Tow vehicle question

[oldtimer57]

A new ring/pinion is about 200 bucks. A shop will probably do the work for on the order of 300-400 bucks. You are towing with O/D off???2008 Pantera Classic2014 Mercury Pro XS 200

[ClintB]

Towing in “D” with the “Tow/Haul” mode button on. I get 12 mph with the boat behind me. Have a friend with an 05 with the small V8 and 3.73 gears and his tows his Ranger just fine thru hills. I have a friend who owns a small shop that might be able to go easy on the labor. Seems like it might be worth the money to change gears, figure it would help with fuel mileage towing and put less stress on the motor. Thanks for the information.

[txpuma.basscatowners]

Hi Clint, You may want to check into how this change will affect any other vehicle systems such as speedometer calibration, computer programming, transmission shift points, etc. Scott

[oldtimer57]

You clearly have to adjust the speedo. But most vehicles use pulses from the VSS and then translate that via the computer into the analog speed displayed on the speedo. The shop can flash that in a couple of minutes to correct it. Most likely if you disconnect the battery, the shift points will work themselves out just fine as the computer monitors your speed, RPM and driving habits. By the time you have driven it for 30 minutes, it will be back to normal. I pull an 18 footer with my ranger all the time, 4.0 200hp v6, 3.73 rear axle, O/D off unless the roads are really flat, and it has zero problems with hills and excessive shifting2008 Pantera Classic2014 Mercury Pro XS 200

[ClintB]

Good info. guys. Thanks. Gonna try towing in “3” before I change gears out. Do you guys think there would be that much difference in the 3.73 gears vs. the 3.23? My hunch is yes.

[sswingshooter]

3.73 vs 3.23 will make a significant difference while towing. However, the 3.73s will also make a significant difference in gas mileage while not towing. I had 5.3s (4wd) with both 3.42 and 3.73 rearends and I saw about 1 mpg difference on like trucks with different rearends. As already stated in a previous post, I would not recommend towing in overdrive unless on flat ground at speeds above 65 mph, however that will make no difference in acceleration, especially when using tow/haul mode. As you probably already know, tow/haul changes the shift points electronically to stay in the torque curve of the motor and firms the shift. It also causes the transmission to shift at any slight grade. I tow quite a bit and have never seen the benefit of tow/haul mode.

[billius]

The gears will definitely help towing wise…they will drop your mileage while not towing. The tow/haul mode is there, per my Chevy dealer, to protect your overdrive in your transmission while towing. It will not allow the transmission to shift into and out of overdrive as it would if you towed with the tow/haul off. Its a definite plus factor. It wont improve you mileage at all…thats not the purpose of it. As a matter of fact, your mileage will likely be somewhat worse, but…you save your transmission.

[ClintB]

I got ya. I dont have a far commute to work, so losing a bit of fuel to increase the towing power sounds like the deal… would think I would get better fuel economy towing with the bigger gears. Honestly, I am concerned about the transmission under the current set up. Really seems to “dog” the heck out of my truck with the Puma behind it. I know that a buddy gets 16 mpg towing with his 2007 Z71 with his Cougar behind him….can hardly tell hes towing a boat…very minimal downshifting thru hills. Hes got the 3.73 gears. Thanks to all for the education on this matter.

[JohnM17]

If you are doing it for the MPG while towing just use what you have and always tow in D. I have 3.73s in both my GMs one with a 6.0 AWD and one 5.3 with a LS 2WD rear end. They both get about 12 MPG towing my 18 foot Cat Sabre FTD in Drive. I NEVER tow in OD no matter what the conditions, I tried it in places like Florida etc.. where its flat still no difference in MPG while towing. Unless the truck is out of warranty I would not mess with the drivetrain.

[Author]

Posts