I have a 2001 Ford F250 5.7, automatic transmission with overdrive. I plan on towing my boat (24' Pantera, with new tandem axle trailer) across country from upstate NY to Lake Havasu Az. Do any of you Ford guys know if I can tow in Overdrive? I have been told not to by some,and others have told me I will be Ok as long as the truck does not shift up and down alot. I have the towing package on the truck. Jeff

I'll be interested in what you get for a response here...I'm in the same situation...some say yes, some say no. I've got a 99 F350 with the 7.3L Powerstroke and I'm pulling a 35 Fountain. Pulled from Chicago to the Ozarks and back last year with no problem without using overdrive...but I just wonder on the open road flats of IL if it would be ok and take a little stress of the engine by dropping some RPM? Help us out, kids!

in my opinion you should be able to tow in OD. If you know how to roll in and out of the gas you should be able to keep it from downshifting. of course you wont be able to use the cruise, but if you see a hill comeing up get a little run going and then slowly back out of it when you are climbing and you should be ok. ive never towed with your particular setup, mostly with the deisels and im able to tow 38 footers all day long in OD....They actualy tow better at higher speeds 70+......im by no means an expert just my .02

I had a '00 250SD with the 5.4L and towed my 27' with the OD off. With it on, it was hard to maintain a highway speed w/o it shifting in and out often. I had more response with it off because of the higher rpm. My bet is even though the rpms were higher the fuel economy was better because of less throttle. It didn't have a trans temp gauge to see if it would run hotter with it engaged, which only seemed it would. Towing my 32' was a non issue, had to be off, otherwise in and out constantly. I tried it only for curiousity.

My '03 250 with the V-10 tows the 32' no problem with the OD engaged. It has a trans temp gauge that shows the same whether the OD is in or out. As long as the temp doesn't go up, I tow with it in.

I also was able to tow better with the '00 above 65mph. It'd run 85 no problem, however, get down to 60 and it felt like it had a dead spot.

Summerfliesby,I tow a 28'PowerQuest with a '02 F250 PSD in od with no problem(I know,smaller boat) If you tow 70+(about 2000 rpm) od should be no problem.Mine never downshifts even on overpasses.Keep in mind,Louisiana ain't exactlly "hill" country.As long as it doesn't "hunt"for a gear,you'll be ok using cruise.BOB

my navigator has the 4R100 tranny, which went behind the powerstrokes until they came up with something better this year, and i imagine went behind all the other truck 5.4's this decade.

owners manual says put it in drive if it upshifts and downshifts repeatedly. other than that OD should be good.

the reason for locking it out of OD on older vehicles is a lack of surface area on the clutch packs that are engaged when it's in OD. i imagine overall diameter of those specific packs have something to do with it as well.

what i want do do though, is, lock it in OD somehow, and run WOT in that gear at normal speeds as needed on grades, etc. Engines are at their most efficient at WOT at low RPM's.

same question here... f-150 w/ 5.4 towing a 288... in NY it's not very flat and there are lots of hills, I normally don't use O.D. too low rpm's, no pick-up and you really have to baby it to keep it from up-shifting all the time, not to mention it kinda lugs unless your doing 80... on the turnpike or long flat stretches of highway i'll use o.d. occasionally