If you're towing on flat road no hills and your transmission doesn't seems to get hot than "D" would be OK. If not just tow in 4th.:cheers:

 

I've towed with the tow button on, in both 4 and D. I did not notice any differences in tranny temp.

 

4200 lbs is not alot of weight. I've towed 5000 lbs in both D and 4 with most travel at about 70 -75 mph. The only difference I noticed was a very slight mileage increase when towing in 4th. At that speed the torque converter never unlocks in either gear, so trans. temps always stayed at normal. If I'm towing in 4th, I will upshift to 5th(D) when speeds get upto and above 80mph which is not uncommon on the N.Y. State Thruway. If I stay in 4th, I'm tach-ing like 2800 rpm. That to me seems unnessessarily high. Another thing to consider is the fact that a boat does not have alot of frontage like a box or travel trailer would, making it an easy 4200 lbs tow.

 

I have a 8000+ lb TT that I pull in D most of the time. When on hills, I'll force it into 4th. I think as long as it's not shifting up and down because of hills and the trany temp stays good, then it should be no problem.

I'll bet you barely felt such a light load. :cheers:

 

Doesn't the tow mode switch help alleviate the need to drop it in 4th gear? It seems to hold the lower gear longer and doesn't bog down as much in the high gears.

 

Thanks to all of you for some great advice and feedback. I guess towing 4200 lbs. is not that big a deal for this truck. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to mess up the tranny driving in "D". I have to admit, even while in D and easing into the gas peddle, the truck would just slowly go faster. Most the time it wouldn't even downshift (when easing into the gas). It would downshift properly when I stepped into it to speed up.

Thanks again for everyone's feedback and sharing your experiences towing.

Regards,

Steve

 

Doesn't the tow mode switch help alleviate the need to drop it in 4th gear? It seems to hold the lower gear longer and doesn't bog down as much in the high gears.

No! The tow mode switch only effects the shift points of the first 3 gears.

 

I tow a 7000+ lb. travel trailer and the transmission is noticably hotter when I tow in 5th vs. 4th.

 

just got done towing my deck boat back from the river aprox 190 miles. towed in 5th with tow mode on,tried 4th but it seems that there is no inbetween like in 5th. seems to done shift quicker to maintain speed. pulled a long grade at 70mph no problem and trans temp never moved, just the fuel gauge...love towing with this truck..

 

Tow anything over 4k in 4th unless you want to hurt the transmission.

 

Tow anything over 4k in 4th unless you want to hurt the transmission.

i have been towing about 5k in D, but only when i go over 80 and it is relatively flat. on a hill i leave it in third, and leave D for only when i get some speed. if the converter unlocks, then i will just stick it back in D. that is the main the reason the trans temp goes up is you are cooking the converter.

 

Throw up another D-tower here. Well, at least I 'was'.

I would use tow mode and 4th to get up to highway speeds and then kick it into D. Keep an eye on the tranny temp gauge. More than once I had to kick it back down to 4th for a few miles to bring the temp needle off of H.

That was with a 27' travel trailer and gear topping out around the low 6000# mark.

 

This weekend, I towed my 22' Hybrid travel trailer [ around 6000 lbs loaded ] between Colorado Springs and Castle Rock, CO ... up over 8000' Monument Hill -- and D worked fine for most of it.

But for something like heading up into the rockies on I-70 up floyd hill ... I switch to 4th and even 3rd just to keep it at 55. I did 4th and a little 3rd over the 11,000 ft pass into leadville ... and the Titan held 50-55 and I was happy.

I like to keep the rpms around 2000 or less for best mileage, but if I start going slower in 'D' or shifting occurs, then its time for '4' instead. I've never seen my tranny temp go up at all yet, not even towing a 20 percent grade with the trailer.

I've also noticed that once I got out of Colorado and into Nebraska, the elevation drop gave me so much more power I almost never shifted at all unless I had a strong headwind. I've often wondered what the difference between D and 4 would be and I swear I towed most of last summer using 4 by accident ... and it almost seemed like I got better mileage in 4 than I do in D ... is that possible? These days I've being doing 'D' cause I like the lower rpms and if it holds it up the hill, I figure it's capable of it. Around the top of manument hill, I think I had to throw it into '4' for a minute, just to maintain 55-60, which is all I do towing for safety and mileage reasons.

 

More than once I had to kick it back down to 4th for a few miles to bring the temp needle off of H.

The dang converter just doesn't want to stay locked in 5th when towing close to legal speeds...

 

I can't beleave some of you Folks are towing boats and such at over 80 MPH. Isn't that like really being irresponsible, unsafe and putting the rest of us in harms way? I got to admit though watching pickups towing trailers around an Oval race track would be a real riot. (No electric brakes allowed)

 

My complete load is just under 5,000 pounds, I always have the Tow Mode activated when the trailer is attached, I like the higher shift points. When I leave the house and go to Watkins Glen the distance is about 80 miles.

Almost a perfect half of that is NYS Thruway, and that section is rather flat, I'm in D during that entire portion, turning 2,000 rpms at about 72 mph. I can clearly see the torque converter has locked up because the revs are right where they should be and my tranny temp never gets up to 1/2 way.

The second half is a very good county road that for the most part runs straight although it does have some good hills there are not a lot. I also run in D in this section at about 62 mph, and just like before, the torque converter has locked up and my tranny temp never gets up to 1/2 way. Once I get closer to Watkins Glen I have several monster hills to deal with, only then do I drop back to 4th.

I do also perform lots of downshifts and holding lower gears downhill when I'm dealing with these hills as it helps out on the brakes.

And, here is an interesting FYI- I pulled a 12.6 mpg during this last tow, that's about the same gas mileage I got day-to-day driving in the winter when my fuel economy always goes down.

I LUV MY TITAN!

 

I can't beleave some of you Folks are towing boats and such at over 80 MPH. Isn't that like really being irresponsible, unsafe and putting the rest of us in harms way? I got to admit though watching pickups towing trailers around an Oval race track would be a real riot. (No electric brakes allowed)

yep, some folks think the laws don't apply to them. Plus, if they kill some innocent person, they can just say sorry.

 

Oddly enough, the worst situation I have ever had towing was caused by a cop. I was towing along minding my own business staying back from traffic doing my 70 to 72 mph when I noticed a cop car coming up fast in the left lane, and I mean fast. No siren, no lights flashing, just seriously fast. The car flies past me, brake lights come on, car drops right down in front of me and there is no way I'm diving onto the brakes and loose the trailer and car. I resolved myself to punting into the backend of the cop car, I figured my 10,000 pounds would get his attention. Just before impact he swerves off onto an exit. The dolt passed me just to take the exit in front of me, as opposed to slowing down and taking the exit after I had driven past it. Even people who should know better forget vehicles towing do not handle or perform like they do unladen.

 

Sounds like a Houston Kop...

 

Well here is some real world experience I just gained last week. I tow a 6600# load and traveled from the SF Bay area to Redding for a week at Shasta. Its around 244 miles from sea level to 1067ft up the central valley. The climb is so gradual that I left it in 5th and on crusie control. The 07 really has noticeably more power for towing with the BT package. The tranny only downshifted a half dozen times and the gauges never budged at up tp 90 deg F at 58 mph. Gas mileage averaged almost 12 over the 4 hour pull, so no complaints here. Only that the gas dock was $5.50/gal

 

I'd like to add a rookie question to the mix.

Can someone explain the torque converter locking/unlocking concept to me?

I don't really know what you guys are talking about, and I'd rather ask than just nod and smile.

 

Can someone explain the torque converter locking/unlocking concept to me?

The torque converter is the link between the engine and transmission. It's also a fluid coupler, that is it slips enough to allow the engine to idle but the truck stays put. On top of that it uses turbine type vanes inside to create a small amount of torque multipication.

As the engine speed increases the converter slips less causing the veh to move. At road speed there's always some slip left, causing less milage along with some heat.

New vehs have the ability to use fluid and internal clutchs to completely lock up the converter just like a manual trans clutch does. this picks up milage and reduces trans heat.
Now...the reality is that the vehs computer can apply any amount of lock up it's programmed to do, so the T/C recieves a command for how much it should lock up, and when towing you want that to happen at lower rpm to keep from heating up the trans, but sometimes the factory programing doesn't do this when we want it to...

 

The torque converter is the link between the engine and transmission. It's also a fluid coupler, that is it slips enough to allow the engine to idle but the truck stays put. On top of that it uses turbine type vanes inside to create a small amount of torque multipication.

As the engine speed increases the converter slips less causing the veh to move. At road speed there's always some slip left, causing less milage along with some heat.

New vehs have the ability to use fluid and internal clutchs to completely lock up the converter just like a manual trans clutch does. this picks up milage and reduces trans heat.
Now...the reality is that the vehs computer can apply any amount of lock up it's programmed to do, so the T/C recieves a command for how much it should lock up, and when towing you want that to happen at lower rpm to keep from heating up the trans, but sometimes the factory programing doesn't do this when we want it to...

That makes sense, so then how can you guys tell when the torque converter is locked versus unlocked at freeway speed when towing? What's the tell-tale sign that it's not staying locked?

 

That makes sense, so then how can you guys tell when the torque converter is locked versus unlocked at freeway speed when towing? What's the tell-tale sign that it's not staying locked?

Start by keeping an eye on the tach, w/ tow package and stock size tires you should be turning 2000 rpm at 70 mph w/locked t/c, add another 350-400 when not locked.
If you are going down the hiway, and slowly increase throttle, when the t/c unlocks it will feel like you droped a gear.
You have to start getting it "tune" with your truck...

 

In September of 08 I took my 04 KC BT OR 4x4 from Great Falls MT to Charleston SC with over 5k in tow (plus the quad in the bed) taking the long way down through Little Rock. I did the entire drive in D, with Tow mode on. I did not have a single problem with the truck. The trailer has only a 3500# axle so I had to keep it down around 60mph. This is actually when I got the best gas mileage out of my truck... right around 16-17 mpg... In May of 09 I had to pull a pair of Jet skis from Albany NY to Charleston SC... This tow was so light I didn't even have the tow mode on, I also left it in D and it did great. Those are my two longest tows. When hauling around town I generally tend to keep the tow mode on (even if the trailer is almost empty) it gets up to speed a little quicker. You have to be very aggressive in Charleston.

I think when it comes to the heavier loads keeping it in D with tow mode on is the best option. If we needed to manually down shift (I hate to say it) I think they would have put another one of those stupid slide out cards on the sun visor.

Since we're on the topic of manually shifting; anyone ideas how I can get some better gas mileage around town with my BT (other than driving my old beater)?

-YOGI