Tried something new last trip.

[jspringator]

I have a 2001 Ford Excursion V-10 with 4.30's. I tow with a small dual sport (230 cc) on the front of the truck. My TT is high profile and 33' in length.

I experimented with locking out OD, and setting the cruise at 58. WOW, what an easy tow. I was running just under 3,000 rpm and it pulled every interstate hill with no downshifting Gas mileage was around 7.8. It was getting around that before. Oil consumption was the same. A quart to Florida and a quart home. I'm guessing 2,900 rpm is a high torque area of the power curve.

If I don't use cruise my speed picks up so much it kills the mileage, although I'm sure it would do 65 with ease.

[bmanning]

Its4mykids wrote:
I always have my tranny in my ’94 F-350, 460, 4.10 gears with OD “turned off” via the button on the gear shift handle when I pull my 12,500 lb fiver. I run it at 63 mph at about 3050 rpm all day long. I found in OD the tranny temp tends to climb well over 200 degrees. Out of OD, it stays around 190. I also installed a vacuum gauge years ago and basically drive by that. I always try to keep the vacuum above 5 Hg. Ran several experiments over the 50k miles and pretty much determined:

1. Throttle angle is very important. In OD, I need way too much throttle angle to maintain speed. Holding the throttle in one spot while in OD, I can turn off OD and gain about 5-7 mph without moving the throttle!
2. Manifold vacuum is important to watch. It is directly proportional to engine load and fuel mileage. In OD, it is rare that my vacuum raises much above 1 – 2 Hg. Most of the time it is at 0. Without OD, it ranges from 7 – 10.
3. WAY too much auto-downshifting when I ran in OD
4. OD is much quieter, but I can handle the added engine noise in the cab.
5. Mileage is pretty much the same either way, with OD being ever so slightly lower. Almost not even noticeable. I find speed/wind is more of a factor in mileage. My fiver is heavy and high profile, so that makes sense.
6. RPM with OD about 2100, without OD about 3050. 2100 is way too low on the torque/hp curve in OD when pulling a huge load (for the 460).
7. 3050 rpm does seem high at times, but then I remember that the 460 is an old engine that ran in vehicles at these rpm’s way before OD was even common in vehicles. It is well maintained, so I let her go.

Bottom line – I have run (and documented) many tests with this truck over 50k miles (probably 80% towing). My conclusion (being an engineer and thinking like an engineer), is to run my truck with OD turned off when towing my fiver. Feel free to disagree.

Nice post!

And neat to hear that your nearly-20-year-old 460 is happily singing along, doing it's thing...concrete proof that it doesn't always require the latest-and-greatest to get the job done.

[Its4mykids]

I always have my tranny in my ’94 F-350, 460, 4.10 gears with OD “turned off” via the button on the gear shift handle when I pull my 12,500 lb fiver. I run it at 63 mph at about 3050 rpm all day long. I found in OD the tranny temp tends to climb well over 200 degrees. Out of OD, it stays around 190. I also installed a vacuum gauge years ago and basically drive by that. I always try to keep the vacuum above 5 Hg. Ran several experiments over the 50k miles and pretty much determined:

1. Throttle angle is very important. In OD, I need way too much throttle angle to maintain speed. Holding the throttle in one spot while in OD, I can turn off OD and gain about 5-7 mph without moving the throttle!
2. Manifold vacuum is important to watch. It is directly proportional to engine load and fuel mileage. In OD, it is rare that my vacuum raises much above 1 – 2 Hg. Most of the time it is at 0. Without OD, it ranges from 7 – 10.
3. WAY too much auto-downshifting when I ran in OD
4. OD is much quieter, but I can handle the added engine noise in the cab.
5. Mileage is pretty much the same either way, with OD being ever so slightly lower. Almost not even noticeable. I find speed/wind is more of a factor in mileage. My fiver is heavy and high profile, so that makes sense.
6. RPM with OD about 2100, without OD about 3050. 2100 is way too low on the torque/hp curve in OD when pulling a huge load (for the 460).
7. 3050 rpm does seem high at times, but then I remember that the 460 is an old engine that ran in vehicles at these rpm’s way before OD was even common in vehicles. It is well maintained, so I let her go.

Bottom line – I have run (and documented) many tests with this truck over 50k miles (probably 80% towing). My conclusion (being an engineer and thinking like an engineer), is to run my truck with OD turned off when towing my fiver. Feel free to disagree.

[jspringator]

I wonder if all day towing at 3,300 to 3,400 rpm would hurt these things. I use synthetic oil. It may be easier on the rig to tow at that rpm than to go through the lugging and downshifts.

[dodge_guy]

Ya i know what you are saying about the downshifting. It is alot better than it was stock. But now it takes more pedal to get it to kick down. The biggest factor is the height. 11.5 feet will kill the mileage and power.

[jspringator]

I've got the same tuner and y pipe mod and I hate the constant downshifting at that speed, even without cruise.

[dodge_guy]

No I keep O/D on I have a tuner which changes the shift points in the trans. this allows me to run O/D a little longer.

My mileage at 68mph is around 6.8-7.1 it dips down to low 6`s with a headwind. and high 7`s with a tailwind

[jspringator]

dodge guy wrote:
EHH! 58mph would kill me. it would seem like it would take forever to get anywhere. but yes, when I take back roads that are 50-55mph the X feels good there. on the hwy I set the cruise at 68mph and relax! that`s whre the X feels happiest!

Do you have OD locked out?

Mileage?

[dodge_guy]

EHH! 58mph would kill me. it would seem like it would take forever to get anywhere. but yes, when I take back roads that are 50-55mph the X feels good there. on the hwy I set the cruise at 68mph and relax! that`s whre the X feels happiest!

[jspringator]

The 430's are a good fit with this style of towing because it puts the torque right at 60 miles per hour.

[ReneeG]

Thanks. That's the same as what was on the F250 and we turned it on with each towing. We were advised to do this by our transmission specialist.

[jspringator]

There is a button on the end of the shifter. When pushed, it prevents the transmission from shifting into overdrive, or 4th. It still "locks" in third. The 2001 2 valves have no tow haul mode, (except maybe what I did) and have less power than the later 3 valve models. The Excursion also weighs quite a bit more than the F-250.

[ReneeG]

When you say "locking out OD" do you mean putting it in Tow mode? When we had a TT, we towed it with an F250 V10 6.8L with a 4.3 axle and it towed very well.