Nothing here, move along

H. A. N. D.

 

Is your trailer weighing in at 14k lbs or is that just the capacity of the trailer? 14k is over our towing capacity.

Did you try stepping on the gas?

Even when not towing, coasting downhill the truck will engine brake a bit. Nothing in the red though. Just pressing the gas a little makes it go away, same with the brake I believe.

 

Only 2500. Doesn't sound like it's over revving. It's doing it's job. If you say it didn't used to do it, it probably learned and adapted. Now if it was holding it at 5000 I'd be concerned.

 

This sounds normal to me. BUUUT, in this situation, if you touch the brake it will almost certainly shift down a gear to increase the engine braking effect. I've experienced this up to 4k RPMs on steep (10%) grades. The truck won't over-rev, the ECU will shift to the next higher gear to protect the engine from damage, even in S-Mode.

 

Sounds normal to me. Leave it in D, press the tow/haul button and let it do it's thing. It'll use the engine to brake a lot more in that mode to save your brakes and it will also hold lower gears so you're not chugging the engine.

 

Do you think it's wrong to use S mode with towhaul when towing? I use it to lock the truck out of 5th or 6th when towing unless it warrants a higher gear.

 

I remember @ColoradoTJ telling me to leave it in D. He's never steered me wrong.

 

I think that the manual says that putting it in S-Mode defeats (cancels/turns off) Tow/Haul.

 

It seems like everything still works. Tow haul in the third generations makes it act more like the second generation other than the shift points. The throttle response is better shift points extended etc. the only thing I don't know is, whether or not it does engine braking for you IE hold the gear or downshift when you touch the brake. I don't like having my truck in DC while towing. Maybe it's just a habit that came with the older vehicles, that you always just put in D or 3 instead of overdrive.

 

I think you are fine using the S mode while in tow haul. The last time we did a mountain camping trip, the drive home was curvy and steep coming down. I used the shifter as some engine braking and it worked well. Our trailer is around 7500-8K fully loaded and I take it easy both up and down the grades. No reason to burn the brakes or trans up. Once I start the trip, my tow/haul mode stays on til we reach our destination.

 

So do you put it back in D out on the highway? Reason I'm asking is I take the 62 out to Parker towing my friends boat and it's got a lot of up and down rolling hills. I didn't like the transmission shifting so often only to downshift again. So I would typically find the gear that would keep me in the RPMs I wanted and then upshift on the down hills and flats. I almost never use D and always use S mode, even unloaded every day driving. I came from alot of manual transmissions so i hate gear hunting.

 

What you're doing here sounds reasonable to me, as I understand it.