Cruise control while towing?
 

My natural inclination is to say do not use cruise control while towing. I have noticed however, that after reading some posts, some folks are doing just that. Any thoughts on this? Does anyone think using cruise control while towing may cause damage?

Damage to what? I've used cruise control for over 20,000 miles of towing. It reduces driver fatigue, saves on fuel and prevents speeding tickets. With CC on, the speedometer is one less thing I have to check. I disengage CC when in traffic, adverse weather or other conditions where not appropriate.

Was not sure and didn't find reference to it in my owners manual. sounds like it is not a big deal then. Thanks for the response.

Some people have said they don't use cruise while towing because the trans shifts more. Others have said they don't because they get better mileage. I use on the Interstate for the reasons for the same reasons SkiSmuggs stated. Just try it and make up your own mind.

Thanks, I will try it!

I use it on the highway, love dropping the 5.0 into 5th with 6th locked out and plugging along at 70 or so. She does a real good job that way, dropping to 4th on big hills and holding speed easily. Plus the tow/ haul helps keep my speed lower on descent of the hills by engine braking as needed.

I do lock out 6th on rolling hills if I will not be going over 55. A hill in 6th gear bogs down, the shifts to 5th and then 4th. The same hill in 5th just stays in fifth.

In tow/haul mode the tranny automatically locks out 6th, right?

No, it does not. All gears are still available, unless you "lock them out" yourself with gear selector toggle.
BTW, I use cruise control, while towing, for some of the same afore mentioned reasons.

The tow haul mode does not lock out 6th but it does require a higher speed and light throttle before it will up shift and it will down shift sooner if more throttle is used.
At least that's how it works on my 2.7 with a 4000 lb trailer.:)

Locking out high gear was a feature of the older models. Ny 05 did that.

Thanks for that info! I was under the impression it locked out 6th which is pretty much Overdrive. Our transmissions are the same. I have the 3.5L naturally aspirated V6. Kind of interested in how it is going to do pulling my trailer. Supposedly, the truck is rated for 7200 lbs. I only pull the trailer twice a year. Once to the trailer site in the spring and once back home in the fall. It is only a 60 mile one way drive on all New England highways. The trailer however, is 7K lbs. My other truck, 4.6L V8 pulled it OK. That truck did not have the tow capacity that my new one does. That being said, the V8 in my old truck puts out 40 less HP but, 30 ft. lbs. more torque than the new truck. Hopefully, the torque difference will not hurt me. I will not know until this spring when I bring the trailer back to our site. I think the transmission in my old truck locked out Overdrive.

My 2010 did as well.

As long as the tranny isn't kicking in and out of gear then CC is just fine when towing.

Wayne

How do you ok out 6th?

Just what the other posters said.........Tow/Haul mode... Manual down to 5th......Cruise.....Perfect set-up.

With the truck in tow/haul mode, use the toggle switch on the shift lever and toggle down one time to lock out sixth gear. The lighted number six will go out when you do, then the tranny will work normally but only in gears 1-5.

Locking out gears is independent of tow haul mode . . . .

My gen 2 Sport Trac has the 4.6 3-Valve and the same 6R-80 transmission as the F150. I use the overdrive-off all the time when towing a larger camper and leave the overdrive on when towing a light boat or pop-up camper. Flat road means cruise control. In hills or mountains dictate the cruise control is off, so I can pick up a little speed on the declines and use momentum to delay or eliminate a downshift.

Like said, using cruise control is dependent on terrain and other driving conditions.
BTW, 5th and 6th gears are both overdrives. 5th is .86 and 6th is .69 . There is no 1:1 gear on the 6R80. 4th is 1.14 . I have found that, under certain conditions, mpg is of very little difference in 4th vs 5th while towing. The slight loss of mpg is worth the added torque. I saw only a drop of .1 mpg while bucking wind on my last trip and used 5th only when conditions made it favorable.

Unless it is hilly, or traffic conditions are bad, I will use cruise control on the interstate or limited access highways. No problems, as the other members have stated.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...4d4fade1d4.jpg



Although the owner's manual, in the towing section does advise to turn off the cruise control. But in the cruise control section, it doesn't say anything about towing.

As others stated, I've towed in tow mode and CC thousands of miles.

Only heads up, is that once I left CC engaged climbing up a good sized hill and half way up touched the brake to turn CC off. The rig buckled a bit as CC disengaged at a lower gear/high RPM. It was more pucker factor than wanted, and I'll make a point not to use CC towing on hills, up or down.

I don't lock out 6th gear when towing. ford service tech said as long as tow / haul is on let it shift all it wants. something about CPU keeps a better record and it don't eat gas as bad? I use CC in the flats but never on hills. plus it gets 11 MPG when towing 7700 pound travel trailer so I am happy. now that's at 55 t0 60 MPH and flat ground.

So.... based upon Abn150's post, Ford does say to shut off CC while towing. I also found this in the owner's manual. Seems, a lot of folks are using CC anyway.

It only mentions a specific siutuation when cruise may shut off. Ask yourself why. Will towing on a grade hurt the truck, or could having the cruise shut off on an inexperienced not paying attention driver, cause an accident, and Ford wants to avoid liability issues.

I have an '11 Lariat Supercrew. I tow a '12 Ranger HD in a 14x7 custom built V-nose enclosed trailer. I had to add an extra foot in height to the trailer when it was built to get the Ranger and its cab thru the door. So the trailer still has a pretty big frontal area. When I tow it out to my place in West Virginia I almost always use the Cruise. T/H on flat roads doesn't seem to use anymore gas than usual to me, so I just leave it on. It's not until I get into the mountains that I feel it kick in. I set the cruise at 60 mph or so and enjoy the ride. It usually does fine on the inclines. Once I'm at the top and about to descend, I click both the CC and T/H off, lock out 6th. and cruise on down. The wind resistance from my trailer usually keeps me at a steady speed. It's only on the steeper grades that I need to lock out 5th.. Once I'm at or near the bottom I'll re-engage all gears, reapply CC and T/H, and away I go as before. This is what I've found to work the best for me with my rig.

I tow with CC on whenever possible.
One interesting thing I've noticed is that with CC on the computer is more likely to increase boost to develop more power when needed. With CC off, it's more likely to downshift for higher RPM.
I first noticed this towing on flat ground driving into a stiff headwind.
With CC on, the truck stayed in 6th and pumped up the boost.
With CC off, the truck dropped to 5th to bring the RPM up. No change in speed...

I use the cruise and It will down shift in order to hold your speed close to what you have it set at while going down hills, this is a great feature to me. My truck will down shift at about 2-3 mph drop which may cost a little mileage but I don't have to micro manage my truck

if you tow with tow/haul on it will do the something for you on hills its called hill descent control I think. I notice if I am towing alli have to do is tap brakes and it will hold that speed for me buy down shifting the truck for me! makes driving down hill much easier!

I agree tow/haul is great for downhill, and I never use cruise control for towing because it revs too high. I tow a 26 foot travel trailer, lots, put 7000k on the trailer this year.

Caveat: Cruise control works well for the Ecoboost and Powerstroke with 6-spd transmissions, but my old Tundra V8 with a 4-spd just didn't do cruise well as it was always down shifting and revving too high.

Not sure how well CC will work with my 7000lb trailer being pulled by my 3.5L naturally aspirated V6 (rated for 7200lbs.) Will let you know in the spring!

Not trying to turn this into EB vs. 5.0, but this.

I tow our 27' travel trailer w/ CC in my EB and did so with my Duramax all the time, in appropriate conditions, of course. Because each of those engines move along w/ plenty of low end torque. My EB cruises on flat ground in 6th gear 90+% of the time, and the Duramax was like 99%.

In my n/a trucks, I found it just falls all over itself to keep the set speed, resulting in a lot of downshifting and races to the redline trying to get back to the set speed. Which may not be harmful, but I find it very annoying.

That is what I would guess would happen with my 3.5L towing my trailer. However, I will try it in tow/haul mode with no CC first and see how that works then.. try CC.
The 3.5L although having about 40 more HP, is also about 40 pound feet of torque less then my previous my 4.6L V8. Both have the same rear axle ratios (3.73). Interestingly enough, my older truck was only rated to tow 5800lbs where my new 2015 is rated at 7200. I guess the change in GVW relative to the aluminum body helps increase the towing capacity of the 2015.

Engine power is probably the least important factor in your trucks ability to safely tow your 7,000 lb trailer. brakes, suspension, steering and most important is the GCWR. and axle wt. rating. Big question is 7,000 lbs the dry or wet trailer wt. are you using a WDH which will ad another 100 or so lbs and you must also consider the wt. of passenger's and and any cargo.
I don't want to rain on your parade but IMO with this combo your in way over your head. Not that you cant pull it but I doubt you can pull it legally and safely.:eek:

I hear what your saying.... except for the part that "I am in over my head". I will pretend I didn't hear that.


My old 2010 4.6L2V standard cab 4X4 with 3.73 rear end has a maximum towing capacity of 5800 lbs. It has higher GAWR's then on my 2015 Supercab. The curb weight of the 2010 is only 336 lbs. greater than curb weight of my 2015 Supercab. Payload capacity of my 2010 is 261 lbs. greater than my 2015 Supercab. The 2010 did not have the towing package. With exception of oil and transmission coolers, suspension and steering components are the exact same as 2010 F-150's that have much larger towing capacities. Forgetting motor comparisons and, other than the oil coolers, it would seem my 2010 should have a greater tow capacity than the 2015 according to your thoughts.


Of course I am using a WDH, you do not tow a 7K lb. trailer without one and...., I use an electric trailer brake controller. I pulled my trailer with the 2010 for 5 years. It is always being pulled to the same place and it is a relatively easy commute. Mostly highways and only 60 miles one way. I had no control /sway issues or problems of any kind. I tow at 60 to 65 mph. I would never tow with this setup frequently or, on hilly low speed roads but, for what I was doing it worked fine.


The 2015 on the other hand has a much higher towing capacity but seems to be a little light in some of the important specs you pointed out. GCWR of the 2010 is only 1100 lbs. lighter than the 2015. My guess is, oil coolers and the 4 speed (OD) transmission on the 2010 may have been a limiting factor on the towing capacity.


What does all this mean? I don't really know.... I do realize I need to be careful with trailer and vehicle loading but do expect the truck to tow (the kind of towing I do anyway) reasonably well. I am mostly concerned with the 40 less pound feet of torque the little 6 banger puts out.


Hopefully, I am not sounding "snarky" but, I am quite aware of my circumstances. Not having towed my trailer yet with this 3.5L NA engine, I am unsure of its capabilities. I know it will pull the trailer, I am just hoping it will pull it as well as my 4.6L 2V V8 did.

Exactly.

It depends on the age and what package you have on your truck. The last upgrade and the current version of the F150 and you have Max Tow or regular tow package (anti sway and integrated Brake controller) the systems work together and you can use Cruise. You should however take the advice of locking out 6th on hilly drives. I use it on my 2014 Ecoboost and 29' Jayco with no issues and loaded I push 9000LBS.

I can't speak for my new truck yet, just picked it up this weekend but my 06 I probably put a good 60,000 miles on it towing a heavy load with cruise control on. And by heavy load I mean 10,000 pounds. I had homes in Florida and Pennsylvania. I used to set it on 80 and go gas tank to gas tank. While I did wear the truck out, cruise control was never a problem.

well just got back from a 359 mile trip pulling my 7700LBS trailer this week end. I went from San Jose Ca to Fresno Ca and back. I used cc all the way and never had a problem with it. the 5.0 3:55 4x4 crew cab towed well going over the hills and mountains and only hit 4th gear a couple of times. more on down hill than up hill believe it or not. but I don't try to race to the top of a hill ill set my cc at 50 MPH and let her chug a long in the hills. out on open land I did 60 MPH and noted a MPG of 11.3 buy hand calculation and 12.7 buy the lie-o-meter in dash unit I will do same trip in January then ill do it with out CC just to see the MPG and how she shifts and all.

Just curious, what transmission do you have in that truck? The 4 speed Overdrive? I had that 4 speed in my 2010 and it worked great. Never tried towing in CC though. I will try it with my new 2015.

Since he has a 2012, it would be the 6 speed that I believe went into the 2011 models.

I have 1500 miles towing using mainly cruise control. The 2.7 and the cruise work great together

that is right ski its a 6 speed r6