Pugga

iTrader: (1)

Exactly. Never had 5* though but heard they make great towing tunes. I stopped buying tunes after I found the Omega tune.

steevnt

Thanks for the great replies, that is what I was looking for! I do understand that the 5.0 is made to run at a higher rpm especially for the torque, and at those rpm's it does perform great. But personally when I'm driving up an incline at over 4000 rpm's in 3rd gear, it's loud, annoying, and just sounds like so much strain on the engine. My camper sits high also, so the wind is a huge issue. More than once I've driven for over an hour in 4th gear on flat road just because of the wind. So, even though the tune won't get me the torque I'd like, it does make sense that it would perform better by shifting smarter. The EB towing stories are great too because it really sounds like I would be happier with one of those. It's also a great idea to try the tuner and then if I'm not happy I can always pull it off for the next truck. Or just keep shopping around for a nice used EcoB...
Thanks again!

acdii

The 5* tune does great when towing, just make sure that you are running the correct octane for the tune, AND have a tow package. I pulled my Coleman up I-70, doing the speed limit effortlessly, but got hot quickly due to 3.15 gears and no tow package. I am looking forward to what it is like in the 16 with the tow package and 3.55 gears pulling the same trailer with the correct octane tune. So far it will hold 62 MPH up grades with the cruise set, while a 5.0 will struggle to keep up with a similar trailer, the 5.0 can keep up, but will be screaming to do so. I was on my way to a campsight and had a 14 following me and every hill I went up, he fell back and eventually caught back up. My truck was barely above 2100 in 5th. It was interesting to look back everytime I was halfway up to see where he was at, and the distance was quite a bot more than I expected. Once crested he caught up so I know he wasn't using cruise.

RedsRock302

I wasn't that impressed with the 5* tune in regards to shifting while towing. I was able to better control it in manual mode, which I wouldn't want to do long term.

untraceable

Really think you need to go omega for the 5.0. Ken was the tuner at MPT for the 5.0 before venturing on his own. Running any octane is fabulous. Changing tunes is a pain in the ***. 87 for boring trips, premium for peak towing, and E85/Blends for ripping around. All the same tune. Excellent shifts. The High Performance 5.0 Facebook group is filled with people coming from different tunes and switching over to Omega.

Pugga

iTrader: (1)

You're always going to have better control in manual mode. Even with the Omega tune, I use manual mode for towing through mountains (I live in the northeast so it's lots of up and down hill, not like out west where you climb the same mountain for 50 miles). A towing tune is going to put the engine where it has the most power which, on the 5.0, is higher in the RPM range. The difference with the mapping is, it's going to hold it there rather than hunt around, it also may be able to hold 4th rather than kick down to 3rd. That being said, dragging a heavy load up a long, steep grade with the 5.0, the engine is going to roar.

If you want effortless towing at low RPMs, you want a diesel.

11screw50

So do you still use tow/haul when you tow or just do nothing with the Omega tune? I've been considering it. 93 is hard to find around me, 91 is more common but both are $0.50-$0.60 more per gallon (I remember when it was 10 cents more to go to mid-grade and another 10 cents to go to premium) so the ability to run 87 most of the time and higher grade on occasion is appealing to me.

Pugga

iTrader: (1)

You still use tow/haul mode with the Omega tune and it does noticeably change the shifting strategy when engaged.

marshallr

You do realize that 5th and 6th gears are BOTH overdrive and 4th gear is the top non-overdrive gear. Most vehicles recommend not using overdrive at all while towing so driving in 4th gear on level ground is perfectly normal and dropping to 3rd or even 2nd on inclines is OK.

People have been towing campers with trucks with 4 speed transmissions that had no overdrive and engines with far less power than the 5.0 since the 1940's.

In an effort to squeeze every last fraction of 1 mpg from new vehicles Ford and everyone else is designing vehicles to get into and stay in OD mode as much as possible. But when towing it isn't going to hurt a thing to drive in in lower gears and high rpm's are easier on the engine than upshifting. While the rpm's may drop, stress on the engine increases.

mass-hole

I sometimes jump in and manually lock out 5th and 6th. When I approach a hill with cruise control on, the tune wont always downshift quick enough and will lose a few mph, and then it tries to get itself back up to the set speed while climbing the hill and works harder than it needs to. If I just force it into 4th as the slope starts getting steep it will just maintain the set speed and is much more relaxed.

Thats really the only time i intervene. The engine braking is pretty good, if I tap the brakes it usually jumps down a gear, if i tap them again it will jump down another.

When I was a boy, I towed my trailer uphill both ways in the snow!

While its not necessary to stay in OD, it sure is nice. I am not going to complain that these trucks(5.0 or EB) give the mpg's and capability that they do. And seeing as Fords own Tow/Haul mode shifts into 5th and 6th I am not worried about it.

And his issue isnt that he thinks its going to explode, it seems to be that he finds it annoying.

The wind will be less detrimental to the ecoboost. There has been a couple instances where I was in 5th because I was towing into a very strong headwind at 65mph but was still only at like 2000 or 2100 rpm.