Engine temps.

[408F150]

I hit 235 on my TFT gauge towing my toy hauler (was dry and weighed around 6500#) home from LA when I first bought it. This was going up the grapevine in southern cali in 95* heat with 3.73s on 35" tires. I've since upgraded to 4.56s and haven't seen it go about 208 (and now when I tow it's loaded and closer to 8000#) . I purchased a Troyer trans cooler but I'm having a hard time figuring out how to mount and plumb it I'm sure it will help even more

I have the Troyer dual e-fan and they have kept my ECT to 208 max, so they seem to help a LOT when towing. If anyone is having engine temp problems I highly recommend them or a similar setup. The wiring is daunting which is the only downside to them. I build custom in-home movie theaters and it even gave me a few head scratching moments.

Also, if you're running a constant 200* TFT, that seems a little on the high side. Even with just my stock cooler I'm usually between 165 and 180 during average interstate towing.

[06KingRanch]

Originally Posted by JackandJanet

Wow! You WERE running hot. The transmission fluid temp was causing fairly rapid breakdown of the fluid. Good call putting in the new cooler. Did you have any kind of a transmission cooler before?

Also, you were only 8 degrees below the Failsafe Mode temperature on your CHT. This may relate to your recent post in the other thread.

How much weight are you towing? What engine do you have and what is your gear ratio?

- Jack

Trailer is about 7000 lbs
5.4 with 3.73 rear end
It has the stock tow package, so yes it has the stock cooler. I hooked the Troyer into the return line, so i still have the stock cooler as well.
And yes i was hot...only did one trip and ordered and installed the Troyer and changed the eng, trans, rear diff, and washed out the rad....all good now

[408F150]

I've heard that running both coolers in series causes an unsafe drop in ATF pressure in an electronically controllers trans, can anyone else either confirm or deny this?

[Jackpine]

Originally Posted by 408F150

I hit 235 on my TFT gauge towing my toy hauler (was dry and weighed around 6500#) home from LA when I first bought it. This was going up the grapevine in southern cali in 95* heat with 3.73s on 35" tires. I've since upgraded to 4.56s and haven't seen it go about 208 (and now when I tow it's loaded and closer to 8000#) . I purchased a Troyer trans cooler but I'm having a hard time figuring out how to mount and plumb it I'm sure it will help even more

I have the Troyer dual e-fan and they have kept my ECT to 208 max, so they seem to help a LOT when towing. If anyone is having engine temp problems I highly recommend them or a similar setup. The wiring is daunting which is the only downside to them. I build custom in-home movie theaters and it even gave me a few head scratching moments.

Also, if you're running a constant 200* TFT, that seems a little on the high side. Even with just my stock cooler I'm usually between 165 and 180 during average interstate towing.

I'm in the 150-170 TFT range on the interstate with my stock 3.73 gears and stock 32 inch tires too. With 35 inch tires, you were really "undergeared", probably an effective ratio of around 3.40! To get back the "stock" performance, you needed about 4.10 gears and going to 4.56 gears has really made it easy on your transmission. I'm pleased to see how much effect that had.

What are you doing for load leveling/equalizing?

I'm interested in all this because of another member's situation (his screenname is TXWolf), and he's pulling a similar load. You two may want to talk. I'm going to direct him to this thread, because I think he could use some help, and, I think you can give it to him.

I'm sorry I don't have any idea about having two coolers in series being bad. There WILL be a pressure head drop, but is it unsafe? I don't know. 06KingRanch seems ok with it. Any "Techs" out there who have an opinion? And, I'm sorry I don't know anything that would help you mount and plumb the new cooler, 408.

06KingRanch, please feel free to give TXWolf some thoughts too.

You two are the experts, by virtue of experience!

Maybe we need a "Towing" forum!

- Jack

[408F150]

I'm using a Reese 800tw/10,000gw Anti-Sway WD hitch (the kind that use break pads inside the WD bar brackets for the anti sway), which seems to work very well. I specifically chose my gearing to put me around 2100 rpm @ 55 mph with the OD locked out. I've geared and modified my truck as much as possible to keep me from having to buy a 250/350 since once you hit 8000#, 150's really start to get tapped out. They can tow it, but it's not fun. Gearing and cooling seem to be the two most substantial ways to make towing easier once you start hitting the 150's limits. My manual says I have a 9100# tow limit, but I'd never, ever pull that much weight in stock form. Next on my list is brakes in case my trailer, God forbid, decides to lock up or lose it's breaks one day.

[Jackpine]

408F150 - I have to apologize to you! I've noticed, now that these threads were moved into this category, that you've been answering my questions all along and I just didn't remember. Sorry!

So, You DO have some extra suspension on the rear? And, reading more carefully, it does make sense.

I think, though, with these loads, I'd take the whole mess to a scales and get the weight on each axle checked. It's pretty cheap insurance.

- Jack

[88Racing]

Originally Posted by 408F150

I'm using a Reese 800tw/10,000gw Anti-Sway WD hitch (the kind that use break pads inside the WD bar brackets for the anti sway), which seems to work very well. I specifically chose my gearing to put me around 2100 rpm @ 55 mph with the OD locked out. I've geared and modified my truck as much as possible to keep me from having to buy a 250/350 since once you hit 8000#, 150's really start to get tapped out. They can tow it, but it's not fun. Gearing and cooling seem to be the two most substantial ways to make towing easier once you start hitting the 150's limits. My manual says I have a 9100# tow limit, but I'd never, ever pull that much weight in stock form. Next on my list is brakes in case my trailer, God forbid, decides to lock up or lose it's breaks one day.

Nice hitch!
I use the equalizer myself. Looked at the reese ones like that but for what I do with trailers the anti sway was a good option but not needed. I kick myself now and then that I should have gotten it.
I have a beefy car trailer rated at 12K that I use from time to time to haul cars for the dealers. The trailer itself is at around 2800.
My buddy called me up one night wondering if I could help him haul one of his broken down handy man vans back to the shop. I said sure. Worst thing I could have ever said. The van was full of the works: tools, materials, and ladders. I know that thing alone was pushing more than 6K. But being a good friend I used the winch and got it on the trailer. To this day I still wonder if I ever did any damage to that 03 f150's tranny. I pulled it to his shop from about 80 miles away the tranny temp never really got above 220. Towed it with od off. But the amazing part was I really didn't know I was pulling anything until it came to the hills.
That old truck of mine was a guinea pig for dakota digital. They outfitted it with a pillar gauge pod that had 3 holes. They threw in their digital gauges and away I went. I only had to stop in every once in awhile to get it looked at. They put in a voltage one, a ect one, and tft one.
Both the ect and tft were tapped and probed into the components. Every once in awhile they would change out the voltage with engine oil temp. They had one gauge that was a combo one, press a button and you could get another reading from a different source. I just thought I would mention the gauges, so know one was thinking about the tft on an edge because it wasn't available.

No edge or gryphon was used or tuner period. But it still felt like that 5.4 2V with 3.73's + stock tires still had power to pull plenty more.

Lars

[408F150]

Anti-Sway has saved me many, many time. With how tall toy haulers are (I think mine is 11' 6"?), wind and semi truck gusts will whip you like crazy. It also saved me one time when one of my 4 ratcheting straps I had my quads tied down with snapped. I had 2 400# quads sliding around the trailer and assumed it was the wind. I could feel the anti-sway fighting it, I don't even want to know how squirrelly it would have been without it.

[Jackpine]

I think anti-sway is important insurance too, especially if you're towing a high profile trailer. That's a huge wind sail back there and it doesn't take too much in the way of sudden crosswinds to have it push you all over the place.

- Jack

[TXWolf]

A question about the anti-sway bars ... When I pulled my new trailer from the RV dealer to the house, I'm assuming that the loud creaking sound that was going on was from the anti-sway bars? Is there any reason why I shouldn't put a little lithium grease on the bars, to cut down on the friction/noise?