Cruise Control and Tow/Haul Mode

New guy to the forum and about to take my longest trip (for me) with the cat. Last year we picked up a 29BHS on end of season closeout and found out that even though the weight was under what my 1500 was rated at, it was still a beast to pull, so this year have replaced the GMC 1500 with a Chevy 2500, this truck is setup to tow 13,000 lbs, the trailer loaded weight is 7163. I know this because I loaded it up before our last trip and took it up to a local lumber mill and weighed it on their scale. Most of my trips so far have been short (less than 100 miles from home) and up and down hills so there was no question on whether to use the tow haul mode. This Saturday we are taking it down to Myrtle beach, which is about 400 miles away and for the most part flat driving. The questions I have is at what point is the tow haul mode required and when can it be an option. The tow/haul mode turns off the high gear, so at highway speeds I'm running 2200 to 2400 RPM's, without it on it runs around 1700, that's a big difference in gas. I'm also thinking I want the comfort of driving with the cruise control on. The manual doesn't state any restrictions on using the cruise control with the tow/haul mode engaged. Any thoughts out there?

Allen

First...welcome to the group! Glad you're here.

As long as you can maintain a constant speed without the trans constantly downshifting, then you don't need tow/haul. If you find you are always changing gears, then use tow/haul. Also, keep an eye on trans temps. When turning less RPM's, there is less trans fluid going through the cooler and MAY result in higher trans temps. If the temps go up to far, use tow/haul. No problem using cruise in any case.

John

I'm hoping transmission cooling shouldn't be too much of a problem, this truck has a massive cooler that is mounted below the regular radiator and doesn't share airspace, but it's also got a dedicated trans temp gauge so I can keep an eye on it.

, I have the WC & TV in my signature and just completed 1000 mile trip to Colorado. Unless there was a lot steep climbs I kept overdrive turned on, if I saw I was approaching a steep climb I would turn it off once my speed dropped to around 50 MPH until over the hill. Trans temp gauge stayed on the cool side even on 100 degree days and mpg increased some.

Bill

Welcome to the forum.
I use tow/haul mode all the time when pulling the camper, but on my older Chevy the 5th gear (my Allison only has 5) doesn't get disabled.

Welcome to the forum.

I use cruise control all the time, rarely use tow/haul and never had a problem. I'd say, use cruise and no tow/hall for a while and see what you think, if you feel the engine is over working or lots o f downshifting going on, then change over to tow/haul.

What campground are you going to stay at in Myrtle Beach?

Scruffy says he does the same as Tom, use the cruise control almost all the time. The truck seems to tell him when to use Tow haul.

Tater

Always use TOW/HAUL as recommended by Ford and cruise when I can get away with it. Cruise does not work to well with Tow/Haul on this rig.

I can get away with using the cruise across my home state of Nebraska.But I am in tow/haul mode.If I start hitting hills I'll turn off the cruise.

to the forum from the U.K. I don't use the tow haul mode on my truck even though my cat has a weight of 1200lbs.
The truck just pulls and pulls. transmission temp sits between 100 and 150.
Sean

Sean wrote: to the forum from the U.K. I don't use the tow haul mode on my truck even though my cat has a weight of 1200lbs.
The truck just pulls and pulls. transmission temp sits between 100 and 150.
Sean

Do you have an extra Transmission cooler on yours Sean? I can't get below 145 degrees with just the truck by it's self.

[quote="Tracker16"]

Sean wrote:

Do you have an extra Transmission cooler on yours Sean? I can't get below 145 degrees with just the truck by it's self.

Just standard cooler, but I only travel at 56 mph so engine is only doing about 1400rpm and also air temps over here are probably a lot lower than in the the USA.
Sean

I use the cruise whenever I can. I normally use tow/haul. My cousin, who has been a GM service manager for ever, claims that I shouldn't use tow/haul because the computer will prevent any damage. two different thoughts.

Ford is a different animal.

robertz675 wrote:I use the cruise whenever I can. I normally use tow/haul. My cousin, who has been a GM service manager for ever, claims that I shouldn't use tow/haul because the computer will prevent any damage. two different thoughts.

I also use cruise as much as I can makes for relaxed driving, the only time I don't use it is when I am on little country roads with lots of bends and low road speeds.
Sean

Well, back from the trip, no problems with the cruise control, for the most part the truck stayed in fifth gear all the way down to myrtle beach, on the way back did a lot shifting back and forth from sixth to fifth, so I ended up turning on the tow haul mode just to keep it from shifting so much. Interesting part is that I burned 9 gallons of gas less on the way back home.

How is Myrtle these days?

Oh, how we hated to come back, temperatures were in the low 90's every day, but with the breeze coming off the ocean it wasn't too bad. Backed into the driveway with the outside temperature sitting at 105. Other than the hookups being on the wrong side of the side for most campers the campground was good.

I personally hate to haul with cruise controll only for the reason that my truck seems to back off the throttle when coasting down hill to stay at 60 or whatever... then i've lost momentum at the base of the next hill and it will come out of O.D. and drop down 1 if not two gears to maintain the set speed...IT DRIVES ME CRAZY!!!

someone needs to invent CC with and incline sensor ;-)

Also tow haul has always given me better fuel economy, and dont forget TH mode on GM increases the alternator output as well substantially...good for electric breaking, charging even plowing!

Kept watching this post to see what campground you all stayed at and I don't belive I read what it was. We have been camping there since '04 and stay at the Myrtle Beach Travel Park. It's on the upper end and 22 dumps right out on its' front door step practiaclly. The DW and I are older (I'll be 61 next month ) and it seems to be more of what we look for plus we do a lot of stuff on the north end such as eat out and some of the shows. We have never had a bad time there and we appreciate not being ran over with golf carts.

THEHIWAYMAN (aka Tim) wrote:I personally hate to haul with cruise controll only for the reason that my truck seems to back off the throttle when coasting down hill to stay at 60 or whatever... then i've lost momentum at the base of the next hill and it will come out of O.D. and drop down 1 if not two gears to maintain the set speed...IT DRIVES ME CRAZY!!!

someone needs to invent CC with and incline sensor ;-)

Also tow haul has always given me better fuel economy, and dont forget TH mode on GM increases the alternator output as well substantially...good for electric breaking, charging even plowing!

Better gas mileage. Wonder if I should leave it in Tow Haul all the time. Like the way it shifts better. Not pulling or pulling.

It did seem like I got better mileage...when you fuel up every 230 miles or so on a 6000+mile trip many times I would get back on the interstate and 50 miles down the road realise I never hit the TH button...

Seems like every time I forgot to do this my mileage would suffer in the first quarter tank?
Thats my take on it... I always worried about dropping that extra 400 rpm but eventually stopped worrying about that...

I use cruise control every chance I get. Tow/Haul works best in hills, on fairly level I leave it off, gets better mileage because it shifts sooner.