Tow/ Haul mode VS normal D

tripleb · February 7, 2017

Thanks for the replies folks.

Edited February 8, 2017 by tripleb

jackgraves · August 21, 2018

With a 4.10 gear it tows in 6th gear. When I had a 3.42 it would jump between 5th and 6th

i82much · August 22, 2018

On February 5, 2017 at 6:16 PM, Skeld said:

One thing I don't like about Tow/Haul...if you are using the brakes on a downhill it sometimes decides to downshift enough to cause a near redline incident. Anyone else have that issue?

For my light towing, 4500 pounds maybe, I don't think Tow/Haul is necessary. This 2500 transmission is a lot more aggressive than my 1500s were. It behaves a lot like a 1500 does in Tow/Haul when in regular mode.

Huh. I have "redline incidents" every day.

SierraHD17 · August 30, 2018

On 8/22/2018 at 8:01 AM, i82much said:

Huh. I have "redline incidents" every day.

Haha. Some people are scared of rpm though.... yet will jump right in when you say your truck needs more gear to tell you to just let it scream in a lower gear... makes sense right? Lol. I shift my L96 at 6000 rpm wide open and let it eat... it loves it! 4.56s in the diffs made it just that much better. Thing was a pathetic turd I had no desire to hook my trailer too with 3.73s but now I love having it hooked to the trailer.

Edited August 30, 2018 by SierraHD17

i82much · August 30, 2018

6 hours ago, SierraHD17 said:

Haha. Some people are scared of rpm though.... yet will jump right in when you say your truck needs more gear to tell you to just let it scream in a lower gear... makes sense right? Lol. I shift my L96 at 6000 rpm wide open and let it eat... it loves it! 4.56s in the diffs made it just that much better. Thing was a pathetic turd I had no desire to hook my trailer too with 3.73s but now I love having it hooked to the trailer.

Rev limiters have changed my whole driving philosophy. It was one thing to bang my old hydraulic cam 350 around, not knowing when I might break a valve spring and crack a piston. An L96 with all the OEM nanny systems? I cannot hurt this thing. And I'm not bad at hurting things, I took out the drivetrains on a couple of slantback HMMWV's in Germany back in the day, spent the next few days laying in the mud with a face full of transmission fluid as my reward.

SierraHD17 · September 1, 2018

You have a hard time hurting them regardless... its not a 350 or a 6.2 diesel lol. I push 15 lbs of boost to a stock 6 liter bottom end and shift it at 7000 rpm in my Nova. It's making easily double the hp a stock L96 musters... you will be fine lol. I think the limiter in my 17 is 6200 or something but it's the stock cam... for now. I have a new one for it but its not a priority project to get done.

Edited September 1, 2018 by SierraHD17

rocnrol · September 4, 2018

In all the responses, not once was the most important feature of the tow haul mode mentioned.

It increases the line pressures in the transmission and subsequently the pressure on the clutches, which will reduce or eliminate slippage. This is a big deal!! Loading up the truck with a trailer will increase the chance that the clutches will slip... this is bad! Increased wear, contamination, and more importantly heat is the result of slippage, and heat is the mortal enemy of an automatic transmission.

The changes in the shift points are all for increased drive ability and control of the load behind you... can't see that as a bad thing either. The manual mode can also be used in conjunction with the tow haul mode, and that's the way I tow. If it's not too hilly, I'll leave it in fifth manual with the cruise on, the truck will still shift on its own.

If I see a bigger hill coming up, near the bottom, drop into fourth, and if needed, third. The truck easily will hold 110 km/hr with our travel trailer behind it driving like this. If there's a trailer on my truck, tow haul mode is on... simple... every time.

I'll never understand why people feel the need to ignore the parts of the truck that are put there to increase its longevity and performance because they somehow think they're better than a computer.... [emoji19][emoji848]

Sent from my BBD100-2 using Tapatalk

SierraHD17 · September 4, 2018

I towed a pontiac sunflower on my roughly 3000 lb trailer this past weekend which makes maybe a 6500 lb load. The bed has a full width front toolbox full of heavy tools, rims with tires, a floor jack and a can of gas. I never used tow haul the entire trip as I am no fan of how it reacts unless I start altering it which I may. Instead I left the truck on cruise control and left the truck in manual mode. Even the largest hill was accomplished in 4th gear and maintaining my cruise setpoint of 115 km/hr at about 3700 rpm. Anything moderate was 2800 in fifth or even 2200 in 6th.

If I let the truck do it's own thing on cruise it wants 3rd gear at 5200 rpm and stay hanging there well after the hill crests..... not my cup of tea. Bear in mind even in M the trans can downshift more this overriding me if it wants too and it never did. I have what is supposed to be a 34" tire (33.5" maybe real world) and 4.56 gears in the truck so that obviously helps a lot. I manually shift all my trucks including my old ones for the same reason on cruise. It works for me!

Edited September 4, 2018 by SierraHD17

dannysierra21 · January 26, 2019

Im guessing the computer is smart enough to do something like cut fuel in case you redline the engine? Once i reversed then when i put it in drive i accidently went to manual mode which puts it in 1st gear. I wasnt paying attention, had the music on too loud and the truck redlined for about 1-2 seconds before letting off the gas in 1st gear. Anyone know if i can do damage like that?