I don’t tow much so I never really put much stock in that button.

First truck was a 2wd 1989 Chevy Silverado 1500 with the 350. It had no such Tow/Haul mode that I can recall. I got it from my grandfather who used it to tow a decent sized fifth wheel. This was before my driving days but the did a number of trips out west but mostly going from Cincy to Florida and never had any complaints.
Though I can remember a good buddy of my grandpa who pulled a 5th wheel as well had mid 90s F250 Powerstroke Quad Cab was always telling my gramps he needed to get one as it pulled the 5th wheel like there was nothing back there. Man did I like that F250 and sure was bummed gramps never got one.
Only thing I ever towed with that Chevy was an Acura Integra and only towed it about 30 miles. I remember thinking I sure would not want to tow this thing very far. The old Chevy did just fine it just seemed gassed.

My Ford Explorer and Expedition both had a Tow/Haul mode never towed much with those either but of course like any button you have to try it out on occasion. I never really noticed a difference unloaded.

I now have a 2000 Silverado 1500 with the 5.3L I got from my grandfather as well. Only towing of any note with it was I towed a Chevy Malabu with a Tow Dolly from Ky to Florida pretty much all interstate. If not in Tow/Haul mode that thing was hunting for gears constantly in the mountains of Tennessee and the craptastic traffic of Atlanta. Other than that it pulled that Malibu with no issues. Sure wish I had trailer brakes or at least surge brakes.
I have driven with Tow/Haul on and unloaded with that truck as well and noticed no real difference either.

So now I have this Tundra and with the 5.7L this thing is no slouch granted not quite as quick as my Expedition was with the 3.5L twin turbo.
The Tundra seems much more powerful to me right off the line and at slower speeds. Likely because even though the Expedition is a torque monster it takes a little bit for the turbos to spool it had 3.73 gears and I am pretty sure the Tundra has 4.30s.

But anyway. I gave the Tow/Haul mode a push on the Tundra the other day and mashed the gas holy balls! Completely different truck they should call it beast mode. Need to read up what all Tow/Haul does with the Tundra. I am sure it changes shift points and the like with the transmission but it has to adjust fuel trims too. It’s like driving 2 completely different trucks to which I have never noticed with any other truck while driving it unloaded.

So my work vehicle is a 2020 Tahoe it has a Tow/Haul mode. I have to drive fast on occasion so I gave the Tow/Haul mode a try on the Tahoe. I noticed no real difference in driving characteristics.
I also learned that in the Tahoe one wants to keep it below 125. Around 120 you can really feel the front end start to lift and 125 the steering is super light and certainly a loss of traction with some bumps.
I tend to keep her under 100 but sometimes the lack of other vehicles and a nice straight shot allow for a bit more.

Guess I’ll research what the Tow/Haul mode specifically changes for each of these vehicles for a little deeper understanding.

On our 2015 Yukon XL tow haul gives you the ability to manually select your gear.

It also changes one of the gauges to transmission temp. I think its the voltage, but not positive.

I can't tell you anything about not towing and what the mfg. has the electronics do when its pressed and there is no towing load. It makes a huge difference in HD Ford's when towing serious loads in terms of the shift strategy. But I press it when towing and not when going for beer unloaded.

Likely only alters the shift strategy and transmission line pressure map.

My work truck is a 2019 F150 with the 5.0 V8. I can't really tell a difference with the tow/haul on but there is a big difference in sport mode. Tow mode on my 2018 Silverado doesn't make a difference either.

quote:

It makes a huge difference in HD Ford's when towing serious loads in terms of the shift strategy.

Same on my Ram 4500. Going is no problem in or out of tow mode, although in hilly areas it reduces gear searching. Stopping is another story all together. With weight it offers a very aggressive downshift strategy that works in conjunction with the exhaust brake. Makes a huge difference.

I'll take a stab at this one.

For one thing, in tow/haul mode, it's main job is to lock out the top gear overdrive while highway driving while your're towing.

With no trailer, and the gear selector in normal, this is how your vehicle gets its best mileage per gallon of fuel because it can go into top gear/overdrive.

Towing a trailer, well all that changes. Your tow vehicle needs to deliver more power to the drive train to keep going up hills.

If you tow your trailer, whatever it is, with the transmission in overdrive, or top gear, just the slightest grade or hill with cause it to "hunt" up down down the gears, back and forth, trying to balance fuel efficiency with power.

To leave the transmission in top gear, or overdrive, when towing up and down hills is really hard on the transmission and will burn that sucker up. In fact, some parts can actually break.

Nowadays with todays technology, as opposed to the older vehicles, the electronics will do their best to keep you from burning up the transmission.

If you are towing and you select the tow/haul mode, you will have much more power response to keep the trailer weight from "bogging" down the engine on the slightest or more incline.

You might think of it as a vehicle with a manual transmission and when you go up hills you might have to downshift. Same sort of idea.

I hope this helps. When I was a youngster I coordinated a whole lot of transmission repairs.

Ah...the tow/haul ass button!
Holds gears longer, eliminates hunting for gears, downshifts faster when slowing.
It’s been a few weeks since I towed with the truck and trailer as loaded as I could get it.
IIRC, 6th gear would still engage on the flattest sections but I wasn’t straining anything with the (relativity) light loads I had compared to what the truck will actually tow.
Great fun with truck empty and you feel like burning some extra fuel!!

I've started using the tow mode button on my F150 full time whether I'm carrying a load or just driving empty to work. My engine is the excellent but smaller 4.6 3 valve V8, and I notice better performance and lack of bogging down when accellerating onto the highway from an on-ramp, driving over a bridge, etc. When I use that with cruise control, my mileage is excellent, I can't tell a difference than without using it. Believe it or not, when I driving a moderate load, my mileage does not decrease when driving on a non-congested highway. It's really nice. So I use tow mode full time for all my driving in that truck. It's a nice combination for me.

I think this is a funny question. I race motorcycles and so spend a bunch of time in the core of ecu’s. I am convinced that it goes like this at the factory. Head design guy says yup we have some really dumb things that could be possible like the idiot selects the power reduced engine mode and turns on full traction control. Let’s give that section of code to the new trainee and see what he comes up with. Same for this the head guy trying to figure out how to get an sae tow rating so high they can advertise they are top dogs makes note that you can select tow mode with no obvious load(all modern trucks can figure out the load) and gives it to some junior engineer. On anything I’ve driven it does pretty much nothing. But maybe on some brands the kid said we will
have some fun now.

6th still engages on my F350 with tow/haul mode on. Towing my 14,500lb toy hauler, the truck will hold 6th gear on I-75 in most of Georgia and Kentucky. I slow down in Tennessee and use the toggle switch on the shifter to select lower gears heading downhill to keep the speed down. I don't like the downhill curves on I-75 in Tennessee with the trailer behind me.

The difference on my truck seems to be it holds gears longer before up shifting while accelerating and down shifts sooner on hills.

Tow/Haul transmissions get a different set of clutches, thrust bearings and steel planet carriers.

I use the tow button when trailering the boat or UTV. As others have noted it makes quite a difference.

On my '17 Sierra 1500 using the tow mode also changes the courtesy lane change turn signal from 3 flashes to 6 to accommodate longer times to change lanes. It also alters braking to compensate for increased weight/longer time to stop.

Michael

Yes...the Tundra has a different personality when you push that little button.

I had early 90's and early 2000's F150's (V8's) and their tow modes (from the owners manual) were to hit the Overdrive button to lock out going into OD (4'th) to keep the transmission from continual shifting back and forth 3<->4 (manual stated this heated up the fluid and could overheat the transmission.) Both had the tow package with factory trans coolers. That mode did nothing else, that I remember, but I used it when towing. Same time frame had Explorers, Class C 460, Class A V10 and all tow modes were the same, shutoff OD.

I currently have a 13 F150 5.0 6 spd with tow package. When new the first thing I noticed is the tow mode does not lock out OD, seems to change to longer shift points (esp going up a hill) and more aggressive engine braking (going down) to the point of downshifting on its own. It has a factory transmission temp gauge and the highest I have seen when towing is 210 (hot/hilly), normal no-towing is 198-202. I do not manually shift the transmission when towing to keep it out of OD, I just let it do what it wants. We also have an eco-boost Escape that came with a tow package and hitch. We have never towed with it, but playing around with its Sport (tow) mode it does not lock out OD, it acts similar to the F150 with different shift points and more engine braking.

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Originally posted by 2012BOSS302:
it acts similar to the F150 with different shift points and more engine braking.

This has been my experience as well. We have the Ford Triton V-10 in our motorhome. Haven't seen much difference in normal highway travel while flat-towing our Jeep, but the tow/haul mode really shines when coming down the steep grades on I-40 from Knoxville, TN and I-26 from Asheville, NC toward Spartanburg, SC.

quote:

Originally posted by sigspecops:
My work truck is a 2019 F150 with the 5.0 V8. I can't really tell a difference with the tow/haul on but there is a big difference in sport mode. Tow mode on my 2018 Silverado doesn't make a difference either.

You get more aggressive engine braking, as well as a bit less likely to hit overdrive early. Sport mode is the shit. I’m pretty sure it changes the throttle input, 1/2” of sport is like an inch of normal. Giving the illusion there is much more on tap. It also holds gears much longer, mine would not hit6th till over 60 no matter what.

It works well on my Yukon. In addition to the transmission adjustment, the digital display adds the electric brake output gauge. Not essential, but kind of nice. I always use T/H with a trailer.

What possible good reason would you have for doing 100 or more on public roads?

He's a police officer. I suspect the folks he deals with don't obey the speed limit.