Winding it up

[BrianX128]

Truck in question is Ernest in sig, just wondering what rpms when towing up hills you guys will push your engine to safely when climbing steep hills. There's an awful hill near my place that's rather long and some friends and I have been taking our buddies boat out on weekends and I've been towing it there as his new Eco boost f150 sounds like a dying animal trying to tow it.

I've been revving right up to 3k in fourth gear up this hill, I can still go up in fifth but I figured the lugging is worse. Truck does great for a n/a, not sure of the exact weight of the boat right now but I had looked it up before we towed it the first time and it was within safe limits for the old beast.

I don't figure 3k is gonna hurt it for like a two minute climb, first time I've ever seen the old guy blow some real smoke revved up that high with a load. Kinda fun not that it matters haha. Speed limit is 55 and there's no passing lane so I like not to be that guy in this area and keep it moving..

 

[sjwelds]

All I've read on here guys say wind er out you ain't gonna hurt er

 

[IDIoit]

dont use the OD up the grade. you need the 1:1 for the climb.
lotta force being exerted with the overdrive, load, and gravity.
it could result in the ZF demise.

 

[DaveBen]

These engines are protected by the governor. You could floor the throttle with no load and it would not hurt the engine. Might ****-off the neighbors...

Dave

 

[IDIoit]

These engines are protected by the governor. You could floor the throttle with no load and it would not hurt the engine. Might ****-off the neighbors...

Dave

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSnRqlvn-hY

 

[no mufflers]

the last time I did 3k towing was when it was N/A and that stupid engine light came on, now I have a turbo and REAL gauges so I don't really even take it much past 2,500 rpm. if you have good gauges to monitor all the temps then you should be fine.

 

[crash-harris]

I think that guy ended up worth a valve problem after that, IIRC.

3K isn't going to bother the IDI, but EGT's are a different story.

 

[Dieselcrawler]

One hill near me, towing my off road truck on the trailer(7500 lbs total) with my old 94, I would be in third gear(zf5) holding it at 3500 rpm for about 5-6 miles up the hill, maintaining the 45 mph speed limit. Boost at 10 lbs, pyro hovering 1100-1200 the entire climb.

 

[OLDBULL8]

Whether you have a NA or a Turbo engine, Your EGT's is the most important, keep it below 1200*F, next is coolant temp, 220*F, higher than that you might boil over, you can crank her out at 3200 all day long, never lug these engines, if you get down to 1800 or below, shift down. Best torque is 2500 RPM.

When towing, gauges are your best friend to know what the above parameters are.
With an automatic C6 or E4OD, a temp sensor in the pressure test port. Temp can run as Hi as 240*F with Dino oil, with Synthetic, 320*F , these are Max temps.

 

[icanfixall]

Sadly the guy free revving his engine really did hurt it. Keeping a load on any engine is what keeps them alive. As we all have seen.. Sad ending too for that engine.

 

[DaveBen]

My '92 IDI non turbo never got that high in the revs. It would stop at something like 3500 rpms, floored. I am not sure how he got his to rev up that high?

 

[IDIoit]

My '92 IDI non turbo never got that high in the revs. It would stop at something like 3500 rpms, floored. I am not sure how he got his to rev up that high?

by adjusting the governor.
you can really get em to tach out that way..

but you better build it accordingly.

 

[riotwarrior]

Sounds good at 4 k buuuut expect kaboom too...our valve springs are not for that level of rpm...imho they are too weak for sustained 3k ....


Just really saying not big fan of the high revs on old engines....

If built...new valve springs etc...sure go for it.


JM7.3CW

 

[icanfixall]

I remember something about installing a GM governor spring. The GM 6.2 & 6.5 engines rev higher from the factory than our idi engines do. I'm not a fan of wringing any engine past what is considered normal. And you best not never rev an unloaded used engine like that. I'm no engineer running a test engine on a dyno but I'm thinking they do not run them well past red line unloaded either.. Unless they are "looking for the failure point".

 

[DaveBen]

I owned a big rig at the same time that I had the F-350. It was powered by a Detroit Diesel 8V92 TA and a 13 speed tranny. You could spend all day shifting that truck or let it bog down in the gear and save a shift or three. I only pushed it hard, on the rev limiter, once when I was racing a Mack truck. I beat him by a few feet, to my amazement. That truck had some low end power. Ever since then I just don't rev diesel engines to the limit, even on my current 6.0 Ford diesel.