Overdrive lockout on ford e450

[Redram99]

Does anyone know if it’s possible to wire in a switch to lockout overdrive?

It would be great to be able to drop the tranny to drive in advance of a hill. I feel it would put off shifting to 3rd significantly.

This would make cruise control much more useable.

I have already installed five stars tuning which made a night and day difference.

Thanks.

[Tvov]

Redram99 wrote:
Heard from 5star today. Apparently they can program a tune to lockout overdrive.

I am hoping they can calibrate a tune that only uses 4th while I activate tow haul. That way when about to pull a hill or need to slow down slightly I can click towhaul and automatically drop to fourth. Once things level out again, I can disable towhaul and back off to the races with overdrive.

That is the way tow/haul works on my 5 speed trans in my F250 from the factory. If the truck needs the power, the trans quickly downshifts as needed, but hit a flat spot it shifts into overdrive.

[Redram99]

Heard from 5star today. Apparently they can program a tune to lockout overdrive.

I am hoping they can calibrate a tune that only uses 4th while I activate tow haul. That way when about to pull a hill or need to slow down slightly I can click towhaul and automatically drop to fourth. Once things level out again, I can disable towhaul and back off to the races with overdrive.

[DrewE]

Home Skillet wrote:

JaxDad wrote:
Keep in mind that once the TX drops out of overdrive the converter lockup releases also, when that happens the slippage creates a lot of heat fast.

Unless you have a TX fluid temperature gauge you could very quickly get above the critical temperature of 225 deg. F.

Bad things happen very quickly after that.

The torque converter will still lock, regardless of the overdrive selection.

This is true. Even on my lowly 4R100, the torque converter locks up in third gear after maybe half a second, and so far as I can suss out will also lock up in second gear if appropriate. I don't think I've ever cruised in first long enough to find out if it locks up there or not.

Newer transmissions are generally more likely to lock up the torque converter than older ones so as to meet fuel mileage goals for the vehicle makers.

[Tvov]

Redram99 wrote:
I believe on the 5 speed f series transmissions, you can lock out overdrive with the tow haul button. Quick press of the button engages townhaul, and a long press of the same button disables overdrive.

Would be real nice to have on the motor home.

Are there certain years for that? I'm off to check my owner's manual!

[Home_Skillet]

JaxDad wrote:
Keep in mind that once the TX drops out of overdrive the converter lockup releases also, when that happens the slippage creates a lot of heat fast.

Unless you have a TX fluid temperature gauge you could very quickly get above the critical temperature of 225 deg. F.

Bad things happen very quickly after that.

The torque converter will still lock, regardless of the overdrive selection.

[carringb]

X2 - Get 5-star tuned. It won't be as shifty to start with, and they can include an O/D lockout tune.

[Redram99]

Btw- 5 stars tuning is the best thing that ever happened to my motor home


Unreal how much better the drivability is!!!

[Redram99]

I believe on the 5 speed f series transmissions, you can lock out overdrive with the tow haul button. Quick press of the button engages townhaul, and a long press of the same button disables overdrive.

Would be real nice to have on the motor home.

[pnichols]

I drive our 2005 E450 with it's 5-speed (6 gear ratios internally - with computer selection between two of them) Class C almost full time now with Tow/Haul mode engaged. Overdrive and cruise control still work in Tow/Haul mode and of course downhill automatic down-shifting happens all the time when in Tow/Haul mode whether in cruise control or not.

I find staying in Tow/Haul mode improves overall response and driveabilty under all conditions. However, this may be due to our Class C being relatively low in weight (24 feet @ ~11,800 lbs.) and built on the E450 chassis with it's low 4:56 rear differential ratio.

[Hank85713]

There is a shift kit change for the shifter out that makes it into a manual shifter like they advertise for the imports with the shifter on the shift lever. Much like the chebby shifter for when you put it in manual and use the little levers to shift. I think its by BPD out of phoenix, plugs into the OBD port. Dont know if it will work on the older trans but is supposed to give access to ALL the gears in the transmission.

Actually its BD diesel out of canada. Here is a link to the unit for a 6.0 ford diesel, cotact them they may have something for you?

https://www.dieselperformance.com/shop/product/1031369-tapshifter-exhaust-brake-ford-2003-2007-6-0l-f250-f350-powerstroke-595

[Ductape]

My biggest disappointment with the Ford 5 speed was the inability to lock out 5th. Sucks in the hills. 5 Star are the people you want to call and ask.

AFAIK there is no unused input available to the transmission control that would enable that. I'm pretty sure you could ask 5 Star to give you a program that would lock out 5th using Tow/Haul, simply by raising the 4-5 shift to some very high speed you wouldn't reach. Effectively giving you just 1-4 when T/H is enabled.

[scrubjaysnest]

Our 2016 is on the E-450 chassis with the 6 spd tranny. Towing a JKU as a dinghy we always use the tow/haul; unlike our 2008 RAM this doesn't disable the over drive. There is no OD off either like the RAM has. Typical of FORD to be behind the others.
When it's in the budget I'll be looking into the 5 stars as the shift patterns are all wrong on the 6 speed. Would also like to disable OD at times.

[DrewE]

Older Fords (with the 4R100 transmission) had a plain overdrive off where the tow/haul button now is. It did exactly what it was advertised as doing: locked out overdrive, but didn't alter the shift points in any other way.

Tow/haul is much smarter overall; it does not disable overdrive, but does change the shift points around and enables some automatic engine braking by downshifting under certain conditions when the brakes are applied and also tinkers with some of the internal shift timing and programming to reduce excess heat buildup etc. (adjusting things like when the torque converter locks up).

If you really want it to downshift earlier, probably the best method is to tap the gas as you approach a hill on cruise to force a downshift. I'm not sure you'll find much difference in shifting down to third, though; my hunch is that it may actually not be shifting down to third, in most cases, though I obviously am not riding along in your RV and may be entirely wrong. I do know that my 4R100 rarely if ever shifts down to second on the highway. (Second, third, and fourth on the 4R100 are identical ratios to third, fourth, and fifth on the five speed transmissions. The extra gear was added between first and second on the four speed.)

[Redram99]

My e450 is a 2010. The button on the gear shift is for tow haul only.

It does not disable overdrive. On most fords you can disable OD but not these.

I thought I had seen a fix for this.