Observation using cruise while towing

64BAwagon · July 17, 2023

The shift points could very well be for fuel economy. Lower RPM isnt always the fuel saver I thought it was. I found this out on a previous truck after I got a Scangauge.

Jettech1 · July 17, 2023

18 hours ago, UWSkier said:

This sure isn't the case with the 2024 gasser and 10 speed. The thing will downshift aggressively with a drop of 1-2 MPH of cruising speed. I'm hoping the transmission is just learning, but it seems to me like it will always grab one more downshift than is necessary to maintain momentum going uphill, like it thinks my trailer is heavier than it is. There were some uphill pulls on my recent drive where about 3400 RPM would have done the job while only losing perhaps 1-2 MPH, but it decided it wanted to use 4200 RPM to do it, accelerate to set speed, then shift up again, while still climbing. Manual shifting helped somewhat, but not always.

So what is your overall assessment of the 10 speed? I'm just curious is all.

nards444 · July 18, 2023

Normal. Expecting a lot when towing to not do this. My 21 diesel it was a lot less in this situation. I had a challenger and wife had a Dodge journey and never towed with those and those were erratic by 3-4mph

UWSkier · July 18, 2023

18 hours ago, Jettech1 said:

So what is your overall assessment of the 10 speed? I'm just curious is all.

It's incredibly smooth and great at getting and keeping the load moving. It's definitely nice having 8 gears, sometimes 9 usable when towing the 8000ish lb travel trailer at 70ish MPH. It spent most of its time in 8th gear for sure. 7th in stiff headwinds. 9th on flats with favorable tailwinds.

Mileage was quite good for how fast I was driving. Cruise was pretty much set between 68 and 72, including through the hilly country of Oklahoma and Arkansas, and got right around 8MPG over 2000 miles. That's better than my half ton with 5.3L did going slower than that last year.