opt for deeper gears (higher numerically) but that is just my preference.
This is a highly misunderstood area and you are going to get some uninformed responses so I will try to clear this up right away.
Many point to the slight increase in RPM as a reason not to go with deeper gears as that minor increase in RPM does not really help much. This is a misunderstanding of the use of a deeper gear. What you gain is mechanical advantage, not just moving your engine up in the RPM and thus torque range.
Using deeper gear is the equivalent to using a longer lever to mover a heavy object or a longer ratchet to loosen a nut. Deeper gears make it easier for the trucks engine to do it's job, like giving you a longer lever, it is easier to move the heavy load. The slight increase in RPM is an added advantage as it gets you into more torque.
Personal choice but I take the slightly poorer mpg and enjoy the better towing experience.
All that being said going from 3.31 to 3.55 is not a big jump but I would still make it. If available I would go up to 3.73.
Rear end gearing is going to be much less important once they get the 10 speed behind all the motors. Really, the mechanical advantage is the combination of the transmission gear and rear end gear. The 10 speed has so many gear options to choose from that it will be able to run a taller rear gear and still have the ability to act like its running a short gear. I think the math I did showed that the 10 speed/3.31 combo has the same combined 1st gear ratio as the 6 speed/3.73 combo yet has a much taller 9th and 10th for highway cruising unloaded. Thing is if it couldnt hold 9th or 10th with a trailer it still has 8 gears below that which is better than only having 6 total like we are used to.
I lock out gears all the time in my '16 5.0 3.55. Not just when towing either. Stop n go traffic when Im in a rush, shifting into 5th at 30mph is BS.
When towing, I really love Manual mode. If Im pulling off the freeway/getting to the gas station/back on the freeway, Ill use drive, but usually once Im up to speed, Ill go to manual mode. I love that I can have the shifts occur on my command, not just when the computer senses XYZ
It's one thing if you tow an hour or two a few times a year. It's totally another with mountains, long trips, etc.
I agree, but.... The thread is about the 5.0 and 3.31 v 3.55 gears. No need to talk about the eco in comparison here.
The 5.0 is plenty capable but it does like to rev compared to other engines (which some love and others not). For towing, deeper gears will help b/c you already increase the revs and less need to downshift - which would have even higher revs... I like the 3.73 with the V8s and would stay away from the 3.31 unless it was primarily a hwy cruiser.
02-28-2017, 11:05 AM
