Hello all!  I've throughly enjoyed reading questions and answers on this forum!

My question:

We recently purchased a Ford F250 Superduty and a 3 horse Cimarron gooseneck trailer.  Which gear do I pull in?  Would it be in D with the Tow/Haul button pushed in?  It just doesn't seem to have any "pick-up."  Thanks for any help!

Ellen

I guess what I was asking was whether it's better to pull in "D" with the Tow/Haul engaged, or 3rd gear.  What's 3rd gear for anyway?  I'm not in any big hurry when pulling my horses (not looking for any more trouble than seems to find me anyway ).  I just noticed when following another 4 horse trailer they were able to accelerate faster when entering the highway.

Thanks to all who have responded.  I'll keep it in "D" with tow/haul engaged!!!

Ellen

Frogblossum:  What year truck, what type of engine, manual or auto trans, what ratio rear end, how heavy is your trailer?

You may have some mechanical problems if your truck feels like a dog, depending upon the above info.  For example, my truck has plenty of power pulling a 10k lb trailer, it's the beginning gears that keep me slow at start off. But that's OK when your pulling horses. 

My ford tends to shift at around 2,800 to 3,000.  I was also talking about going up steep hills.  let it shift when it wants to on the flat.

2500rpm means nothing.  without more info to compare it to....gas vs diesel, auto vs manual, rear end ratio. if you want to get really technical you need to know at what rpm your given engine achieves peak torque. that will be the most, for lack of a better word, "efficient" of course the road speed will be relavant to the trans, and rear end ratios.

for reference only, my gas inline 6 runs about 2200 at 60mph in D(3rd in my auto trans), pulling a large hill it will downshift to 2nd and run at about 4000 to maintain 60mph. my torque peak is at 3600rpm. the redline is 6300rpm. and yes reducing speed(mph)while climbing hills will lower rpms, saving the engine, transmission and fuel.

The question about what year and what model engine/tranny is very relevant. 1999 -early 2003 Superduties had a 7.3L engine with a Overdrive button.  Which basically locked you out of the top gear. So your tranny would use 1-2-3 and not use 4th gear.

If it's a Ford SuperDuty with a Tow/Haul button (and not an Overdrive Button) then it's a 2003 or newer with the TorqueShift 5 speed auto (and probably the 6.0L diesel - the gas engines didn't get the Torqueshift until 2004).

Put the truck in "D" and push the Tow/Haul button.  The tranny will delay the upshift and hold a little higher RPM in each gear.  This will prevent the Tranny from "HUNTING" gears so much on hills.  The tranny will try and keep the engine in the powerband vs letting the rpm's drop off and "lugging" the engine.

It also allows you to depress the brake on a downhill and use the engine for braking.

The 6.0L engine is a little under powered from a dead start. It has plenty of zip once you get the RPMs up. It's just starting out from dead start with a load, (especially on a grade)where it feels sluggish. Hence Ford is coming out with a 6.4L engine in 2007. There have been a number of computer  Re-flashes for this engine. (I think I've had 6 or 7 for my truck) If you bought a used truck you might check and see if you have the latest flash or if any of the newer flashes might help.  Also on my truck the power dropped off as two of my fuel injectors started to fail.  Onced replaced the original power was restored.