lambo2936

i cant find the 5th gear comment but i think i know what they are talking about. In the newer f150's, i believe, theres the +/- selector buttons on the gear shifter thing. You can limit the top gear as well as downshift using it. Maybe the person was suggesting you use the down arrow to limit the truck to 5th gear? i know thats the button i use to manually shift up and down when towing heavy loads and want braking assistance.
Idk about you guys, but my tow/haul CLEARLY works. With ~a 4,000-5,000 load being towed (including the weight of the trailer, 4-5k) and in tow/haul mode, when i hit the brakes the truck revs up like hell and you can certainly feel it slow down. Kinda gives you a kick back, cant miss it. Scared the crap outa me the first time i experimented with it and i was sure i broke something.. Of course it was unnecessary for me to use it but i just wanted to explore. I Sure as hell used it, though, when driving thru the mountains/hills in Northern jersey/ & NY with the snowmobile trailer.
Maybe you have a different system as me, i dont know, but if mine was to stop working the way it has been i would certainly notice.

humblerb

I mentioned keeping it in 5. "It" being your transmission.
Manually keep it in 5th.

benchwarmer4203

I could be wrong; but I don't think all of the trucks have the "M" or select shift type transmission. The OP might not be able to do this.

Back on the original comment, a lot of older transmissions don't really have a "tow/haul" mode. They just let you lock out O/D.

Edit:
As far as downshifting goes, when in tow/haul mode on a hill, the transmission will downshift when I tap the brakes. Are you pumping the brakes as you approach the stop light or just holding them with steady pressure?

bravogolf

It's absolutely physically impossible on a 2009 f150 4.6L 3V. Trust me. I'd love to. TOW/HAUL doesn't lock the tranny out of 6th gear, like some mention here. It still goes into 6th all the time on the freeway.

wrangler

My 2009 XLT with 6 speed on column. In tow/haul I can tap the brakes and it will downshift, tap again and downshifts another gear. Like an engine retarder. If you close the windows and turn off radio you can hear the engine retarding.

bravogolf

Hmm. Mine won't do that. WTF!

atvtinker

The '09 XLT 5.4L SuperCrew I had wouldn't downshift with a tap of the brakes either. The only way to make it shift was to punch it or shift the column shifter to the next lower gear. Maybe it was part of a different package. I did have the 3.15 locking rear axle so I know I had the tow package. Which by the way is odd, why have a tow package with a 3.15 axle? Really didn't matter after I put the Procharger on it!

wrangler

That's odd. I have the tow package (not max) with the brake controller and 3:55 gears. I don't know if there was different tow packages. I thought they all worked that way. Someone on the forum would probably know.

humblerb

I'm new to Ford's - 2012 EB.
I know that my old 2005 Titan and my current 2012 F150 both operated the same way. Tow Haul held gears longer when accelerating. If they were doing anything while decelerating or braking, it was not noticeable.
And both had manual shift available from the console shifters.
Sorry for the bad info.

I do know that when towing my travel trailer, when I head down a hill, my F150 will automatically downshift to maintain my speed, with no action required on my part. From reading these forums, I think I understand that this is the F150 brain (computer) knowing that it needs to and just does it on its own. I really like that feature.

KRIEGHOFF

When running in Tow / Haul does it change your miles per gallon at all?