Locking out Gears

[Davecarol]

Have a 2016 F150 Ecoboost pulling a 2017 27ft Whitehawk. Has anyone locked out gears before, have heard some have locked out gears 5 and 6. They say it's better for the engine?

Dave

[klpoppe]

My 2015 has "manual" mode on the shifter. Should have + and - buttons. Pushing either of the button will show a list of the gears on the display. Choose the 4th gear and that should keep it form shifting above 4th gear.

[klpoppe]

To add to above - I do use this quite often, especially when on back roads to help reduce unnecessary shifting.

[Vaquero]

Sure.
That's what it's made for.

[homer1959]

why not just using TOW HAUL ? why trying to outsmart a program specifically designed to tow ?

[RPreeb]

Originally Posted by homer1959

why not just using TOW HAUL ? why trying to outsmart a program specifically designed to tow ?

I'm pretty sure that they can be locked out in Tow/Haul mode too. For a heavier trailer, or for driving into a gusty headwind, I'd lock out 6th at least, even though I have plenty of truck for the TT I tow. It just depends on whether the transmission is doing a lot of shifting back and forth. If it is I just click the "minus" once to lock out 6th gear, then see how that goes. If needed I'll lock out 5th too. Keep in mind that when you shift out of "D" it resets.

[hbravo]

I drive a gas F250 usually using tow/haul and I will lockout top gear if my truck is shifting too often in the mountains.

[Wireman]

Originally Posted by homer1959

why not just using TOW HAUL ? why trying to outsmart a program specifically designed to tow ?

Every towing situation is different. Wind, weight, terrain, etc. My seat of the pants feel while towing is better than a computer deciding which gear I should be in.

I use the paddle shifters on my Jeep Grand Cherokee probably 85% of the time while towing. Especially out here in the west where there is a lot of hills & mountains to deal with.

Just works for me.

[etex211]

It may be different with the new 6 and 8 speed transmissions, but with the old 4 speed overdrive transmissions in half ton trucks, it was always a good idea to tow in third gear. All the shifting in and out of overdrive created too much heat and burned up the transmissions.

[LeonB]

One my 2015 3.5 EB I locked out 6th gear while in tow/haul. It stops a lot of extra shifting. Both 5th and 6th are overdrive gears but I very rarely had it shift when I had 6 locked out with the 28BHBE and I had no transmission temp issues.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Wireman]

Originally Posted by etex211

It may be different with the new 6 and 8 speed transmissions, but with the old 4 speed overdrive transmissions in half ton trucks, it was always a good idea to tow in third gear. All the shifting in and out of overdrive created too much heat and burned up the transmissions.

My 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee with the 3.0 liter Eco Diesel has a 8 speed tranny.

Under load it will hunt for the correct gearing with the 2 or 3 overdrive gears depending on the conditions.

Any small throttle movement will do it. I prefer to keep it in the gear that feels right for the situation.