withaph

I have a 2005 Expedition with a 5.4L engine. I am pulling a pop-up that has a dry weight of 3,200 lbs. I was told by the person who sold me the trailer to pull it with the overdrive off. I have heard the opposite from friends who pull boats with similar weight. My main concern is wear on the transmission. Forgive me if this has been discussed in other posts, I searched but could not find any discussion on this subject. Thanks for any replies.

atec77

I would asume seat of the pants will provide a better answer than other opinions ?

just me

overdrive should be off as it creates alot of extra heat and you should have an external oil cooler if u are towing something that heavy

withaph

Thanks for the responses, my Expedition has no problem towing the trailer with overdrive turned off, just suffer about 3mpg loss from Overdrive on. It seems that running w/ out overdrive is the safer option since I don't have an external oil cooler for the transmission.

Johnny Langton

If your truck has the 4R100 trans,then the only reason to tow in 3rd instead of OD would be for a really heavy load where the truck was downshifting constantly. The 4R100 has a clutch for OD.
The 4R70W OD is the function of a band,and under heavy load with alot of downshifting/upshifting-it won't last long. If you're travelling with this trans on long straight flat roadways,then go for it,but when it gets loaded up from wind,etc..and tends to downshift alot-lock out OD.
Either one is safe to town with in OD,just be sure that the trans isn't upshifting/downshifting alot due to load.
JL

__________________
1997 Thunderbird
4.6L Non-PI/4R70W auto
N/A-3670 lbs
12.28@109.57

2001 Navigator
5.4L 4V/4R100 auto
Stock for now