i have a 2012 6.0 vortec 6 gear trans that can be controlled on the shift lever . i drove truck and now how to use gears and rpm to run hills . i get a lot of comments on the ford about down shifting on hills and tacking out on hills . they do not offer the chev chassis on them now. i see they went to a 6 speed trans in 2016. does any one know if this change in transmissions helped on this. i also hear complaints that the ford is hard to handle in wind .Any input appreciated

there are tap shifter available for these vehicles plug into the OBD port. Yes they can do as you asked, however you can also add a mikes 5 star tuner and it helps quite a bit. I have driven a chebby product (school bus) with the tap shifter and it works fairly well. Havent researched the one for a ford trans but have seen ads.Wind is wind, and most any slab side will react, some in different ways. My 2011/12 would until I found the right amount of air for the airbags. Maybe a different sway bar would also help?Automatics are for folks who dont really understand how to shift. Thats why they are made. Put in D and go. I try to tell drivers about shifting out of D/OD on accel and decel and they look like I am crazy. I got a new bus 2 years ago and used the shifter, got one of same age different driver to break in and its basically a dog until 40 mph even with down shift. Big difference in driving a 4000lb car and 14000+ RV. Most wont even try to work the trans to make it better, Think tow/haul is answer, but dont know what that is either. although its just another way to down shift w/o thinking about it IMO.

Since this is a Class C motorhome forum, the OP is probably referring to driving a Ford E450 based 2012 RV. If so, it will have a TorqShift automatic computer controlled transmission in it with it's push button controlled Tow/Haul mode.For the potentially dangerous situation of descending hills in a 11,000 lb to 14,500 lb. Class C E450 based RV, the Tow/Haul mode in these motorhome transmissions works splendidly. When going down hills, there is no need to have one's attention diverted to reaching for gear shift levers/pads/buttons once, or more times, while going down a grade. In fact, there isn't even any need for turning Tow/Haul mode "ON" at all in these modern Ford E450 transmissions whenever going down hills - just leave the transmission "IN" Tow/Haul mode all the time. This then gives you BOTH engine braking when slowing down in normal driving plus .... engine braking when going down hills. It's all automatic so you can keep your eye and concentration on the road at all times - while reducing repair costs for brake pad replacement. I've driven standard transmission vehicles for many years - including trucks with the long manual shift floor lever and high performance sports cars with flick-of-the-wrist short manual shift levers - and believe me, it's a distraction to have to pay attention to what gear you should, or shouldn't, be in.Automatic transmissions make driving safer and treat engines and their drive trains better.

I think some of the comments about the Ford's behaviors are partly because the V10 is a high-revving engine by nature, and so it's very obvious and occasionally annoying when it does downshift. An engine with ten cylinders whirring away at 4000 rpm a foot from your knee is not subtle. The transmissions themselves work fine, and act as most any reasonable automatic acts. There are times when using the cruise control, when they will decide to downshift about when one reaches the crest of a hill.The older four and five speed Ford transmissions (which are pretty closely related designs) have a rather sizable jump between the two two gears which are, of course, the ones that mainly get used for highway driving. The new six speed is an improvement in that regard; the gears are more evenly spread out than on the five speed. I don't find my '98 class C, built on a Ford chassis, particularly tough to handle in winds. It does get blown around some in side winds, as would any vehicle with that much cross-sectional area, but I haven't found it unexpectedly hard to manage or ill-behaved. There does come a point with most any vehicle where it's wiser to wait out very high winds, and that point does come sooner with tall vehicles.Probably the best way to answer your questions would be to test drive the motorhome you're considering, preferably over some varied terrain.

tioga28c wrote:i have a 2012 6.0 vortec 6 gear trans that can be controlled on the shift lever . does any one know if this change in transmissions helped on this. i also hear complaints that the ford is hard to handle in wind .Any input appreciatedYes it helped some....since the first down shift is not as abrupt and the RPM increase is not quite as much.Since you have one.......if you drive in an area that is mostly flat, going about 65 MPH and you come upon a long overpass with the cruise control ON, will it downshift right before reaching the top of the hill ?? THAT is the problem. If yours doesn't do that, then they fixed it.Even on the older models, it is NOT a problem if you drive without the cruise control ON. And that can be fixed somewhat with an engine controller re-programming. As a practical matter though, you still can't use the cruise once you get into the foothills of an actual mountain range.Then ALL vehicles with a large side profile are "hard to handle in the wind". The Fords were/are hard to handle on a flat straight with NO wind. That is fixable too with an alignment change.

pnichols wrote:Since this is a Class C motorhome forum, the OP is probably referring to driving a Ford E450 based 2012 RV. If so, it will have a TorqShift automatic computer controlled transmission in it with it's push button controlled Tow/Haul mode.For the potentially dangerous situation of descending hills in a 11,000 lb to 14,500 lb. Class C E450 based RV, the Tow/Haul mode in these motorhome transmissions works splendidly. When going down hills, there is no need to have one's attention diverted to reaching for gear shift levers/pads/buttons once, or more times, while going down a grade. In fact, there isn't even any need for turning Tow/Haul mode "ON" at all in these modern Ford E450 transmissions whenever going down hills - just leave the transmission "IN" Tow/Haul mode all the time. This then gives you BOTH engine braking when slowing down in normal driving plus .... engine braking when going down hills. It's all automatic so you can keep your eye and concentration on the road at all times - while reducing repair costs for brake pad replacement. I've driven standard transmission vehicles for many years - including trucks with the long manual shift floor lever and high performance sports cars with flick-of-the-wrist short manual shift levers - and believe me, it's a distraction to have to pay attention to what gear you should, or shouldn't, be in.Automatic transmissions make driving safer and treat engines and their drive trains better.X2 What he said.... :C

e450 fords v10 | Good Sam Community

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Hank85713
Explorer
Jun 05, 2017
there are tap shifter available for these vehicles plug into the OBD port. Yes they can do as you asked, however you can also add a mikes 5 star tuner and it helps quite a bit. I have driven a chebby product (school bus) with the tap shifter and it works fairly well. Havent researched the one for a ford trans but have seen ads.

Wind is wind, and most any slab side will react, some in different ways. My 2011/12 would until I found the right amount of air for the airbags. Maybe a different sway bar would also help?

Automatics are for folks who dont really understand how to shift. Thats why they are made. Put in D and go. I try to tell drivers about shifting out of D/OD on accel and decel and they look like I am crazy. I got a new bus 2 years ago and used the shifter, got one of same age different driver to break in and its basically a dog until 40 mph even with down shift. Big difference in driving a 4000lb car and 14000+ RV. Most wont even try to work the trans to make it better, Think tow/haul is answer, but dont know what that is either. although its just another way to down shift w/o thinking about it IMO.

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e450 fords v10

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