i've towed mine both in tow/haul and in regular D which is 5th gear. both were the same. the truck stayed in 3rd gear the whole time so it didn't matter.

 

I've been towing with my 4.7 and 3.55 gears with some reservations over the last couple of years... the trailer is around 6700 pounds and when on the freeways the 4.7 actually does a pretty good job at 55 to 65 mph as long as you are driving on fairly flat terrain and anticipate the hills (speed reduces noticably when climbing long slope or hills).

I would like to keep this vehicle as I really do like it and for everything else I use it for it easily takes on the task. I have been thinking about the move to the 3.92 rear end ratio and a SC 3865 Flashpak but really would like the feedback of anyone else out there that has made changes for the improvement of towing with the 4.7 auto QC 2wd.

Any input is greatly appreciated.

J

 

You must live in Kansas. Try towing across Nevada with steep mountain passes throughout the state. I have 3.92s w/tow package and my 4.7 screams bloody murder pulling just 3700 lbs. up these long steep grades. To be fair, I do have taller tires, 295/70/17s, but 230hp is still only 230 hp no matter how you gear it.

 

True. My travels don't take me to that type of terrain nor do I go more than 300 miles outside of where I live, but I do have a few long and steep climbs to make. I find that there is no way to make the speed limit in these situations so I either try and bypass them or just take my time and put on my 4 way flashers. If I was doing a cross country tour or even long travels I would only have the cummins diesel set up but when I ordered this truck back in 02 my intentions were different and my wallet was thinner.... Now that I am getting a little older I can put up with the odd pain in $@#$ if it means I can save a little $$$. I am still weighing out my options and am slightly leaning towards a good used 2500 with Hemi or even diesel, but then I think about winter storage (Canada) and not using it for 5 or 6 months...

 

Slightly different truck but I've got the 3.55's and the 4.7 in mine, on the few occasions I have towed a lot it's handled it well. Moved across 2 states towing a 6x12 Uhaul packed about as full as you could possibly get one of those things (nothing very light in it either). I knew it was back there but with the exception of a few grades the truck didn't have to work too hard, I think I ended up averaging 13mpg. If I did a lot of towing I'd upgrade the gears (or possibly get a bigger truck) but for occasional stuff the 4.7 does pretty well for itself even with the 3.55's.

If you're into electronics at all you could do this using a 555 timer circuit. The wire feeding the relay to control the fan right now can be used to start the timer (when that wire loses power, i.e. truck shuts off) which would send current to the relay while it's running to keep the fan on. After a pre-set amount of time (how you make the circuit determines how long the timer is for) the timer will stop so the fan would shut off. If you google 555 timer there are a ton of pages showing different circuits and how to make them for it.