Get your dumpsters here!

[Hickey]

I’ll try to be short:

My truck is a Powerstroke. Love the power. Absolutely LOVE the exhaust brake.

HATE the shifting habits and pattern of the 10 speed.
In tow/haul mode it goes through every gear and holds revs longer than I need. I’m also only loaded 1/2 the time. So I don’t use it.

In normal mode it (most of the time) shifts 1,3,5,7,9,10. Most of the time this is ok. But often enough it causes HUGE issues. I’m light footed, so it will shift into 3rd waaaay too early losing all boost and power, leaving me halfway into the street and no ability to get out of the way quickly. On a hill it will shift, give awful sounding turbo chatter, and go nowhere. I have to fully stop and get it to shift back down to 1st. The first time it happened on a hill I thought it blew the motor 😳
If I give more throttle when I start moving, it will go 1,2,3,5,7,9,10. Which I like.. but that’s more speed than I care to have when I start pulling out or tuning with 20,000lbs.

I was told today that the gasser 7.3 acts the same way. Any complaints @Hickey @Greg ?

I’m sure it could be tuned different. But I’m hesitant to do that for warranty reasons.

/complaining rant off.

I can see that causing loss of boost with a turbo motor. I also suspect that tuning could improve things. @TRD270 says it best. “It only acts funny if you drive it like grandma”

I only use “Tow/haul” when I want aggressive shifting, which is rare. 93% of the time I’m in “Normal” mode, but again, no boost on my motor.

When towing, I use “normal” or “tow/haul” in “D” when accelerating from a stop, then pull the lever to “M” once I’m halfway up to speed and use the “up/down” button on the shift lever to shift each gear from then on. I do this for better fuel mileage and smoother acceleration and shifting. The transmission is tuned to wait too long to downshift, so it will drop 3-4 gears to maintain a speed, when an earlier shift would do the job with less RPM. I’m sure no one else is anal enough to shift their auto 10speed manually like I do. I’m always interested in learning to use my equipment to it’s fullest potential.

The motor does sound glorious when it drops 3-4 gears, but that fuel gauge is severely affected when that happens.

 

[anderson750]

I can see that causing loss of boost with a turbo motor. I also suspect that tuning could improve things. @TRD270 says it best. “It only acts funny if you drive it like grandma”

I only use “Tow/haul” when I want aggressive shifting, which is rare. 93% of the time I’m in “Normal” mode, but again, no boost on my motor.

When towing, I use “normal” or “tow/haul” in “D” when accelerating from a stop, then pull the lever to “M” once I’m halfway up to speed and use the “up/down” button on the shift lever to shift each gear from then on. I do this for better fuel mileage and smoother acceleration and shifting. The transmission is tuned to wait too long to downshift, so it will drop 3-4 gears to maintain a speed, when an earlier shift would do the job with less RPM. I’m sure no one else is anal enough to shift their auto 10speed manually like I do. I’m always interested in learning to use my equipment to it’s fullest potential.

The motor does sound glorious when it drops 3-4 gears, but that fuel gauge is severely affected when that happens.

Your gear hunting is because you have a couple million miles as a professional. Maintaining momentum has been your life. I can’t wait to drive a 7.3. This time of waiting has sent me down a YouTube rabbit hole of putting a supercharger on the motor. Sounds like this motor see’s huge numbers with a mild 3-5 lbs of boos without any concern for reliability.

 

[Corban_White]

@jeeper What year is your truck? My work truck is a '23 f350 SRW powerstroke and I drive it in tow haul always (it does have a service body, but I don't have it loaded very heavy). I haven't noticed any bad shifting manners. Maybe you have lower axle gears than me? I could see that causing these kinds of issues if it is tuned the same as the higher geared trucks. Does the transmission "learn"? If so maybe you can make it forget and try and teach it your driving habits?

 

[Tonkaman]

I’ll try to be short:

My truck is a Powerstroke. Love the power. Absolutely LOVE the exhaust brake.

HATE the shifting habits and pattern of the 10 speed.
In tow/haul mode it goes through every gear and holds revs longer than I need. I’m also only loaded 1/2 the time. So I don’t use it.

In normal mode it (most of the time) shifts 1,3,5,7,9,10. Most of the time this is ok. But often enough it causes HUGE issues. I’m light footed, so it will shift into 3rd waaaay too early losing all boost and power, leaving me halfway into the street and no ability to get out of the way quickly. On a hill it will shift, give awful sounding turbo chatter, and go nowhere. I have to fully stop and get it to shift back down to 1st. The first time it happened on a hill I thought it blew the motor 😳
If I give more throttle when I start moving, it will go 1,2,3,5,7,9,10. Which I like.. but that’s more speed than I care to have when I start pulling out or tuning with 20,000lbs.

I was told today that the gasser 7.3 acts the same way. Any complaints @Hickey @Greg ?

I’m sure it could be tuned different. But I’m hesitant to do that for warranty reasons.

/complaining rant off.

I feel the same way about my work ecoboost With 10 speed. It just drive it like I’m late and not paying for the fuel 🤷‍♂️

 

[Greg]

I’ll try to be short:

My truck is a Powerstroke. Love the power. Absolutely LOVE the exhaust brake.

HATE the shifting habits and pattern of the 10 speed.
In tow/haul mode it goes through every gear and holds revs longer than I need. I’m also only loaded 1/2 the time. So I don’t use it.

In normal mode it (most of the time) shifts 1,3,5,7,9,10. Most of the time this is ok. But often enough it causes HUGE issues. I’m light footed, so it will shift into 3rd waaaay too early losing all boost and power, leaving me halfway into the street and no ability to get out of the way quickly. On a hill it will shift, give awful sounding turbo chatter, and go nowhere. I have to fully stop and get it to shift back down to 1st. The first time it happened on a hill I thought it blew the motor 😳
If I give more throttle when I start moving, it will go 1,2,3,5,7,9,10. Which I like.. but that’s more speed than I care to have when I start pulling out or tuning with 20,000lbs.

I was told today that the gasser 7.3 acts the same way. Any complaints @Hickey @Greg ?

I’m sure it could be tuned different. But I’m hesitant to do that for warranty reasons.

/complaining rant off.

I've heard others complaining about how the 10 speed operates, I feel like boost is a big part of how the transmission shifts based on load. With the 7.3 gas engine, I don't think the issue is nearly as noticeable.

I've towed in Tow/Haul and out of Tow/Haul, the 10 speed does do some interesting things either way when towing. Jeremy has way more experience towing with his truck, but based on my limited experience I'd fully agree with his insight.

Somewhat related, my work truck is a 20k# F550 with a 6.7 Power Stroke and 6 speed auto. I've had two turbos blow and that truck will hardly move without boost. The 6 speed works well enough, but there are times when I pull out in traffic and the truck takes forever to get up to speed. Being a work truck (lol) I typically drive with my foot on the floor, try to maintain momentum and keep the boost up, if possible.

 

[jeeper]

@jeeper What year is your truck? My work truck is a '23 f350 SRW powerstroke and I drive it in tow haul always (it does have a service body, but I don't have it loaded very heavy). I haven't noticed any bad shifting manners. Maybe you have lower axle gears than me? I could see that causing these kinds of issues if it is tuned the same as the higher geared trucks. Does the transmission "learn"? If so maybe you can make it forget and try and teach it your driving habits?

It’s a ‘24 f600. I don’t remember the axle gears.


I was a little heavier footed this morning and it does behave better.. but even with an empty dumpster, I’ve got 4,000 lbs of weight well above my frame. It gets sketchy to drive that way.