Any Experience with Ford Tow Haul Feature

Ahh, sorry for the assumption on the Expy towing. I'd keep using T/H mode let the engine/trans do it's thing.

APT, I just learned about that transmission situation myself. I'll see if the dealer can give me more info Friday when I go in for a SYNC update. That's a pain. SYNC My Ford updates are available online or they'll mail you a thumb drive. But the SYNC we have has an update mainly for bluetooth problems that has to be dealer installed.

I fully agree with the sail effect towing an RV, but this is a flatbed with a couple of ATVs on it. Weight and its turbulence are the primary factors, whereas wind resistance is the ruler with a 12 foot high trailer. We have one, but it's pulled with the Powerstroke.

Here's the deal with RV towing. Stick your hand out the window at 60-65mph. That's a decent force of air. Now the engine has to pull two sheets of plywood wide at at that speed. That takes a lot of power. Any incline and you are now left what how much deserve power the engine/trans has at whatever speed you are trying to maintain. This is why diesels owners love it. They cruise at the peak torque of 1700-2500rpm. Naturally aspirated gassers do not.

Also, don't use 6th gear when towing a high walled RV. Even if the engine coudl hold the speed you want on flat ground, any incline will slow down. By the time you press the go pedal enough to make up for the speed decrease, you lost 5-10mph, and you need a double/triple downshift to make up. If you run a bit higher engine sped in 5th, or 4th, it has more reserve torque to maintain the speed you want and will only drop the 2mph you expect.

Here's another point of torque multiplication. Your gas engine may provide 85% of 365 ft-lb at 2200rpm in 5th gear, which is about 0.85:1 ratio so wheel torque is more like 264 ft-lb. Now go to 3rd gear at 4400rpm and you are at the engine's peak of 365, in a gear that multiplies torque by 1.7, so wheel torque is 620ft-lb now. Diesels don't get to downshift often, because they are tuned to produce peak torque in a narrower engine speed range. But they have a full 700+ lb-ft in 5th/6th without downshifting.

I had a 2003 F-150, 5.4L/3.73/4-spd trans. I towed on the highway in 3rd gear, 2500-2800rpm at 62-70mph all day long. Speed would drop a little on hills and at 55mph, I would kick down to 2nd and 4000rpm. My current TV is very similar to yours. A bit more peak HP and torque, but it also weighs 600 pounds more. 5th gear cruising, 2200-2500rpm, and never an interstate hill that needs 3rd gear/4000rpm. Occasional 4th gear/3000rpm is all.

Edit add: Crap, I took a brief look at the 2013 Expy Owners Manual. It seems to not have transmission electronic range control, of select shift as Ford calls it on their pickups. This issue plagued the 2009-2010 F-150 and appears to continue on the Expy.

APT, I'm going to have get into the manual and see about gear range control. I'll research the term. But to be clear, these hi revs in too low gears IMO are occurring on mild inclines below 5%, not 6-9% grades. And the load is light. Plus, Ford claims 85% of peak torque at 1500 rpm. That can't pull 3400 lbs up a slight grade at 60 mph at under 4000 rpm?

I'd bet money as I sit here that the '97, the '00 and the '04 would have lost only about 2 mph halfway up causing the transmission to drop out of OD and the speed would have been maintained with revs well below 3000. Not in anyway arguing, just giving my opinion that this ain't quite right.

Tbred has found a solution but this is our first 6-speed and I clearly need to do some studying on its operation.

Okay, just now the Dealer's service guy called to set an appointment for something unrelated. I asked him about my concern and in a nutshell he said it was doing what it's designed to do.

kennethwooster wrote:
I love Ford's tow haul. We spend summers in Colorado, and find the TH works fantastic not only in climbing but especially on the down grade. Really like the 6 speed transmission.

I see you have a similar truck to ours Kenneth. Have you had any similar experiences to mine and the op's? If you could guess, at what approximate gear/rpm would you experience at say a 3-4% grade?

We came from a 2008 6.4 (garbage, problems) diesel and I see the op also has/had a diesel so I'm wondering if this is just "normal" difference or incorrect performance.

I love Ford's tow haul. We spend summers in Colorado, and find the TH works fantastic not only in climbing but especially on the down grade. Really like the 6 speed transmission.

Hi CEKKK, Although we don't have the same engine,our 2012 f250 6.2 does EXACTLY what you are describing. We are towing approx. 8000 lbs. but probably not as steep inclines as you have in CO.

We can be cruising along in 4th or 5th in t/h and at the slightest incline, it will suddenly drop to 2nd at 4500+ rpm and hang there after we level off. Just doesn't seem normal at all.

Our last long trip, dh manually shifted and only used t/h for engine braking on long downgrades. Worked fine but a hassle considering this should be what the t/h is for.


We have yet to take it in to Ford,it is dh's dd and can't be without it yet. Our plan is to have a tech drive it with tt attached, this can't be normal design.

Does the Expy have gear range control like the F-150? I recommend Tow/haul and limiting top gear to 5th for the 6-spd. You should have plenty power at 2200rpm to maintain 65mph in 5th gear. It is not likely there is enough torque at 1800rpm in 6th for anything buy downhill. Throttle response will be improved, fewer torque converter unlocks, and downshifts to 4th if you have a little extra reserve torque in 5th.

5000rpm is not unreasonable to anything but the wallet and ears. Peak HP for the 3V 5.4L 5100rpm, peak torque 3600rpm. If you are in a situation that needs all its power, the 6-spd has enough ratios to keep the engine between 3600 and 5100rpm at nearly any road speed over 20mph. If you don't like 5000rpm, let the vehicle slow down up hills and regain speed down. Or, find a forced induction TV.

Thanks for the responses. This is our 4th Expedition with the 5.4, and we've towed the same load with two of them. As I mentioned, it's helpful on the downgrades. We always took the others out of overdrive and even into 2nd. Living where we do you learn to control speeds without braking. Too often we smell the brakes of that car ahead of us that's had its brake lights on the last two miles. Every once in a while there is an accident because they lost their brakes. Two women were killed when just that happened a few years ago as they descended Pikes Peak Highway.

This load we haul is less than half the vehicle's tow capacity, and this engine has quite a bit more hp and torque than the older ones. Since you all are saying it's operating as designed, we'll just go with it and not worry. But I'm probably going to continue to believe it's dropping a gear too far with such a light load.

We're going back the same route in several weeks and plan on using the 2004 Expy this time. The load will be the same, and I'm going to take careful note of how the engine performs on upgrades simply turning off overdrive. We both try to do that manuallyk before the transmission does it.

The trip down doesn't have any steep upgrades to speak of, but we will miss the TH feature on the several 6 to 8% downgrades, requiring dropping into to 2nd with the older car. The return trip of course will see us climbing those grades. Just take it slower, drop a gear and keep the rpm's up.

Thanks again. It's always great to get good input.

I don't use it on flat ground because my MPG will go up with it off. On a downgrade or in tight traffic that baby's on to help with braking so I can whoa that 8 tons of rolling stock down.