ok guys I have a towing question. I have never towed anything a long distance before and now im gonna. I have a three peson john boat that will be hauled about an hour or so away. My question is do I need to go the whole time with the OD off. I figured that since I will be on the highway the truck shouldnt be shifting all that much and I would like to save the gas. like I said I really dont know so if you could just tell me what not to do so I dont wreck my tranny. thanks

 

I have always towed with my OD on but that may be a no-no in some opinions. We had 2 jet ski's that I towed all over the place last summer with my truck and I never had a problem. I don't really have the money now but I kinda figured that if the tranny was gonna go I might as well have fun and get good mileage while I was finishing it off. By the way my dads 01 Dakota also had alot of jet-ski trailer miles on it and it had just under 80k when he traded it off last year, he never had a problem with the tranny either and he never turned the OD off.

 

If you feel the truck start to bog, turn the od off. I would think with a jon boat you should be fine. When I had my Dakota (4.7) I pulled a 14' fiberglass sailboat like it wasn't even there.

 

I always tow in OD unless it keeps shifting back then I take it out of OD and slow down. Staying at cruising speed should be okay. I've got a 97 ram 5.9 4x4 with 70K on it pulling a 4000lb car and 2500lb trailer.

 

I pulled a 6000lb trailer with my fully loaded camper in the box throught the foothills for 5 hours. Only time it came otta OD was in the really hilly sections

 

cool well I guess it gonna be towed with it on. One more question if I was going to take it out of OD is it safe to do it will im already driving or should I stop and do it?

 

Just push the button to take it out, no need to stop. Ya might hear it rev up a little but that shouldn't hurt nothing.

 

I agree it shouldnt hurt anything in regular driveing, however, depending on whatever your driveing situations are you might want to consider takeing the O/D off while you are towing......example: with your boat O/D off or not it shouldnt really matter to your truck, but say if you have a strong head wind then if i was you i would take off O/D, otherwise its going to be kicking in and out like a crazed mule. Also, in hilly terrain, or stop and go, O/D off is always a plus...it is not so hard on the tranny/torque converter. In town i drive with the O/D off all the time, only on the highway do i activate it, towing or not....just my 2 cents.

 

If your towing over mountains I would say No OD. If its just towing through town i would say no OD... If you are towing at speeds of 65+ Consistantly with no mountains except for a few hills and rarely stopping I would say O/D would be fine. With the weight of the boat and Newtons Law of Inertia (I think newton did it anyways) o/d in a vehicle thats towing is not bad at all... Unless of course your towing something more than 6000 pounds, but then again, i dont see you doing 70 MPH unless you got a CTD and trailer brakes lol

 

Yeah I live in good ol flat oklahoma so I really dont need to worry about any mountains. I will pay attention to the wind though it can get pretty windy around here.
Fun fact for anyone who doesnt know: Oklahoma has the highest hill in the continental United States. It is just shy of being called a mountain. Well thanks for all the input guys.