towing with an automatic

[LanceRKeys]

So I just got back from my first long trip towing with my new set-up. I am towing a 26' travel trailer with my 2008 suburban. My set-up tracked good with no sway, and was stable in all conditions, we had wind from every direction, passed people, were passed two lanes, a good test, and everything went great.

The only problem that I really found was I had a heck of a time keeping the suburban out of second gear. I was driving in third in tow/haul, between 60 and 65. It seems I couldn't give it much throttle and back to second it went, running up to 4500rpm. This drove me crazy, I wasn't in a race to get up to speed, I just wanted to slowly accelerate. Once it got to the speed I wanted, it held it well, but I couldn't see a need to down shift so quickly. I guess I will get used to it, but changing from a manual where I controlled everything to an automatic was quite frustrating. I seemed to learn to manage it better the more I drove it, but I had to really be careful to not push the pedal more than maybe 1/8" at a time or second gear here we come!

Is there any way to better deal with this? Will a programmer take care of this and allow me to give it more gas and just stay in gear?

[patperry2766]

LanceRKeys wrote:
@Jerem a new tow vehicle is not in the works right now, my wife and I currently have zero debt and plan to keep it that way. She is in college right now, and when she graduates she wants to get a newer car to drive. .

Does she go to WTAMU? I spent several formative & drunk years going to school there many years ago.

[Dave_H_M]

I work my go pedal like APT does.

And i also "lean" into those overpasses and grades.

[time2roll]

What RPM are you turning at 65 in 3rd gear?

I think the choice is 4.11 or 4.56 ratio. If is as touchy as you say I would go right to 4.56 gear. Although I used my tuner to reduce the shift points 500 rpm and this has helped to use the lower rpm range.

I agree a manual transmission does have certain advantages.

[APT]

IF you are using cruise control, I expect that behavior. It takes a lot of power to pull two sheets of plywood through the air at 60-65mph. Naturally aspirated gas engines are not tuned for much torque at 2500rpm. Enough for holding speed, but even overpass "hills" needs extra reserve power. 4500rpm is fine for the truck. IT may not be pleasing to the people inside, though. I tend to let the speed change. Say my cruising speed is 70mph in 5th gear, 2500rpm. I will let speed fall to about 60mph before a downshift to hold or accelerate. 10mph delta is usually enough for overpasses and small hills.

[afidel]

LanceRKeys wrote:

@Gordon I don't necessarily think that there is anything wrong with a lower gear, it's just that if I was choosing gears, I wouldn't have down shifted so early. But I am not going to drive down a flat straight road going 65mph and 4700rpm for hours on end. I know that the engine is designed to turn those rpm, and in short bursts, I have no problem with it, but for more than a few minutes, I start to look at other options.

It's a gasser, it produces power at higher RPMs. When going over the bighorn mountains I was pulling 3,500-4,200 RPMs for about 2 hours, didn't bother me a bit because I was watching the coolant and transmission temps and they were a bit elevated but not climbing so I knew it was doing what it was designed to do. If it really bothers you get a diesel or a gasser with a 10 speed for the next truck 😃 Of course if you're climbing a grade you'll still probably get higher RPM because that's what the smart guys with all the book learning told the brain box was best to do 😃

[dodge_guy]

I would seriously consider a gear change. It will make a world of difference! You will run at a lower rpm in a higher gear. Even a 300-400 change in rpm can do wonders.

The tuner right now wouldn't help much, but after a gear change it will be amazing.

Good luck!

[drsteve]

GordonThree wrote:


Something else to double check, at least around here, a lot of "flats" are actually uphill grades, it just doesn't look like it because there's no good reference (like water) - if the landscape slopes at the same degree as the road, it looks flat, and those can go on for tens of miles.

X2.

[GordonThree]

Do you get your 3rd gear if you go 55 instead of 65? Is 10mph gain worth redoing the rear end or chip tuning the motor?

Get one of those bluetooh scan tools from Amazon for $15 and buy the Torque app on the App Store for Android or Apple. Of the various things it can tell you, one thing is "Engine Load %"; if you're on the flat at 65 and your engine load is in the high percentage...

Something else to double check, at least around here, a lot of "flats" are actually uphill grades, it just doesn't look like it because there's no good reference (like water) - if the landscape slopes at the same degree as the road, it looks flat, and those can go on for tens of miles.

[LanceRKeys]

Thanks for all the replies, as I suspected, I think it is just "normal operation" just used to towing with a manual transmission, so it was a little different, still a good towing experience.

@Jerem a new tow vehicle is not in the works right now, my wife and I currently have zero debt and plan to keep it that way. She is in college right now, and when she graduates she wants to get a newer car to drive. Right now she likes the sequoia, but that could change by the time she graduates. If she wants an expedition, it will have an ecoboost as I will get to choose that part because she really doesn't care what is under the hood as long as it gets her where she wants to go.

@Gordon I don't necessarily think that there is anything wrong with a lower gear, it's just that if I was choosing gears, I wouldn't have down shifted so early. But I am not going to drive down a flat straight road going 65mph and 4700rpm for hours on end. I know that the engine is designed to turn those rpm, and in short bursts, I have no problem with it, but for more than a few minutes, I start to look at other options.

@dodge guy: I have 3.73 gears right now, and would consider a gear swap, but I will tow with it a few more times before I go that route.

@turtle n peeps: I am still considering a tuner, although I don't expect it will help me much. The last thing I want is for a tuner to increase my towing power only to shell out my transmission. My wheels are either 17 or 18, stock size wheels and tires. I don't think that will change.

Where I would like to be is to drive 65mph in 3rd gear, and I am there, but just may need to adjust my driving style. I honestly don't really care about fuel mileage, which is what most tuners advertise, as long as it doesn't drop down to something like 4-5mpg, I'll just keep filling it up and going down the road. The truck has 195,000 miles on it and needs to last us a couple more years till my wife wants to upgrade to something newer.

In the distant future, I will have a one ton truck to drive, as we want to get a larger trailer when the kids get older. I am always on the hunt for a steal of a deal on a v-10 F350, but those don't come around much.

Thanks again for everyone that has replied.

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

There are several things you can do to alleviate the situation:

#1. Buy a tuner. I'm not a big tuner guy for gasoline engines because they do very little for power but in this case it should work pretty good. You will pick up a handful of power and that's a good thing but you can also tune the shift points so the thing won't shift back and forth so much.

#2. Buy new gears. Right now you're right in between gears. Too much gear for 2nd and not enough for 3rd. Going up just a bit (lets say 373 to 410 will help a lot). No, the gear change won't give you any more power put it will trick the puter into thinking that you do have more power.

#3. Buy new rims and tires. "If" you have large tires and rims, (lets say 20") you can go down in size and that will help your final drive out. If you have 16" on it right now, you're kind of stuck with no where to go.

That's pretty much it. Go sure you can go buy a turbo or supercharger kit for your burb but then you set yourself up for a bunch of other problems. Bottom line is, you need just a little bit more power and a tuner just may be the ticket. That's where I would go first.

[dodge_guy]

What vehicle do you have? what is its gear ratio? From you explanation it sounds like you`ve got to high of gearing. My Excursion used to tow like that till I changed the gears from 3.73 to 4.30. I can now accelerate lightly without the truck kicking down a gear.

[GordonThree]

What's wrong with the lower gear? It doesn't nessecarily mean more fuel usage. Is it the noise, or just wanting to go faster?

[austingta]

Did you try turning tow/haul off? It might downshift later.

[Grit_dog]

You said it yourself. You think this is about all your Sub wants. You'll have to drive with an egg in the pedal or listen to it downshift and wind up.
Fwiw, this is how most gas vs diesel discussions start......