Can I tow anything?

[uchi]

all good info guys, great to learn about this truck as ive never owned one and this thing is still fairly new to me. for towing itll be 2 atvs, ones a little 150cc and the oither is a new honda 400ex 2wd unit which isnt that heavy. i dont think that would be enough to hurt the tranny.

the gear ratios in these trannys, do you guys find them to be really close? it barely drops in rpm in normal driving and once im on the hiway it drops about 1000 per shift if i wind her out.

also i had a look at the truck jsut now, from the looks of it the truck is a towing package equiped truck, tranny cooler is there, just some douchebag stole the hitch from it so now i get to source one out

 

[manaen]

Did you install any Ford updates? The TransGo kit is all that is needed for the 5R55E, the Ford parts are not necessary with it. I spoke with TransGo before installing my valve body kit, I had the Ford parts by then. They told me that they could all be used, but the Ford parts were superfluous. I took the Ford parts back, they were not needed.

The TransGo kit has not resulted in any odd symptoms or quirks in my 99 5R55E, plus their band adjustments are better than OEM manuals. Regards,

well the things not covered by the transgo kit are things like the solenoid bracket and the bonded gaskets to the separator plate, both things that are worthwhile IMHO

the bracket alone is a big deal, when I took mine apart the OEM bracket was bent at a few of the solenoids which I can only image how that could effect the leakage of the solenoids

 

[manaen]

the gear ratios in these trannys, do you guys find them to be really close?

it is not only a function of the 5 speed tranmission, but also the electronic control of the shifts. the computer can really keep things close. Only after I installed all the updates could I actually tell when my tranmission shifts gears. Even now if I am babying it, it shifts very smooth. almost to the point that it feels like a constant velocity type tranny. But when I really get on the throttle you can definetly feel the firm shifts. I also have 4.10 gears so in my case things are even more accented.

 

[Silver X]

all good info guys, great to learn about this truck as ive never owned one and this thing is still fairly new to me. for towing itll be 2 atvs, ones a little 150cc and the oither is a new honda 400ex 2wd unit which isnt that heavy. i dont think that would be enough to hurt the tranny.

the gear ratios in these trannys, do you guys find them to be really close? it barely drops in rpm in normal driving and once im on the hiway it drops about 1000 per shift if i wind her out.

also i had a look at the truck jsut now, from the looks of it the truck is a towing package equiped truck, tranny cooler is there, just some douchebag stole the hitch from it so now i get to source one out

Mine came from the factory without the hitch, but with the trailer plug and trans cooler.

The trans gear ratios seem strange to me too. First gear winds out past 50mph, then the rest are really close together. Seems like they could've given it a lower first gear and spread out the rest a little more. BTW, This is with 3.73 rear gears.

 

[CDW6212R]

The large diameter tires make the 1st gear seem long, hence the 50mph. The 5R55E is Fords first real close ratio automatic, and it is great for acceleration. The V8 five speed is a wide ratio trans, that 5R55W uses a 2nd gear that is the equal of the 302 Explorer trans 1st gear. The 5R55W has about a 3.22:1 ratio 1st gear, manual trans territory. The 2002+ V8 models are very good to tow with.

 

[uchi]

yeah i thought somethign simliar the first time i drove this thing, almost felt like the tranny wasnt shifting at all, wasnt seeing a difference int he rpm or anything. but its definatly well setup especially if you need to merge onto the hiway in a hurry.

im gonna call my tranny guy this week and see what he says about these and what he can do. i know my buddys 700r4 tranny was built by him with corvette syncros and other such fun do dads an the thing feels just awsome and will take a hell of a beating.

have any of you guys actually killed a 5r55e yet? under normal driving that is, my truck has 149 000 km on it, yes canadian eh, and im actually quite gentle with it but that doesnt mean the last 148 000km were as nice.

silver x, thats kinda weird, like half a towing package. im gonna get my hands on a factory hitch for this thing, im assuming that ford has left me the proper mounting holes for it?

 

[xFatcatx]

if you are a decent garage mechanic you can do all of the Valve Body upgrades yourself. i had the 2-3 shift flare about 8 months ago which is why and how i found this site. i pulled my valve body 3 different times but couldnt ever pinpoint what was wrong with it. i finally just got a reman one from ebay and whatya know flare was gone. the 3 tranny shops that quoted me $2000 can all kiss my a... anyways its very doable yourself just go to the transmission and transfer case forum and read the 5R55E VB rebuild diary.

i towed the boat on friday about 10 miles using just the hitch on the bumper. it did just fine so im guessing i over estimated the wt. im think more around 3000lbs gross now. im still going to get a tow package here for when the boat is all ready to go just to be on the safe side and put in the tranny coolers.

 

[92Dora]

i use my bumper hitch on my 92 to snatch trucks out of the mud...and i tow my boat with it and a small trailer......your bumper hitch can handle it....but if your gonna buy a tow bar i was told when i had my 99 sport you have to buy a shaped one that has kinda a bend in it....so you can let down the spare tire

 

[Silver X]

The large diameter tires make the 1st gear seem long, hence the 50mph. The 5R55E is Fords first real close ratio automatic, and it is great for acceleration. The V8 five speed is a wide ratio trans, that 5R55W uses a 2nd gear that is the equal of the 302 Explorer trans 1st gear. The 5R55W has about a 3.22:1 ratio 1st gear, manual trans territory. The 2002+ V8 models are very good to tow with.

With everything completely stock, it would shift after 55mph @ well over 6000rpm. It would release first at 55ish then wouldn't engage 2nd til almost 60. I could sometimes do 0-60 runs in first gear only, when it wouldn't up shift until I let off a little. The XCal2 programs really tightened up shifting and keeps rpms down to just under 6k.

My speedo calibration isn't off by much, reads 3mph slow at 80. Held steady at 80, radar showed 83mph. Tried it 3 times and got same results. So 50 should be off by maybe 1-2 mph. Cop was friend of a friend and was very cool to do this. He also tested a radar jammer for me (Rocky Mountain Radar). Didn't do a thing to his radar, not even a flicker, so I sent it back.

Uchi---
The holes were already there. Should be easy to install as long as the frame and bumper are straight.

Killed a 5R55E? Yes, but not under what most would consider normal driving conditions. I drive it hard and tow alot. 1st rebuild was under 30,000 miles. 2nd time was around 60k, when 2nd and 5th gears went out. Then it started slipping shortly after the last rebuild. Dealer couldn't find any problems, so I just let it go, intending to replace it whenever it quit working instead of getting another rebuild by a dealership. Now @ 95k its making a constant shrieking noise in every gear and will probably die soon.

 

[manaen]

There is more than just the weight issue when towing with the bumper. A properly towed trailer should be level to the ground. Without a draw bar with a drop it is impossible to get small (under 3500lb) trailers positioned in the proper way. A trailer with its tongue in the air can cause many issues depending on the severity of the angle. If you need to brake hard and there is significant weight on the trailer it will tend to lift the back of the vehicle, this can be very dangerous. It can also cause trailer waggle which can also be extremely dangerous at highway speeds. It will also change the center of weight on the trailer, which on some trailers will remove enough weight from the tongue that its balance will be off. This can cause extreme stress on the tongue and ball.

pulling trucks out of the mud has little to do with towing a trailer on the highway. There are many factors involved in proper trailer towing, if you don't know them, then I suggest you start reading about how to tow trailers properly. This isn't just an issue of will the truck handle the weight, it is more of a safety issue. If and emergency situation happens on the road will the truck react in a safe controllable way.

Sure you could probably tow more than 3500 lbs with the bumper, but if you are concerned with your longevity at all I would suggest you get a proper setup which not only will tow much better, it could possible save your life!!

But, then again, if you subscribe to silly Darwinist rules, then by all means tow away, after all it is "natural selection".

Personally I would rather not see you go out and kill yourself, your trailer, or someone else. It is up to you to make sure you are doing this in a safe way

 

[manaen]

Silver X, how much weight are you towing and what are the conditions (IE, hot, mountains etc... ) oh and do you have a larger cooler with the shift kit etc...

That's a lot of rebuilds, you must drive it really hard

 

[Silver X]

manaen

I admit I do drive hard...I work for Roush, its hard not to after messing with performance vehicles all day. My wife beats the crap out of it too. She's used to driving her supercharged GTP, so when she gets in my truck its full throttle everywhere. Honestly, this truck has taken my abuse better than any other car or truck I've owned including my Mustangs and some Toyotas and Hondas that didn't last me a year.

The trans has the stock cooler that looks decently sized. It has new solenoids and improved programming, but no aftermarket valve body or shift kit. No mountains around here, but it does get hot out. Towing varies between 1000 and 5000 lbs. The utility trailer is tandem axle w/o brakes and weighs about 2k empty. It can get loaded down pretty bad and is used couple times/week. The boat is 4k+ and gets towed a few hundred miles per trip, but not often. The jet skis are so light you don't feel them.

I didn't tow much the first few years I had it, since I only had the bumper hitch. The trans wore out just as fast back then without the extra load it has to deal with now. It never really felt like it was 100% healthy to me even though everything checked out OK at the dealerships everytime I took it in for complaints. Always made wierd noises, or had excessive slippage, or had unusual shifting habits.

Warrantee is done, so I get to do all the work now. I'm going to keep it as simple as possible. No more money is getting wasted on this trans, just waiting for it to die. It just keeps hanging in there though, limping along. Next trans will get the shift kit, external filter, and larger cooler.

 

[manaen]

I admit I do drive hard...I work for Roush, its hard not to after messing with performance vehicles all day.

Sweet!!

So do you get to test drive any of the vehicles?

 

[Silver X]

Yep, all the Roush cars and trucks, and SVT cars and trucks too. Well, except the Ford GT. Almost got to, but some people screwed up that benefit for the rest of us. Too many cars got wrecked (EDIT: wrecked by Ford execs and magazine testers, not us). A few of them are still around for the upper level exec types to take home. We get free track time once in awhile, where we can beat on the test cars all day. Its a fun job sometimes, when you're not totally stressed out.

 

[JDraper]

Silver X, did you know a girl by the name of Tounine (Toni) Mayer that used to work for Rausch?

 

[CDW6212R]

Mike, you sound like me, my foot. I've learned along the way how to hold WOT, and lift just before the shifts. My 91 XLT had a slip when I bought it, so I learned that to make it live longer. The 93 I drove the same way, it just didn't feel secure at each shift at WOT.

You really should place a trans filter and cooler at the top of a list of things to do. You need the filter to hopefully catch any debris that will be put out by a failing trans. You don't want to have to replace the radiator and cooling lines/cooler to remove the debris. A lot of trans shops add inline filters as standard procedure with trans problems.

BTW, the 2nd and 5th gear both use the overdrive band, those are the weak gears. You obviously shouldn't tow in 5th, but try to not push 2nd gear too much either while towing. Regards,

 

[Silver X]

Man I know all about 2nd gear not liking towing. The first time I towed my friend's boat (over 5k lbs), I thought I killed the trans. It was fine in first gear, but shifted to second and the whole truck started shuddering violently. I turned around and slowly took the boat back to the lot. Decided to use a full size truck to tow it until I could get my trans rebuilt. Rebuild didn't help, so I don't try to tow anything that heavy anymore. Seems fine below 5k.

I take it easy when towing. I don't use OD when towing anything heavy, and usually stay below 50 except on long trips on the expressway with a boat. I usually stay on regular roads with the loaded utility trailer, since I'm not really comfortable stopping from 70 without trailer brakes. It stops OK, but fades with repeated stops.

I didn't really think about all the debris floating around in the lines. Probably should get that extra filter on there soon.


JDraper---
I don't know Toni Mayer. Do you know which building or department she was in? There are alot of ROUSH buildings around here with over 2000 employees in the area. Shoot, I've been here 7 years and probably only know half the people in my own building.

I'm in building 57 in Allen Park, MI which is also shared with the Ford SVT headquarters....although there's alot less of the Ford guys here than there used to be. There are a couple other Roush buildings in Allen Park and a bunch in Livonia MI, where our manufacturing is based.

 

[uchi]

silver x sounds liek you have quite the fun job over there

im gonna have to straighten my bumper as the previous owner must have used a wall once or maybe a parked car to decide it was time to stop while back up and its pushed down an inch or two.

im quite confident with anything mechanical, im just not a fan of auto trannies. too many little things in there, springs and **** that ill jsut forget about and put into the spare parts bin, lol

 

[manaen]

im just not a fan of auto trannies. too many little things in there, springs and **** that ill jsut forget about and put into the spare parts bin, lol

I used to feel the same way, however after having my 3rd tranny problem with Ford, I decided it was time to polish up my knowledge on auto transmissions. That way when something silly happens in the future I don't just shell out the $1200 for a rebuild/replacement and logically fix the real problem which many times only costs a few hundred. I have spent way too much money on ford tranny problems to not figure these things out.

So silly me, I end up buying a truck with a 5r55e. So I'm stuck with it, and I have to make the best of it for towing. The second thing I did to this truck was rip the tranny apart and put in some enhancements to better my chances with towing my camper. It really seems to work pretty good now on a 4500lb camper and mountainous areas. I know I will always need to really keep up with maintenance on the tranny. Especially the band adjustments, you would think someone would make some stronger bands for this transmission. Oh well, I digress

 

[uchi]

the 2-3 flare you guys mentioned, is that when it almost feels like it hesitates for a split second going into third and then grabs it and moves along normally again? i noticed today that with a little more throttle going into third it feels like it almsot hangs the gear for a tad longer than the others and then takes it. should that be something i should be worried about?

the overdrive on the 5r55e, when i disengage it would the tranny be coming into third or 4th gear? i shut it off last nite and it felt like it might have kicked into 3rd.