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Towing in Overdrive

mfgguru

mfgguru

Makin' it better!
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Location
Winkler, MB, Canada
Hi everyone! I tried a search on the subject, but couldn't find anything.
I just bought a travel trailer a couple of weeks ago and was wondering what the consesus is on towing in overdrive. My truck has 3.73 gears and I would like to know what the majority think. I haven't got a trans guage installed yet, but will be as soon as I change the trans oil. Some say don't do it, others say as long as it isn't jumping in and out and the torque converter stays locked, it's ok. Let me know what you think.:smile5:
 
I've been towing (heavy) in OD for years. If the torque-converter is kicking in/out, you should be in third. Don't lug it - watch the EGT gauge.

I always kick down long before I have to, but on the flat stuff? Hasn't broken anything yet.
 
I did with no porblems. Just don't push it too hard and definitely watch your engine temps. These thingsa overheat real easy when towing campers. You may want to PULL and clean your rad and coolers before the camping season.
 
I tow over 14k worth of horses/tack/junk in a goose neck horse trailer and I use OD most of the time unless, like you side, it wants to unlock/lock the converter. So far no problems..
 
Ok then, good! Thanks for the responses so quickly.
One more question. With trans temp guage, what is the max temp. that we can run before smoking the fluid?
 
be carefull where you mount sending unit. there is a spot on the drivers side for pressure test, I have found that to be inaccurate compared to the inline gauge at the radiator. X2 on Tdocs duel cooler, been running that for a while and keeps temps under 225 towing. pic is of upper trans cooler line @ radiator-real time output temp. have hit 245 in summer in stop and go traffic. anything above 240 is getting bad, the higher the temp the shorter the tranny fluid AND unit life.
 

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We got a built for towing 700r4 from bowtie overdrive and they maintained that they didn't want to see over 160 for a tranny pan temp. They said it was oil temp after it was cooled. They said that the heat is generated in the torque converter and by doing some specialized tests they found that it took only a few seconds for the conv to generate really hot temps and degrade the oil. Makes sense to me. We had to put on a really big cooler on our plow truck to cool it enough. Stock cooler would blow thru temps limits in minutes when plowing, easily reaching 220.
 
ak diesel driver said:
We got a built for towing 700r4 from bowtie overdrive and they maintained that they didn't want to see over 160 for a tranny pan temp. They said it was oil temp after it was cooled. They said that the heat is generated in the torque converter and by doing some specialized tests they found that it took only a few seconds for the conv to generate really hot temps and degrade the oil. Makes sense to me. We had to put on a really big cooler on our plow truck to cool it enough. Stock cooler would blow thru temps limits in minutes when plowing, easily reaching 220.
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The 700R4 is fine for towing as long as it doesn't tow in OD. Even with updates and modifications, I'd not tow with a 700R4 in OD.

4L80E - tow in OD. It gets too hot in Drive when towing. If I hit 200 degrees (probe in the pan), then I stop what I'm doing to make it that hot.
 
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