Towing with V6 Auto OD

There seems to be quite a few threads with regard to towing. My truck is a 4x4 V6 Auto. This past deer season I towed a 14 ft. metal trailer with two four wheelers and the bed loaded with gear. Most of this was done in OD. According to the 2010 owners manual, it leaves room to ponder whether you should tow in 4th gear or OD. OD offers better fuel economy. Obviously weight would be a factor. It does say to obtain better engine braking to tow in 4th gear. But does not say to not tow in OD. With the above load my transmission was not "searching" between gears unless I went up a fairly steep hill and even then it just down shifted to 4th gear and shifted back in OD when the road leveled out. It never struggled. Should each individual towing situation be considered before towing in OD or should you never tow anything in OD?

 

Tow in fourth the hunting will fry your tranny if any hills.

 

If towing a moderate load and your tranny is not hunting, would it be feasible to simply down shift, moving the stick over to the left, on hills? Should hunting for gears be the only determining factor or should you just never tow in OD?

 

From what I've done/heard, just shift to a lower gear when going up hills while towing. Don't let the transmission decide for you.

 

He has it right. Although the tranny is made to shift down, with all the pressure of the kick down it will after time put more wear on the plates and intenals. So just kick into 4 and drive on.

 

Thanks guys. That makes sense and would probably be the reason they made it so easy to do just that.

 

When I had a camper and center console, I used 3rd gear on grades(hills etc), but that was w/ a Suburban; some of the places I'd go required such as the terrain was steep. Pretty easy to tell when to down shift, as the trans. gears would shift back and forth. I've got the tow package on my SR5, and was thinking about getting a small trailer for mulch/mower/4x4. I know I'd have to use 3rd coming up the ridge to the hooch...anyone trailer in 3rd gear, or you reckon 4th is OK for flat/slight elevation areas...

 

When I was running in ky with a 12ft trailer and motorcycle in the back some of the hill I had to kick it down to 3. Guess you just need to know your tranny.
.