Advise needed when approaching a steep hill climb

[Raider2k3]

Go to the link I gave you not the 2015-present forum. The link is for the Tow-haul-plow forum.

Altitude and Temperature make a huge difference on how your truck will tow. If you are near max payload, tongue weight, and max gross vehicle weight (often overlooked) you will be fine when it is cool close to sea level. If you get into the mountains upwards of 8,000 ft in the summer especially in the southwester US you will likely run into problems. My buddy had to replace his suburban with a diesel Excursion because it struggle to get above 40 MPH in the Arizona mountains in the summer. It was around 8K lbs. Your are in Canada so I am assuming you might be at higher altitude for some trips, but the weather will be cooler. I am within 2-3K of my Max gross weight for my F250, but the powerstroke has had 0 issues climbing with the 5th wheel at 9,500 feet in the desert SW of the US. My larger concerns are the truck suspension and trailer tires. Someone may have mentioned this already, but I only made it through the first couple of pages. I always drive in manual transmission when towing and practicing engine breaking isn't a bad idea. When I was 11 I used to tow a 20 ft. flat bed trailer with 5 round bails of hay using a tiny S10 pickup with a V6 engine. It was fine, but it was low altitude and mostly flat with some light rolling hills. If people haven't tried to tow a trailer of any type in the Rockies, especially the SW US, its a totally different ball game! I hope this helps!

[Ynot4me2]

Go to the link I gave you not the 2015-present forum. The link is for the Tow-haul-plow forum.

I see. Thanks

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[Retiree19]

Look in you Ford owners manual about safe 4x4 speeds. Yes you can tow in 4x4, but why? I would only go into 4x4 mode if you actually have a traction problem.

I do a lot of off road trailering in Colorado and 4x4 really helps control grasshoppering (harmonic suspension bounce) on washboard roads. Besides, most people don't give their transfer case and front differential enough work.

[Terre1]

I’ve tow plenty up and down the big horns with max loads. Up: don’t do too much different like try to get speed. That is silly. Think contingency planning with this. Auto transmission will shift when needed as the vehicle slows with the grade. Find the sweet spot with rpm probably around 3000 rpm and hold it there. Shift down on the selector to match the gear your in so the tyranny doesn’t shift up if there’s a flatter spot. Rpm up and keeping it there is the key! You get what you get on mph. I’ve had 2gear going 25 mph with 10cars behind me. I’ve pulled over way to the right to make it easy for the cats to pass, but don’t stop on a step grade. It’s too much work to build that back up and you’ll go even slower which doesn’t help anyone behind you Once your obviously near the end of the grade shift the selector back to drive and let up on the gas pedal some to allow the tran to shift in its time. I’ve helped others on the side that have overheated, every one had the air conditioner on. So turn it off going up.
Down: yes, is the most important as speeds can build and your brakes fade. How I do it: turn the ac on. It helps a little. Slow down to 30 mph to start and drop the tranny down to 2nd or third. You would start in 3rd and if you need more then 2nd. Then protect your brake temps! You start to gain speed, maybe around 40, then apply brakes hard to slow to 30. Get totally off the brakes to let them cool as you build speed. Then at 40 apply brakes hard again back to 30. Repeat as needed. If you let it get to say 60 mph the brake energy is multiple to slow and the heat dissipation is much longer!! Apply brakes hard does not build heat like a casual application. The longer the pads are touching the disc, that is heat building and not cooling. Start conservative slow. As you get near the end of the grade you can go faster and shift up. Again think contingency and reserve for emergencies

[BrianS]

Hey all,
As we are preparing to take delivery of our new 22mle, a scenario came to mind which I could use your experience.
We when bough our F150 last Sept we were not planning on buying a TT.
We are within our max tow and max payload but not far away from being at max.
We have some good hills where we live and really long ones where we plan on camping.
What is the best approach before a steep hill and also during the climb of that hill?
I'm thinking of gaining as much speed as reasonably/safely possible and then dropping gears to get those RPM up during the climb.
Or you just slowly and gently crawl up?

Your Eco Boost shouldn't have much issue up the hills. Run the transmission in Tow/Haul and keep your speeds down. The turbos work best at 2500-3000 rpm for spool up. On the down hill, use the gear delete option and keep it in Tow/Haul. My last truck was a 3.5 EB and I towed a lot of miles with 7800 -9000 lbs behind it through the Sierra Nevada and Oregon. It will do the job well, but used the tow setting.