I have a question for you 2009 F-150 owners. How does the Tow/Haul button affect the operation of your truck. With my 4x4 06 ranger, when I push the button, I lose overdrive. Meaning when I'm doing 60 at 2000 rpm, and I push the button, the rpm's jump to 3000 and it holds in that gear, meaning the overdrive goes away. On the 09 F-150, I push the tow/haul button at 60 and there is no change in rpm's. My dealer tell's me that you don't lose overdrive and that only the shifting is affected. {stays in gear longer}. Does this sound right? I was towing my 6000LB trailer on the Mass. pike and it's turning 1800 rpm's at 70 mph. It's only got 2500 miles on it and I don't want to fry a tranny. Any input would be helpful
Thanks,
Al Roberts

 

it stays in gear longer and when your slowin down your gears help slow you down

 

My boss 07' F550 mason dump has it, it keeps the gears lower for towing and things. Like doing 60mph at 2g and then hitting the button will make the RPMs jump because its keeps it in lower range. It also downshifts while braking, its a really nice feature.

 

what kind of f150 you got?(fx4,xlt) cause some have a 6spd trans and i can maybe not seeing a big drop in rpm cause 5 and 6 might be geared really close to each other.

 

5.4L 3v engine,6 speed tranny, XLT

 

I have the same truck, engine, and tranny. I haven't pulled a trailer much at 70 mph yet, but i have pulled alot on steep hills. I think we do lose overdrive, but the 6 speed tranny compensates really well. I've only got about 1,000 miles on my XLT, and i hauled my trailer full of equipment out to my timber 10 miles away. It pulled the steep hills good with a load behind. I left the trailer at the timber, and didn't notice the tow/haul was on till i was descending the same steep hill upon return. It started gearing down to slow the truck. What surprised me is that the tow/haul stayed ingaged after the ignition was turned off. My last truck defaulted to off after the ignition was shut off. Come to think of it; i should test that some more. I might have subconsciously hit the tow at the top of the hill.

 

My 2009 tow haul defaults back to off when you turn the ignition off.

 

The best I can figure out it's also different shift points, lock up points, and shift delays. In short, it's a completely different shifting strategy. It also provides engine brakeing.

The manual provides a lot of good information.

Based on my towing experience, the O/D (or 6th) is always available. When I'm towing my 4000 lb boat on level roads, I have seen the same RPMs (around 1800 at 65 mph) as when I'm not towing. However, it does take longer on a flat road (with steady throttle position) to get to OD and it doesn't take much additional throttle to get it to drop out.

 

Hello I had an 02 Ranger and on those pickups the button is to turn off the overdrive, on the new F150's the Tow Haul button doesn't turn off your overdrive it puts the Tranny in Tow Haul Mode, and what that does is changes your shift points for better power and fuel mileage, fuel mileage is kinda worthless to talk about because if your pulling it goes down anyway. But try it, take off from a stop and drive normal then do the same thing with the Tow Haul on and you will notice the difference in the way it shifts. Hope that helps ya