Tow Haul Mode

[longhorn1]

Has anyone used Tow Haul Mode with their camper? While we were driving steep grades in the mountains, I started experiencing the camper dropping out of cruise control and a few other things. I thought maybe I was having a transmission problem. I called my Ford service guy, explained the situation, and he asked if I had the camper on. When I said yes he said to put the truck in Tow Haul mode. I also stopped using cruise when we encountered steep grades. From that point, no more issues. I have never had issues driving our F-250/Grandby, but then again it was mostly on level highways. Please add your comments. jd

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[lqhikers]

love the tow/haul control.

we replaced our 2015 toyota 4x4 with northstar pop up with a 2016 ford 150 transit
medium roof 148" wheel base converted to camper.

camper conversion added approx 800 pounds plus all the extra crap we carry.

as we ordered the transit with locking diff,it serves our off beat travels,turn off the abs when off road
and locker works great.

tow haul reminds me of exhaust brake on one of our motorhomes in the past.

it took awhile understand exactly how it works but once you understand it
you use it all the time when decending steep grades

enjoy,

Les,lqhikers

 

[Bad Habit]

The Tow/Haul mode just adjusts the transmission shift points so it will hold a gear longer and then down shift sooner.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

We use tow/haul a lot, with and without cruise, with and without camper or trailer. Love it! In the mountains, I use it on most descents, regardless of load! Tow/haul is your friend.

 

[rotti]

Great feature on my 2500HD that I use all the time here in the Rockies....especially so on downgrades from our 10,000' plus passes. By just using the brakes you can warp rotors and fry pads pretty fast.

 

[iowahiker]

We never use tow/haul because the camper as on full time. Our goal is to have the computer "learn" our camper is on full time and so adjust the shift points which the owners manual says will happen. If your drive with the camper on and off then tow haul is a good choice especially for hills and mountains. Cruise control will disconnect if the actual speed deviates from the set speed by more than a preset tolerance, around 4 mph, because the computer "thinks" you are not paying attention to road conditions (the hill). We press down on the gas pedal before reaching the hill to switch the computer from "eco" mode to power mode and also gain speed to climb the hill (cruise control on). Some hills are too steep for cruise control so we turn off cruise control as speed drops and hunker down at a lower speed and lower gear (I refuse to climb a hill at 5000-6000 rpm in second gear). We climb normal mountains at 2000-2500 RPM in what ever gear the computer picks (4, 5, or 6). We climb the steep mountains at 2500-3000 rpm in a lower gear, 3rd, cruise control off, and enjoy the V-8 roar.

 

[Bill D]

I use tow/haul when driving through the Rocky mountains (It keeps the transmission temp down), but I don't use it when driving around town on on the prairies.

BTW, I have never experienced cruise being deactivated in either mode.

A common issue that causes cruise control to mysteriously deactivate can be a warn brake light switch. The system thinks you are applying the brakes. You might first start to notice cruise being deactivated when hit a bump (ie. crossing a bridge or railroad tracks) while cruise is engaged. As the switch continues to wear you may notice this symptom during cruising. Perhaps a shift from the transmission is enough to activate a warn switch.

 

[iowahiker]

Every car/truck make has a different computer program for cruise control but both my Xterra and Ford F-150 have a disconnect tolerance because of the manual mode on the transmission. If the transmission is set to hold a single gear, manual mode, but the chosen gear will not produce the cruise control speed while going up a hill then the cruise will turn off when a tolerance is exceeded. The driver is supposed to correct the situation before the tolerance is exceeded. The cruise turnoff for inability to stay near the set speed works even when out of the manual transmission mode because the driver is expected to be paying attention and intervene when the set speed can not be achieved. Also, this would be a safety shutdown when you hit the vehicle in front while texting. But all cars/trucks are different. If cruise control turns off while near the set speed then a mechanical/programming problem would be a concern but I thought the question concerned hill climbs which is when my cruise control turned off after getting too far off the set speed.

 

[Bigfoot]

I use tow/haul mode in the mountains. The diesel is so powerful that an uphill has to be very steep to tell the difference. Where it clearly helps is downhill braking when used in conjunction with the diesel's exhaust brake.

The manual states:

When operating in TOW/HAUL mode, transmission upshifts are delayed, and the transmission will automatically downshift (for engine braking) when the throttle is closed or during steady braking maneuvers.

Do not use the “TOW/HAUL” feature when driving in icy or slippery conditions. The increased engine braking could cause the rear wheels to slide...

 

[CALIcamperdad]

No abs feature tied to engine breaking.

I've had a number of cars drop cruise control over the yrs. Every case it was some type of trigger point. Hot transmission temp, glitch in the power - cruddy battery cable under the plastic insulation, coolant temp sensor went haywire and tripped the cruise control.

Hard to say in your case. But camper load paired with highway speeds and possibly AT not happy holding higher gears against a head wind spiking AT temp could easily be a suspected source. Tow mode is great for holding gears at higher rpms, for less AT heat also.