4th Gear or 5th Gear for a Light Trailer?

ten~39 · 02-06-2008, 08:43 AM

Hey Guys,

No member here, and so far I'm really loving the Titan, aside from the fuel mileage figures comparable to a 20 year-old, 3/4 ton, gas farm truck, but I already know that's a dead horse around here.

So... I have a ~1500 mile round trip coming up (covering almost 100% flat ground) towing a small trailer with a total weight of about 1800 lbs. Originally, I had planned to just keep the truck in 4th for the duration of the trip. After talking with some friends who tow more often and more heavier than myself, I'm considering just leaving the truck in 5th unless the the tranny starts hunting around, or the tranny temp gauge creeps up. Truck is an '04 King Cab 4WD with the BT package and 47K miles.

On previous trucks I wouldn't have thought twice and most certainly left it out of overdrive, but this Titan with it's ridiculously high final drive ratio and tranny cooler/guage setup has me thinking twice just in order to save a few MPG.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance for the input!

*bbomar* · 02-06-2008, 08:43 AM

I have always heard 4th no matter what......

**loufish** · 02-07-2008, 06:48 AM

For a trailer weight like that, sure tow in 5th. As you correctly stated if you hit hills/grades that cause's the trans to hunt, then pull her down to 4th.

I pull a 3000 lb trailer with a heavy dirt bike in the bed and if I'm doing flat ground I'll set the cruise control at about 65 in 5th and have zero issues...My last trip like that gave me 13.5 mpg and I was just slow enough that the CHP left me alone...

Bullwinkle · 02-08-2008, 08:42 AM

Just pay attention to how it feels, what rpms you're at, and the trans temp. You just have to use common sense. If it feels sluggish, downshift a gear. It's always better to rev it out than lug it.

I've found our transmissions to be good about downshifting on thier own at the right time, but I find it neccessary to do it myself if there is a steep grade coming up such as on mountain roads. I like to downshift right before I start the climb so i'm not bogging the engine.

tcf_dk · 02-08-2008, 09:29 AM

I tow my 21' bass boat weighing around 4500 in 5th all the time. The only time when I down shift to 4th is if the tranny temp is rising going up steep hills or if the wind is causing me to leave it in 4th.

all torque · 02-16-2008, 02:38 PM

You'll be fine in fith, I drove my 05 Armada with the tow package from El Paso Tx. to Ocotillo Wells Ca. at 70-75 MPH and it down shifted maybe one time. I was towing 5x14ft trailer with 3 quads and camping supplies for about four days with no problems, I got about 14 mpg. I can't do that with my 07 Titan w/out the tow package, I have to down shift alot or just leave it in 4th and I get about 12 mpg.

ten~39 · 02-19-2008, 12:55 PM

Well, I thought I'd update the thread since I've completed the trip.

At the start of the trip, I tried to leave it in 5th, but it seemed to want to downshift a little too much for my liking. After downshifting on it's own, it would try to upshift back to 5th and acted a little strange, like it really wasn't sure if it wanted to go back to 5th. It wasn't a direct, quick upshift back to 5th, that's for sure.

I just decided to keep it in 4th with T/H on for the remainder (95%) of the drive. Everything was fine from there, except for the 10 mpg fuel usage at 65-70 MPH on average.

The trailer was a two-place snowmobile trailer, which you may or may not know has VERY small outside diameter tires. These lower diameter (and therefore higher drag, lower leverage) tires might very well be the main issue behind the no-go 5th driving and terrible MPG. Those tiny tires probably cause the trailer to tow much heavier than it actually is.

Like I said earlier, I really do love this Titan, but I really can't figure this fuel consumption thing out. 10 MPG with a 2K trailer at fairly reasonable speeds, and 12 MPG mostly highway daily driving with a light foot, are both just borderline unacceptable. This truck is a good 4-5 MPG off of comparable full-sizes (Chevy's & GMC's) that I've had experiences with in the past. If fuel prices continue to rise I may be forced back to a boring, vanilla GM 5.3 truck which will do basically the same job, only with an extra 4 MPG all around. That 4 MPG is over $100 per month savings at my usage rates. Hopefully I'll figure something out. I'm going to start by using a can of BG 44K at my next fill-up, and go from there.

TitanLou · 02-19-2008, 01:13 PM

I tow my 2500lb bass boat all over the place in 5th with tow mode off. The Titan doesn't even know it's back there. Tranny temp never gets above normal.

all torque · 02-19-2008, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TitanLou

I tow my 2500lb bass boat all over the place in 5th with tow mode off. The Titan doesn't even know it's back there. Tranny temp never gets above normal.

Tow package is like night and day difference when towing. I miss it.

**loufish** · 02-19-2008, 10:19 PM

Quote:

At the start of the trip, I tried to leave it in 5th, but it seemed to want to downshift a little too much for my liking. After downshifting on it's own, it would try to upshift back to 5th and acted a little strange, like it really wasn't sure if it wanted to go back to 5th. It wasn't a direct, quick upshift back to 5th, that's for sure.

Sounds like the torque converter...When more power is needed, the trans doesn't really downshift to 4th, first it trys unlocking the converter, then if more torque is needed, then the 4th gear downshift occurs.
While in 5th gear but converter unlocked, the trans will feel as if it were slipping...

This is why I suggest to people to manually downshift to
4th when needed rather then letting the trans pick out what it wants to do...

kttnmthking · 02-19-2008, 11:07 PM

the reason you gas mileage sucked so bad is because of tow haul mode. all it does is raise the tranny shift points up 500 or so rpm so to me its not necessary especially in 4th gear. i tow a 6x12 trailer with 2 quads no problem

**loufish** · 02-20-2008, 06:08 AM

Quote:

the reason you gas mileage sucked so bad is because of tow haul mode. all it does is raise the tranny shift points up 500 or so rpm so to me its not necessary especially in 4th gear. i tow a 6x12 trailer with 2 quads no problem

It does raise the shift points during the first 3 shifts only, so when in 4th or 5th gear it(tow mode) does nothing so it can't hurt mileage once those gears are reached...