What gear to tow in

[Raspy]

I have one of the best, smartest and most durable automatics on the planet. It will not overheat under any circumstances. But still, I wish I would have purchased the stick.

Towing, especially in the mountains, is a pleasure with a stick.

[DavidG]

Originally Posted by rbryan

Proof that there is a VAST difference of opinion about towing and transmissions. For example, I think anyone who prefers towing with a manual transmission ought to have their head examined. [emoji12]

Well sometimes I wonder if those of us who leave our beautiful air conditioned homes to wander through the wilderness need to have our Heads examined. People must shake their heads as Darrell or I roll through their towns in our 13' Scamps, mine with no air cond. I think Darrell likes nice parks with utilities, while I am often in a desert turnout or a forest rest stop. I think I can hear people rolling their eyes at me as I roll into town. . . but it actually may be envy at our nomadic and adventurous way of travel.
I think a stick shift CAN give better power and control on difficult roads , but only if the driver is up to the task. I now drive a Ranger V6 automatic because of arthritis. BTW, I grew up driving old turkey trucks before I had a license ; old underpowered gas -powered trucks usually had a 5 sp main gearbox and a three sp box right behind it with a separate tall shift lever. And NO syncromesh on ANY gear ; you had to 'double clutch' both going up and going down the shift pattern. Some old 15 sp ( 3x5) trucks also had a 2 sp rear end so you could split any one of the 15 gears. I would drive one of those trucks today ( for an hour) for fun! AND what will this thread look like in 6- 10 years when 'driverless cars' are joined by 'driverless Trucks and pick ups ! ? Heaven help us all ! ! Happy Trails to yooo ! David in Fresno tonight, Sonora tomorrow !

[Raspy]

David,

Your onto something. Forget the transmission design or proper shifting!

Get a driverless car to tow the trailer for you. Program in the destination. Then meet the trailer there and start camping. No fuss, no muss. Amazon could deliver all the groceries to the site with a drone and you don't even have to go shopping. A pizza could be delivered to avoid any cooking.
Teach the car how to back the trailer into the space and you're all set. An auto-pay app with GPS will pay for everything.

Pretty soon we won't even have to go at all! Just review the digital camera record when the car gets home. Or better yet, facial recognition software, with GPS locating, can identify the participants and the locations and generate a spoken report that we can listen to while commuting. Then we can keep working while we're camping! Multi-tasking. Better yet, we can hire a personal assistant to listen to the report for us, to free up some time.

I'm looking forward to not going at all, but having a wonderful trip and being productive the entire time. Ahhhhh, the memories. Sweet.

John, in Redwood city this morning and Wellington, NV this evening, via the Sonora pass. Whew! Just getting settled in.

[Mike_L]

I've been towing for 40 plus years and never "burned up" a tranny but I have overheated a few engines. Solved that problem by using a tranny cooler.

[Mike_L]

Some of the newer auto trannys are pretty good and get great fuel mileage but I still prefer a manual shift especially with a big block or a diesel.

[Borrego Dave]

[QUOTE=DavidG;65928, Some old 15 sp ( 3x5) trucks also had a 2 sp rear end so you could split any one of the 15 gears. I would drive one of those trucks today ( for an hour) for fun! David in Fresno tonight, Sonora tomorrow ![/QUOTE]

Ah memories and yes, just for an hour also .

[Sunrisetrucker]

Originally Posted by rbryan

I think anyone who prefers towing with a manual transmission ought to have their head examined. [emoji12]

Well since I prefer to drive my 18 speed Mack rather than the new 12 speed automatics I guess I better make an appointment with the doctor.

[rbryan]

Originally Posted by Sunrisetrucker

Well since I prefer to drive my 18 speed Mack rather than the new 12 speed automatics I guess I better make an appointment with the doctor.

Yep!

The comment was tongue in cheek of course, but my point is that today's automatics do a great job. It's not that I can't use a manual. I learned to drive on an old Ford with "3 on the tree", and my first car I owned myself was a Bug with a manual transmission. In the military, it was an M35. Had a sportscar which I recently sold that had a 6 speed.

But when it comes to towing my 19, the automatic makes it easy, comfortable and efficient. I like easy.

[Carol H]

Like others here I was die hard manual only driver for many decades until that was no longer an available option. Was not happy about it at the time. Once I made the switch over to automatic I have to admit I questioned why I had not done it sooner. Particularly when driving in a big city or when on highway stop and go traffic.

Now I have a heavier/bigger trailer than my Scamp 16' I am VERY happy putting the Ford F150 with its 10 speed transmission into Tow Haul & letting it handle all the gear changes up and down the hills..... no need to take my eyes off the road to look at dash while changing gears. It handles the uphill shifting very well although I sometimes feel it is a bit aggressive when gearing down hill. I have started to play with using the vehicle/trailer brakes a bit more on big down hills to avoid the occasional feel of a major gear down by the trucks computer. With a bit more towing time I suspect I will develop a good working relationship with it :-)

As far as gas milage goes when in Tow Haul I am getting way better milage pulling a trailer almost three times the weight of my Scamp 16' with the 2017 F150 3.5 Ecoboost than I got pulling the 16' Scamp with my 11 Nissan Frontier Pro 4X V6 & 08 Subaru Outback. Go figure.

Floyd congrats on the new truck. If your still trying to figure out how to change the Ford GPS to show "time to destination" vs "miles to destination" let me know..... its one of those items that is well hidden in the manual (actually never found it) and Google let me down on it as well.... stumbled on the answer just yesterday after 5 months of wondering, with a simple slip of a finger. LOL

[Darral T.]

To be truthful, the wife VERY much wishes for an "automatic". That way she could drive out to her fav's like Ross, SteinMart.... well some of you ladies know what I'm talking about- SHOPPING (no boondocking for us). She never conquered the "stick" and I tried!

Another entity to include on my setup, the engine is a 4cyl. It would work an automatic to death without a doubt. And yes, I'm up to the task but in reality, it does get tiresome in heavy traffic.

My next TOW will more than likely be auto, but I WILL miss the old stick. They just DONT give trouble. Of course, from the way it sounds from you guys, the newer trannies are more trouble-free than the old 70's/80's models. I certainly hope so! At 65K, it was almost a guaranteed tranny rebuild!

You also have to pull through these "hills of Tennessee" to understand what an automatic transmission will go through on these mini-mountains. Now a larger motor/small RV combination, no, of course it's not going to be as much of an issue! Arguing trannies reminds me of people arguing you dont need A/C- that is until they've camped in Tennessee's heat and humidity!

[Sunrisetrucker]

Originally Posted by rbryan

Yep!

The comment was tongue in cheek of course, but my point is that today's automatics do a great job. It's not that I can't use a manual. I learned to drive on an old Ford with "3 on the tree", and my first car I owned myself was a Bug with a manual transmission. In the military, it was an M35. Had a sportscar which I recently sold that had a 6 speed.

But when it comes to towing my 19, the automatic makes it easy, comfortable and efficient. I like easy.

The funny thing is that when drive for work (the big rigs) I prefer a manual transmission. But for around home or on holidays pulling our RV I really do like the new automatic transmissions

[Mike_L]

I learned to drive in an automatic. It was years before I had a manual shift. Now I have five of them. My wife has an automatic and I never touch. I find automatics are boring and waste fuel. My two cents worth.

[steve dunham]

At my age and with arthritis in my knees , hips and ankles the last thing I want to do is play footsie with a clutch pedal .
I have been driving for over 50 years . When I was a teen I though driving was boring and now that I am almost 70 driving has gotten even more boring.
If you like going through the gears have at it . I'd rather sit back put the vehicle in D and go or even better let someone else drive.
Driving to me is like digging a ditch , both are just plain monotonous
work.

[Mike_L]

I hear you Steve. When I was young I liked driving. I drove an ambulance. Now I don't like it as much and yes, I do find it boring. I would rather have someone else drive but if I do drive I find shifting gears makes it more enjoyable, and less boring.

[julmar]

Have a 2012 4Runner so can switch from d to whatever gear I need. Am not an expert at towing so welcome your kind suggestions. Towed over many high summits & select 4, then 3 & rarely 2 pulling 3200# trailer. Watch the rpms as well. Maybe this will help new towers over passes as well as enlighten me if I'm doing something wrong. On flats I tow in "d" but if any incline switch to 4. Am hoping this helps folks new to towing or if better options can educate me. TIA

[rbryan]

Originally Posted by Mike_L

I find automatics are boring and waste fuel.

Perhaps true in the past, but in many cases today they are no more fuel efficient than their automatic counterparts. In some cases the Automatic version is actually MORE fuel efficient than the manual.

I won't speak to the "boring" part.

[Roger C H]

We hauled Homelet at 1850lb with our 2000 Subaru Outback with manual (2000lb rating) from 2009 thru 2014 and enjoyed it immensely. Never any problem with the engine or tranny. Was dicey once starting up a steep hill. We didn't have OverDrive, just a 5 spd manual, no problem pulling on the flat in fifth.
We now drive a 2014 Outback w/CVT rated 2700lbs. (Arthritic knees.) We will see how that works. The dealer recommended changing tranny fluid at 60K instead of 100K because of towing. A mechanic we know recommends 40K. We will see.
The auto is nicer with the increase in traffic the Seattle area has experienced lately. With our auto, we just place it in D and let the computer do the work. The only time I take it out is going downhill, I will put it in an appropriate number gear.

[Raspy]

Originally Posted by rbryan

Perhaps true in the past, but in many cases today they are no more fuel efficient than their automatic counterparts. In some cases the Automatic version is actually MORE fuel efficient than the manual.

I won't speak to the "boring" part.

I'm assuming you mean sticks are no more efficient. Maybe true to a certain extent, but if true, it's only because the wrong gear is being used and the engine is either above or below it's efficient RPM. Autos do create more heat which is wasted energy. They spend time not locked up, transitioning between gears while in two at once for a moment and they are always running an oil pump to pump oil all through the system and the cooler while maintaining pressure to make the tranny work. When working hard, or in hilly country, they tend to shift a lot. The slipping and pumping losses add up to lost energy and worse mileage.

So, perfect automatic programming can be efficient, but it's hard to generalize that new autos are more efficient than sticks. Especially when towing and even more so in the mountains.

[Raspy]

Roger,

Do you find that the CVT keeps your engine at a fairly constant RPM? It will be interesting to see how the CVT holds up with it's inherently high internal stresses, with a metal belt against metal pulleys.

I decided to go way beyond the change recommendations on my Ram's tranny by dumping the trans pan at every oil change for the first 60,000 miles. Fortunately it had a tranny drain plug. This allowed me to see any problems early. You might do a change at 10,000 or so just to have a look at the oil.

[rbryan]

Originally Posted by Raspy

...perfect automatic programming can be efficient, but it's hard to generalize that new autos are more efficient than sticks. Especially when towing and even more so in the mountains.

Didn't generalize. "In some cases" means just that. Are all automatics as efficient as their manual versions? No. Some are.