Cruise Control or Not

[Hogman99]

Ok. I have an 06 f250 king ranch crew cab with a 5 inch exhaust, cold intake, gauges, and custom tunes from innovative diesel on my SCT. I have started pulling a 34 foot big country fifth wheel my wife and I just bought and have a few questions. I run my tuner on tow tune and my camper weighs 10,000 empty. If I set my cruise control around 68-70 mph, my egts get up to 1300 pretty quick when I hit hills because the truck doesn't shift soon enough in cruise and drops gears really quick. When I do not use cruise control, I can keep the truck around 70 without much shifting and my egts stay down. My question is do you all on here use your cruise or when you are towing this much weight just not use it? I can't stand all the shifting in cruise control and was wondering what everyone else thought. Thanks!

[7.3Leader]

I tow heavy loads, sometimes cross country, I know what you mean about the shifting. What I do is put it in cruise control, I set it at 65 mph (long trips 5 mph is nothing) and occasionally when I feel the truck needs a bit more power I give her some extra throttle. Then I let off and let CC resume. Hope this helps.

[forddieseldoctor]

If you can run without cruise and kinda roll with it you can get better fuel mileage. A friend of mine proved this to me. He ran his 04 F350 with 16,000 behind it his way and then I ran it the same trip same truck same load a week later and I had 3 miles/gallon less.

[icysmooth]

The problem with cruise control is that is tries to maintain a constant speed whether up or down a hill

I don't know what level % of grades you tow on,but I'm near the Western Maryland mountains and have pulled up through semi-hairpin turns as well as 2-3 miles up hill grades and never got above 1100..and still around 70 mph with the SCT in strategy tune...but I've never used cruise when towing..

I tow like I drive in the snow...use down hill speed to get up hill momentum...seems to work pretty good

I smoked a new Duramax with the ol' 7.3 up a long grade and he had a smaller camper...but he rode his brakes all the way down the hill-just like cruise control,then had no power for the uphill climb.

Just do like the truckers do

[Evil Eye]

I NEVER use cruise control when I tow. It tends to make me lazy as a driver and I can't afford to be lazy when I'm grossing 20k lbs...

[7.3Leader]

I use cruise control to keep my speed constant and give me one less thing to worry about. That way I can keep scanning straps for slack and anything that may have shifted or needs to be rechained.

[forddieseldoctor]

It depends on the situation. If I'm running light I use cruise, but if I'm running heavy or in a bunch of hills then no cruise.

[mudfuel06]

Originally Posted by Evil Eye

I NEVER use cruise control when I tow. It tends to make me lazy as a driver and I can't afford to be lazy when I'm grossing 20k lbs...

I completely agree, my foot may get tired holding the pedal down, but at least the pain keeps me awake!

[dazdillenger]

Big loads and cruise cause undue strain on the drivetrain. Cruise wants to hold the same speed-sometimes pulling a grade that is impractical. Truck will downshift, go near wot, or if it doesn't downshift EGT's can get out of hand quickly. I'll use cruise IF I'm running flat, but not if there is any incline.

[bucwheat]

I pull a 35' TT with my F-350 Crewcab dually and never used CC ,I guess I want more control of the brakes . And also like stated get better mileage W/O.