IronJoce

As the title says...

I pull a 7800lbs (with a 1200lbs pin weight) 5th wheel (just went to the scale again today) and my EB pulls it great. Most of the time the truck is in 6th gear and the low end torque is plenty to keep it there. At 62 mph the truck revs at 1800 RPM.

On my way to the camp site friday PM I averaged 26 l/100... (about 9MPG) with A LOT of trafic in Montreal. On my way back earlier today I decided to lock out the 6th gear so I drove in 5th. At 62 mph truck revs at 2200 RPM and need less help from the turbos. I averaged 22 l/100 with a bit less trafic.

What do you guys do with similar weigh trailer? Is it possible that it takes less gas by not using the 6th?

Thanks

Airborne636

8500 lbs loaded TT 925 lbs tongue at 60mph in 5th. I get between 9.5 and 11 mpg at that speed and gear combo. to me that is alot of lbs for an overdrive gear. Also I have noticed the truck will spool up the turbos without shifting on some steeper grades.

shawnw

FWIW 5th gear is an overdrive as well. 6th is double overdrive.

f150man3.5

The dealer told me to lock out 5th and 6th as they are both overdrive gears

BCMIF150

I follow the owners manual and use tow/haul. I have not found the need to lock out any gears.

BoostedFitz

I lock out 6th in mine when pulling our tt (7000 lbs). I feel better with this in hilly country. Not near as much shifting. Only drops to 4th on some bigger grades. I set the cruise at 90kph and let it do it's thing. Tow/haul on. I get anywhere from 9 - 13 mpg depending on the usual variables.

IronJoce

Your dealer doesn't know much as it is fine to tow with OD now.

Manual says to put tow/haul mode and that's it but wanted to know how everybody else where pulling.

Thanks

mcfarmall

I was a bit surprised to find that my manual says to use tow/haul only when towing in hilly terrain. As a matter of practice, I use t/h pretty much whenever I tow. I will try the lockout thing as an experiment on the next camping trip.

f150man3.5

Actually my salesman has 2011 f150, and tows a tt, just telling yah what he told me. 5th and 6th are overdrive gears, and to to stop it from shifting back and forth. I locked out 4th gear(which is an overdrive gear) in my inlaws 2004 f150 with the 5.4.(towing around 6000 tt+ people+gear) if i didn't it would constanlty be shifting back and forth. At the end of the day it's your truck, tow how you want, but i think i will lock out the overdrive for those heavy loads.

IronJoce

As I said, the manual says to tow in t/h mode and it is safe to tow in OD because torque converter is locked. As I also said, my EB can easily tow in 6th gear and it doesn't shift too often, you would be surprised of the hils it can climb without shifting in 5th... My question was to those who tow with EB and it was gas mileage related between 5th gear and 6th gear

I appreciate the time you took to answer but trust me, towing with a 5.4 with 4speed tranny is very different than an EB with 6sp.

Cheers