F 150 trans questions

dockmasterdave wrote:
It was really weird. It went from 2200 to 2500 to 2800, and kept shifting back and forth. I understand newer fords have "select shift" where you can force it to stay in any gear. Is even this small of a trailer really that big of a load? Its only about 1500 empty and maxes at just over 3000. I'm in south florida so no hills here.

Nothing weird at all. I towed a 7200lb 31' TT for 2.5 years and 10,000 miles with a 2010 F150 5.4 3.73 MaxTow. Same tranny as the 09.
Mine could never make up it's mind about what gear to be in. No OD lock out or select shift button so you're at the mercy of the tranny's mapping. I could be towing on the flats at 62-64mph in 6th, come to an overpass and it would drop to 5th then 4th then back to 5th till it crested the overpass then go to 6th and then back to 5th then to 6th. It would mostly stay in 6th like that until it hit a shadow or a slight breeze from the side or front then drop to 5th then to 6th, or it just might stay in 5th. Stupidest thing I've seen. Especially for a truck rated to tow 11,100lbs.

As far as tranny heat goes, with the towing package you get extra large tranny coolers, at least compared to the 08. In the 08 the tranny ran about 160 or so not towing then would go up to IIRC 18-190 towing. In the 2010 with the improved cooling the tranny ran about 190 all the time IIRC. Never heated up even with all that shifting back and forth or in the mtns. I'm guessing the used a different thermostat in the 09's and up compared to the 08's.

I would add the tranny cooler that comes with the tow package if you're still under warranty, if not a good after market equivalent will do fine.