Advise needed when approaching a steep hill climb

[Ynot4me2]

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?

[That 1 Ron]

Are we talking dirt or gravel roads on the hills or pavement? City or Freeway? Do you know what's on the other side of the hill?

[Stealth13777]

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?

If you are talking regular paved road, I don’t think you’ll have issues with power provided a) you aren’t afraid to mash the go pedal and b) you aren’t afraid if the engine sings. This of course being at normal towing speeds. Within your ratings that truck will pull just fine. Just get the revs up and turbo spinning before the truck has already started slowing down. Should just be able to maintain speed while anticipating the hill with the go pedal. (Vice cruise control which would wait until you were going up to add power and thus would start already behind).

I would argue that going down is more critical. Your trailer brakes need to work and gain set correctly, you’ll want tow haul mode to get some engine braking, and you’ll want to watch brake temps if they are long grades - keeping speed down helps with all of this.

[KamFlyer]

Assuming highway hills - Take it out of cruise and drop out of overdrive. Just as you hit the bottom of the hill, smoothly apply throttle to keep the RPM's up. Modulate the throttle to keep the RPM's in the power zone. Don't let the RPM's drop too low, let it downshift if it needs to. Monitor your coolant temps and slow/gear down if you see them rise into the warning zone. Don't be afraid to pull over where safe to let it cool down if necessary.
Oh, and if you drop significantly below highway speeds, turn on your four way flashers and stay in the rightmost lane.
-Rob-

[That 1 Ron]

I would argue that going down is more critical. Your trailer brakes need to work and gain set correctly, you’ll want tow haul mode to get some engine braking, and you’ll want to watch brake temps if they are long grades - keeping speed down helps with all of this.

I agree with this. Your ecoboost should have plenty of power to climb hills while towing. I once had a 3.5 ecoboost f150 and, when running correctly, could easily climb hills while towing. It didn't have much engine braking to offer because of the lack of displacement and/or exhaust brake. Maybe yours will be better at that.

[Ynot4me2]

Thanks you all for your replies. I guess I'm a little nervous with that 2.7 EB.
Roads will mostly be paved and lots of highway. There's some really long hills on the south side of the St-Laurence river in Quebec that we are planning to go back and the are really long and steep. I cant remember the degree but you go from sea level to 2000 feet and back down again. . And there's that nasty paved hill on my street which of course has a good curve at the bottom right before. I'm sure I'll eventually see some dirt roads during our adventures. Which brings another question, is it safe to tow in 4x4 on dirt roads? I'm assuming so.

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[powerscol]

Thanks you all for your replies. I guess I'm a little nervous with that 2.7 EB.
Roads will mostly be paved and lots of highway. There's some really long hills on the south side of the St-Laurence river in Quebec that we are planning to go back and the are really long and steep. I cant remember the degree but you go from sea level to 2000 feet and back down again. . And there's that nasty paved hill on my street which of course has a good curve at the bottom right before. I'm sure I'll eventually see some dirt roads during our adventures. Which brings another question, is it safe to tow in 4x4 on dirt roads? I'm assuming so.

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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.

[Ynot4me2]

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.

Agreed, I was referring to gravel roads go up hill.

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[WhittleBurner]

Thanks you all for your replies. I guess I'm a little nervous with that 2.7 EB.
Roads will mostly be paved and lots of highway. There's some really long hills on the south side of the St-Laurence river in Quebec that we are planning to go back and the are really long and steep. I cant remember the degree but you go from sea level to 2000 feet and back down again. . And there's that nasty paved hill on my street which of course has a good curve at the bottom right before. I'm sure I'll eventually see some dirt roads during our adventures. Which brings another question, is it safe to tow in 4x4 on dirt roads? I'm assuming so.

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk

4 wheel drive is okay in dirt. Where you don't want to use 4 wheel drive is on dry pavement. Dry pavement will tear up your transfer case.

[sande005]

Going up is easy. Use the tow/haul mode, if you have it. Going down, tow/haul is your friend, as is cruise control. Even in long descents, cruise works with tow haul to try and keep you nearish the preset speed. But, it is not perfect - you can still end up getting to be "too fast", but not near as much or as fast as if you didn't use it. Don't use cruise when it is wet, or not solid dry pavement. Get real familiar with how to change to manual shifting, and how to lock out higher gears. On steep downhills, go slow!