F150 automatic tranny gear selection
2006 F150, 5.4L Automatic trans. Towing a trailer weighing around 4200 lbs. Very often this truck can pull an incline in third gear but insists on downshifting to second sending the rpms from 2400 t...
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In mountains, mine spends a LOT of time north of 4000 RPMs. It has no choice. That engine does it's best work between 3800-redline. Let it work, you won't hurt it. I actually prefer it get into the lower gear at the start of the hill so I don't lose momentum and have it downshift halfway up the hill under load. I will either pedal the gas to get it to downshift, or, if it's a longer hill coming up, pull it into 2nd manually to keep it from upshifting before I want to. No need to have all that back and forth shifting. It just wastes power and time and increases heat and wear.
