quick towing questons

[erskine]

a month ago i was towing two 4 wheelers and a 125cc dirt bike in a enclosed trailer, doing 75mph i had to use 3rd gear it would keep kicken me out of overdrive. i was wondering if i slowed it down alot bit i could use overdrive, cause i was getting like 9mpgs, thanks alot.

also this is in michigan not to many big hills




its a 97 AWD 5.0, stock, with 31s

 

[Gatorblazer]

With that amount of weight, it will kick out of overdrive. Slowing down will help this a little. Also with that weight and wind drag, expect a decrease in mileage regardless of being in OD or not. One little thing to check as well; some states have max speed limits for trailers.

 

[manaen]

It really is best to keep the speeds down with a trailer that size. Also you should never use OD when towing that much weight, a good rule of thumb is if the tranny needs to down shift to maintain speed, OD should not be on.

the problem with an enclosed trailer is the wind resistance and trying to push it to 75mph. I bet you would have bumped your mileage up to about 14 if you would have been going closer to 60mph.

Do you have an extra tranny cooler ? because towing like that I would really recommend putting one on there. Also have you checked your tranny fluid lately?

Oh and what gears do you have?

 

[erskine]

it does have a stock trans cooler, trans fluild still looks new, this is going to be my second time towing with the truck so very little towing at all, i did drive with OD off i was seeing if there was some way to help. it has 3.73 in it

 

[mikeh44]

do not tow anything in overdrive it will hurt your trans

 

[manaen]

ok, let me get onto my standard cooling soapbox for a sec.

If your going to be towing at all I always recommend installing an additional transmission cooler and a temp gauge. Once you have the temp gauge installed you will see how quickly temps will rise while towing. If you want your transmission to last through towing your gear it is just really cheap insurance to not burn up your tranny.

Ok enough of that...

3.73's and the 4r70w are a good towing combination if maintained and cooled properly. Remember that fluid change intervals are greatly increased when you tow with your truck. So if you never changed the tranny fluid do it now, and then you will be good for 30k miles under moderate towing. Use a full synthetic Mercon V it is much better suited to handle the heat that the tranny will put out while towing.

just to add strength you may want to think about a shift kit / shift improver this will firm up the shifts and eliminate some of the slipping that can burn up your transmission. Transgo has options available for your tranny, and there are a lot of good writeups in the transmission section.

 

[erskine]

yea not going to change the fluild its way over due and from my expercine when changing the fluid to late the trans does not like it at all. like i said i never tow anyway. its a 3hr trip there and back this is only going to be my
2nd time, and the fluid is still beat red

 

[Gator Jeff]

tranny cooler, tranny cooler, tranny cooler

IIRC, there's also a thread that dispels the myth about changing your fluid if you do it right.

But trust me, even 3 hrs can do some bad things to your transmission, especially if you've towed in OD already.

 

[manaen]

Amen, Brother Jeff !!! Amen....

 

[erskine]

i didnt tow OD on and i did the trip once already and its fine i went off roading 6hr last sunday

 

[manaen]

Offroading, yet another situation that should warrant a tranny cooler. But hey, it's your tranny, we are just out here trying to help people. What you choose to do with the advice is up to you.