pczern

Hi All,

Long time listener, first time caller.

I just purchased my first F150. Love it. Will be towing with it soon. I was wondering what gears if any you lock out when towing.

Ricktwuhk

None. Read about Tow/Haul mode in your manual. No reason to lock anything out. And, if your truck is new, read the break in info, which tells you not to tow for the first 1,000 miles.

schmenke

^ Yeah, I second that. I just engage Tow/Haul mode and let it do it's thing.

raisin

I have '14 5.0. I lock out six. Towing 5-6K on 6K trip worked great. If I had ecoboost or less weight I wouldn't lock out.

jp360cj

You should only need to lock out gears if the engine is lugging or trans is constantly downshifting. When towing my jeep (probably close to 6k lbs with trailer) I haven't needed to lock out any gears. This is with the 3.5 EB and 3.55s.

raisin

Agreed, That what my 5.0 would do with 5k. I could feel the slight lugging with some downshifting. 5th gear is still overdrive and rpm's are lower than when I used 3rd gear in my '89 302 locking out overdrive. Used to be before ecoboost was keep your rpm's up/don't lug engine. Course if I ever can find any flat land I run 6th lol.


Problem I have with tow/haul driving tight turns in W. Virginia or New England (15 mph). As I braked coming into the turn it would downshift into too low a gear and upset the balance of truck/trailer. On normal roads it was fine.

ecobeest

Also none. I also rarely use tow/haul. I don't find the need all that often unless I am in particularly hilly terrain.

pczern

Thanks for your input. When I picked up up the truck I had my kids with me and got distracted and forgot to ask specifically about that. I read the manual but didn't wasn't clear to me if I needed to lock out gears. I'll only be towing 3500 pounds, truck probably won't know it's back there.

mass-hole

Tow/haul doesnt lock out gears from my experience, but it delays the shifts a bit so you go into each gear until you hit a higher rpm than normal. I think it also allows it to kick down with less throttle input.

I would only manually lock out gears if tow haul is being annoying and jumping around.

schmenke

I believe it also locks up the torque converter in the transmission.