Advise needed when approaching a steep hill climb

[SolarPoweredRV]

You need to be very familiar with your trailer brake system. Going up is the easy part but going down you want those trailer brakes holding trailer back and not your truck. In mountains I always boost my trailer brakes up to brake more then back them off on flat roads. I installed good ceramic brake pads on my truck and they help some in mountains but rotors still heat up.

I try to never touch my brakes going downhill. When I crest the hill, I put it into a lower gear and let the engine slow it down, all the way down.

My goal, never touch the brakes unless some idiot cuts you off.

[IMACAMPER]

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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You will be very impressed with the 2.7l towing. I towed a 30 ft travel trailer and it handled it no problem. If you want to see how to drive it uphill properly, put it in cruise control at the speed you want to drive as well as in tow mode and let it climb the hills. Gives you a good idea of the power with the turbo’s, it’s very smooth. Going down hill is just a matter of getting used to it. The Tow mode does do some complimentary shifting to help slow down and maintain speeds, but being the 2.7 it’s really a matter of using your brakes properly. Bottom line, you will have no problem after a couple drives. It is an impressive towing truck.

[LarryRAM]

Keep in mind when going uphill the torque converter in your transmission may not have locked up and you are just running on a "fluid connection" which means the transmission can and will generate a lot of heat. Look in the owners manual to see what is said. In my Ram 2500 if I have tow haul on and put the shift selector in D2 and maintain 30 mph the torque converter remains locked. In this mode I can go uphill all day long and my transmission temperature gauge remains cool. If I dip down to below 28 or so it unlocks, the RPM goes up slightly and the heat starts to build. You need to watch transmission temperature when towing uphill even more than watching engine temperature!!! If transmission temp stays above 250 very long it is cooked and needs to be replaced. Also it can expand and shoot out through seals or in some cases ruin a seal. Another very critical thing to know is NEVER NEVER pull over and stop rapidly when cresting the hill or at a pull over and shut the thing down to let it cool !!!!! You have generated lots of heat, the engine needs to keep running thus circulating the fluid through the cooler until it cools down..........then you can shut the engine down!! I found out on my F250 years ago that fluid circulation does not happen in Park on the shift selector. So pulling over, shifting into park and thinking you are cooling it down does nothing.......no fluid circulation occurs unless it's in D.

I travel real mountains a lot. Living in West Virginia and taking occasional trips into the Rocky Mountains taught me a lot about how transmissions work and how to help them live a long life. Research what I have just mentioned for your own truck. Read the owners manual and get on some Internet Forums to find answers. Fordowners.com is one I believe. Some of the readers may be able to answer specific questions about the tow haul feature as it relates to torque converter lock up. Believe me I have had some harrowing experiences on mountains with transmission fluid laying all over the ground at a pull off at the top of a mountain. Your engine is small but Eco Boost is powerful. This will probably not be your greatest concern but the transmisson temperature is a major concern no matter what engine you have. Going slow thinking you are not stressing the transmission is wrong. Any time the torque converter is not locked heat will build. This even applies in Reverse gear. Trying to back up for a long distance will generate heat because there is no torque converter lock up in Reverse...ever.

There should be a transmisson temperature reading on your gauges in the dash, my son has to change menus for it to come up on his truck. Even driving in a construction zone uphill very slow can be an issue. A friend of mine had an F350 pulling a 36' fifth wheel in Colorado. Road construction/road paving caused him to go up a slight grade (can be 20 miles in the Rockies) for many miles and his transmission overheated to the point of blowing seals and fluid went all over the ground. His engine remained cool and he never thought about monitoring the transmission temp.

There is considerable danger in trying to ramp up your speed before hitting a steep grade. Depending on the road this sometimes will get you to the top easier but not always. What if there is a curve?? Just let tow haul make the decisions and try to keep a steady speed as fast as you can. Those Eco Boost engines can rev up and not destroy themselves. Remember RPM equates to horsepower. Let her rev a bit for it will not hurt anything.

This is great advise. I would only add torque is what gets you uphill. Your EcoBoost will max out torque at 2,750 RPM. After that the torque goes down and HP takes over. You would be best served by finding the right gear (remember the above) and keep the RPM around 2,750. Then relax, stay in the right lane, you will get to the top of the grade, and that my friend is where the challenge starts....you will need to go downhill.

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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?

As others have said here about going downhill and using your engine brake, keep in mind that does not actuate your trailer brakes. I tow between 17000 to 19000 pounds behind my Ford F450 dually. I find going down steep grades for long distances such as the West exit of Yellowstone and the East bound side of the grapevine in California, it feels like the truck is getting very light/loos because all of the trailer weight is pushing against the truck. I find it comforting sometimes to apply pressure to the brake pedal so that the trailer brakes will actuate and then slow the truck down to a speed where I do not feel the truck being so light.

[Wicked ace]

This is what I'd suggest. Head over to the forum I linked, this is about the best towing forum I have seen. I got a lot of good input from it. It is Ford F150 towing specific and there are plenty of people with vehicles similar to yours that could give input with good truck specific advise. First sign in as a member to post. If you have it post your window sticker, it helps clarify your tow package along with all your questions and concerns and you will get a plethora of answers specific to your vehicle's towing abilities. Good luck & happy trails.
https://www.f150forum.com/f82/

[RLK436]

Going up is easy! It's going down that should worry you!

[Russ Coble]

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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I'm not sure what the 2.7 is like to tow with, but I can tell you I recently traded my 2018 F150 Lariat with 3.5 EB that towed a 2020 GD Reflection 297RSTS (29ft, 9995lb TT) up/down some fairly steep mountains in AZ and NM (6-7% grade) without any issues. Going downhill the Tow/Haul would downshift to 3rd or 4th gear to keep the RPM's high to leverage the engine for braking. Being a newbie towing something this large in mountains I still felt the need to use the brakes occasionally. But the F150 was awesome. I traded the F150 for a F250 Diesel to get more payload capacity, but mostly to keep from getting pushed around in the wind and we plan on traveling through the Rockies later this year.

If you have tow/haul mode on your 2.7 I think you'll be fine. Since you've stated that you're nearing your max payload, I'd make sure you use a WD hitch to redistribute the tongue weight so you're not too light on the front axle.

[Ynot4me2]

This is great advise. I would only add torque is what gets you uphill. Your EcoBoost will max out torque at 2,750 RPM. After that the torque goes down and HP takes over. You would be best served by finding the right gear (remember the above) and keep the RPM around 2,750. Then relax, stay in the right lane, you will get to the top of the grade, and that my friend is where the challenge starts....you will need to go downhill.

This is all great info, exactly all tips I was looking for. Love this place and all of you guys. Cant wait to get the call to pick it up and post back on my experience.

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[Ynot4me2]

This is what I'd suggest. Head over to the forum I linked, this is about the best towing forum I have seen. I got a lot of good input from it. It is Ford F150 towing specific and there are plenty of people with vehicles similar to yours that could give input with good truck specific advise. First sign in as a member to post. If you have it post your window sticker, it helps clarify your tow package along with all your questions and concerns and you will get a plethora of answers specific to your vehicle's towing abilities. Good luck & happy trails.
https://www.f150forum.com/f82/

Thanks, been a member there for some time. I posted some questions there this morning.

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[Wicked ace]

Thanks, been a member there for some time. I posted some questions there this morning.

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