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| Yep - hammer down, .....stay right please! |
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| gregk9 - 7/26/2012 10:54 AM
ToothyCritter - 7/20/2012 11:04 AM
esoxaddict - 7/20/2012 10:26 AM
Another thing to think about - slow down a bit on the highway. If I slow down to 60 or 65 and get 2 MPG more, it saves almost $100 in gas going to Canada and back. Even 1 MPG going up North for the weekend is almost $20. I'm always in a hurry to get there, going like a bat out of hell, but when you start adding up gas? WOW.
Just stay in the right lane then!!!!!!!!! : )
LOL! For sure!
I read that gas mileage really starts taking a nose dive when you go over 2000 RPMs. That gives me a nice cruising speed of about 72 MPH. : )
Which brings up another point... Who actually tows 100% with overdrive off?
I only have a 17' boat towing with a 5.4L F150 so on the highway I typically tow with O/D on for better mpg but on real hilly areas I will turn it off. I know it is much better for your tranny with O/D off but you can almost watch as the fuel gauge falls. Curious as to what everyone else actually does. Towing a 20-21' is a different story though.
Edited by MartinTD 7/26/2012 11:48 AM
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Posts: 133
Location: South Bend, Indiana | I tow a 20 ft ranger with a 5.3Ll avalanche.... I keep the overdrive off.. but I probably shouldn't... lol |
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Posts: 4266
| Crock pot, especially in the fall. Nothing beats coming in for some ho-made chili, a beef roast w/gravy or chicken soup so thick that you can stand the ladle up in it.
The rods and reels that I have now were the best I could afford (new rods, used reels) and they will be the last ones that I buy. My current boat is sweet, and will also be my last unless I sell it and down-size.
I admit, I am a lure whore, but I also know how to build gliders, cranks, bucktails and top-waters. My plan is to be fishing 75% of my own basement baits and selling off what I can make myself at lure swaps.....where you guys can buy my used stuff......or here. This hot summer has not only hurt my fishing, but I haven't been in the garage since May. It's still over 80 in the lure painting room and very humid. I can't paint or clearcoat anything.
I bought a used JEEP Liberty and gave my Cherokee to my 16-year old daughter. What a difference the extra horsepower made. When we came home from Vermillion, I filled up in Cook and again in Osseo and made it back to Milwaukee with 1/4 tank to spare.
My daughter and I are going back up north for a trip before skool starts, but we're staying with our best friends. Nice to have friends in fish country.
Sell the lures that haven't seen the water in 2 years, and save the money for gas. Kills 2 birds with 1 stone.
Beav
Edited by Beaver 8/6/2012 6:39 AM
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Location: Mt. Zion, IL | MartinTD - 7/26/2012 11:40 AM
Which brings up another point... Who actually tows 100% with overdrive off?
I tow anything over 500 lbs using the truck's built in "tow mode".
My 2010 Ram (Hemi 4x4) tows Dad's 17' Lund and gets 18 mpg doing so. Towing in Tow/Haul definitely changes the shift points and turns the truck from a hot rod to a towing machine. We used it to move a month or so ago towing close to 10,000 lbs and it worked like a champ. 13.6 mpg towing 10,000 lbs with a gasser is impressive to me.
I would much rather pay for the gas than an overdrive unit. It is not that the truck won't do it, just piece of mind that I won't have to visit the dealership to have them mess something else up. Changing an OD unit is a pain in the butt. |
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| very simple i just put my money on the thing that work,i am not gonna buy a new lure just because a guy who get them for free claim to have caught a few 30 inchers on one of them
at the end something like the same 10 lures are used during each years so............... |
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Posts: 829
Location: Maple Grove, MN | I have an F150 with the 5.4 and always turn off the O/D when pulling the boat. Not turning off the O/D will cause the transmission to over-use the torque converter and can greatly decrease the life of the transmission. Not only that, but my truck actually gets better gas mileage with the O/D off while towing.
The speed makes a big difference with my F150. When towing my 17 ft Crestliner, I get about 15 mpg at 60 mph, 14 at 65 mph, 13 at 70 mph and about 12.5 at 75 mph. So, I generally get about 12 mpg while towing. 
If I want to save gas and money, all I have to do is slow down. |
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| I traded in my last Yukon (with the big V-8) at just 48,000 miles. I was pulling a Ranger 619 at the time and, for some odd reason, I had been convinced that I did not (should not) need to use the towing feature on the tranny. One of the things the dealer commented on during the trade process was the premature wear on the tranny which he was not making up. I have another Yukon, a bit more boat now with a 620, and never pull the boat without engaging the trailer towing feature. I was totally wrong not to use it before. Also, please don't give me a hard time about trading a truck with only 48,000 miles....it was for business reasons, I am not that spoiled. |
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| With my JEEP I run with the OD off unless I'm in an area of long sections of flat ground. I also drive in 4wheel high in very hilly areas. Last trip I was getting 17-18 mpg. I'll never complain about anything over 15. |
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Location: Maple Grove, MN | Why put your jeep into 4x4 when driving hills? Does the 4x4 help slow you down coming down the hills? Or are the hills gravel and getting up them tough? Must be some hills.
The only time I ever put my pickup in 4x4 is when the back wheels may slip, such as at gravel type boat landings and driving in mud, snow, ice, etc. I actually leave the 4x4 off most of the time when off-road. As long as the back wheels are hooking up, there is no need for the 4x4. |
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Location: oconomowoc, wi | Junkman - 7/17/2012 2:51 PM
I've been wanting a place up North my whole life, just never could afford it. Now, I'm finally going to do it...even started working with a Realtor. Obviously, I still think the water, the people, and the place is just great!!
And, let's face it...Illinois is out of the question, Minnesota and Michigan both have good musky water, but neither has an NFL team, and winter is too long for that kind of misery :-(
where up north are you looking marty? |
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Posts: 416
Location: Madtown, WI | Is it hard on the transmission because of constant shifting or just because you're carrying a heavier load? I've always just driven with the cruise control off, slowing down over hills and speeding up down hills so that it never shifts out of overdrive. Is this a good idea or bad? |
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Location: Bloomingdale, IL | stdevos - 8/8/2012 4:05 PM
Is it hard on the transmission because of constant shifting or just because you're carrying a heavier load? I've always just driven with the cruise control off, slowing down over hills and speeding up down hills so that it never shifts out of overdrive. Is this a good idea or bad?
Driving in 4x4 when towing provides no benefit whatsoever, also its not good nor bad to vary your speed to keep it in gear. It will cause you less annoyance with less shifting, but neither of these will give you any benfits with trans wear and tear. Yes heavier loads are obviously harder on a trans than a light load, but if you keep within the suggested limits, they trans is built to handle that.
you might see a small gain in MPG ( keeping it in ovd), but hailing in 4x4 is pointless for mileage or towing performance. If anyone would like more info on this please feel free to PM, as I do not check the threads I message on much. thanks |
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Location: Maple Grove, MN | I grew up on a farm where we pulled way more weight than we ever should have with our half-ton pickups. Loaded hay-racks, livestock, 300 bushel grain boxes - you name it. Transmissions are made better these days, but the same principles still apply.
To answer your question, both a heavy load and constant shifting can cause damage to a transmission. Constant shifting causes the tourqe-converter to be over-worked. And too heavy of a load, one that strains the engine, puts a great deal more strain into the O/D gears and the rest of the drive train. Simply put, O/D gears have more and smaller teeth than lower gears. Think how much harder it is to reel in a bucktail with 6.3:1 gears instead of 5.3:1 gears. The same basic principal applies.
There really is no reason to pull heavy loads in O/D. Gas mileage is usually not much better, if at all, and the potential damage to your tow vehicle far outweighs any possible savings. |
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