tow haul

I love it in heavy traffic with a lot of variable speeds. It increases my ability to stop in less distance. Saved me by a foot in El Paso a few years ago. Without it I don't get stopped when traffic came to quick stop. I now always turn it out when in city.

believe this or not but when they started putting tow haul on trucks they finally got something right. tow haul if used works great, maybe even better than what the driver can do when going up or down a hill.

If you think about it, it comes on most of your trucks and vans. It's their to assist those vehicles with heavy loads. Your motor home is a heavy load all by itself. You should have it turned ON, unless you're driving on flat level highway, and ON all the time if you're towing. As stated, it will extend the life of your transmission and has very little effect on fuel economy

I use tow/haul on long straightish downhills (Cajon Pass or the Grapevine) and never have to touch the brakes. For slow twisty downhill mountain grades (like maybe Sonora Pass), the tow/haul doesn't work well for me. For those, I put the Allison manually into a lower gear (tap-shift) and assist a bit with brakes.

I'm a convert on tow/haul. I used it only in the mountains for years because I didn't like the shift pattern. Used it for the additional "braking" op mentions. Then, when riding with a tow truck driver with my car on the hook, noticed how much it helped when stopping under load. Tried it again next time I towed. No difference in mileage, and love the extra stopping assistance. Now I use it every time I tow, no matter the grade.

I wish I had it! Going down steep grades is a not my favorite thing.

Sounds like it is working well. :) That's what it is supposed to do.

I use it in my 2015 Precept, I love it, it worked it great going up and down hills this past weekend. We brought our MH home from Indiana to NJ, going through the hills and almost mountains it did a great job, even in the area of 322 where the incline is so steep that the truck and buses speed limit is 20mph!

blknomad wrote:
I have a 35ft 2014 f53 chassis. I have never used the tow haul mode but once and didn't much like it. Do any of you run it all the time? How does it work going up hill? I tried it going down hill and every time I hit the brakes it down shifted when I didn't think it need to. Any input helpful. Thanks

it is doing just what it should be doing. You said that you "hit the brakes going down hill". That means that you were in too high of a gear as you should NOT NEED to apply the breaks going down a hill. You should be using the engine to control speed and NOT your brakes. It is doing what you should have already done.

Going up hill it will raise the shift point to avoid lugging the engine (even though you may not think you are lugging the engine) and make the transmission shift quicker/harder to reduce shifting slippage and extend the life of the transmission.

I put my Duramax/Allison into tow/haul any time I encounter hills or grades and also in stop and go traffic to reduce brake wear.

I use it a lot when travelling down a mountain or in stop and go traffic. The way you described it working is exactly how it's supposed to work. It utilizes the engine to brake you rather than heating up your brakes. In stop and go traffic, often I don't even need my brakes much. Love the feature.