pulling

[punisher]

I recently bought a 1999 ford f350 powerstroke diesel, and I am like the rest of you and I have been bitten by the bug. I have a 27 ft travel trailer and a street-race car that I am going to be pulling with it, and I guess the weight will be no more than 8000 pounds. In what gear is it safe to pull in and what should I be looking for to keep the tranny safe. I use to hear in the old day's if you keep downshifting that it was a big no no. I also notice that they sell tranny mod's to boost shift points and line pressures, does any one suggest tis modificaton. Please give me some info if you have any. Thanks Jerry

[shu873]

For 8000# just put it in drive and drive it. That's not much weight for your truck. If you're worried about the longevity of your tranny, upgrade your cooler, get a tranny temp gauge, service it regularly. A BTS or John Wood valve body would be a good addition as well.

[szyd]

You should be fine with you stock set up. You're tranny will decide what gear it is comfortable in.

Their are trans mods The valve bodies and shift kits are the most popular They will help prolong the life of the tranny. Also you can get a triple disk torque converter which is a big help. But if you plan on big power you should be thinking of a built tranny.

A chip can tune your trans to but you can only do so much with tuning hard parts are gonna be best. Their are 2 chips that come highly recommended one Is Tony Wildman and the other is DP Tuner. Don't ask which is best go to their sites and decide for you're self which suits you best.

[tubular031]

a bigger cooler is a MUST!! I pull a 11k 5th and its pretty happy in OD at 65 to 70 ish mph. once in a while it will down shift if i fall below 60 ish. I have not hit any big hills yet but ill bet on a big grade ill need to drop out of od and slow down to 50 to 55 ish.

I pull my boat at 5kish and my truck hardly knows its there. I get on the freeway at 65 and set the cruse and forget about it!

[dmd]

Stock tranny cooler is fine, but you really need gauges to tell what is happening. 8K
is nothing for these trucks. If you tow real heavy (12K) then you will see on your
gauges that there are tranny temp issues. I have only had to pull over once because
of tranny temp, and that was going into Death Valley from the west. That can get to
a 10% grade...

Tow in OD and dont worry about it, but gauges are a must so you really know what
is happening. Even with a larger cooler you can cook the tranny if you do not
know the temps.

[7.3powerstroke2000]

8000 ain't nothin to worry about but its good you asked though I pull
(mainly in the summer) 18 to 19 thousand pounds. Its either horses or round bales. but thats just me and I have to down gear on big hills and down gear

[punisher]

Thanks guy's for the info. You all helped me out a lot. I already have a tranny gauge hooked up in my pillar pod, and so far I have never seen it go over 175. What temperature should be max for the tranny. I only visit one other automotive website which is called Real Olds Power and I have to commend you guy's, You all are very helpful and no **** talking goes on here. Real olds power is the Jerry Springer of automotive website's, there is a lot of very knowledgeable people but most of them seem to have been smelling to much race-gas. If you all get bored check it out, it's never boring.

[tubular031]

Originally Posted by 7.3powerstroke2000

I pull
(mainly in the summer) 18 to 19 thousand pounds. Its either horses or round bales. but thats just me and I have to down gear on big hills and down gear

DANG!! My truck sure works to pull my 11k 5th. I can not even think how I could pull 19k anything more then 45 mph! wow Ill bet your truck is screaming at you for dragging 19k around!

Originally Posted by punisher

What temperature should be max for the tranny.

depends on who you ask and how long you want it to last.
In the first post here in tanks library there is a nice little chart
TANK'S Library

I freak if I see 200. I did see 205 (it was about 110 outside)one time pulling my boat before I got my 6.0 cooler, that was the day I started looking for the bigger cooler. I have not pulled my 5th in the heat yet so I dont know how hot my tranny will get. I say a cooler anyway no matter what. A tranny is 2k to 5k and a cooler is 100 bucks. that is CHEAP insurance if you ask me.

[Raul@Stealth Automotive]

Originally Posted by punisher

Thanks guy's for the info. You all helped me out a lot. I already have a tranny gauge hooked up in my pillar pod, and so far I have never seen it go over 175. What temperature should be max for the tranny. I only visit one other automotive website which is called Real Olds Power and I have to commend you guy's, You all are very helpful and no **** talking goes on here. Real olds power is the Jerry Springer of automotive website's, there is a lot of very knowledgeable people but most of them seem to have been smelling to much race-gas. If you all get bored check it out, it's never boring.

generally anything 80-100 degrees over ambient temp is good.. but you do not want to see that trans get over 200...

upgrade your trans cooler to the 6.0L cooler and your done.. you wont have to worry about trans temp again....

as far as your trans go... either get a custom tuned chip to raise line pressure or get a valvebody/ or shift kit installed... that will help keep the trans alive longer....

also recommend you have boost and pyro on your pillar (which you might already have) and a intake/ exhaust...

hope this helps bud.. let me know if you have any questions

-Raul