F150 Towing Experiences?

[TJ&LadyDi]

I'm wondering if I should be concerned too. We will be setting up LadyDi's 2020 Lincoln AWD Nautilus to tow. Obviously, it is a Ford product and may use similar components and procedures to the F-150. Guess I need to do some careful research.

TJ

 

[VTPete]

I've been fixing to post this story for awhile, and i just shared it with redbaron the other day. Now seems like a good time. I've towed my 2018 F-150 King Ranch since late 2017 without problems for 15k+ miles until last June. We were returning from an east coast swing, and after towing the vehicle for a couple days from Tulsa, OK to Gallup NM heading home, I stopped to disconnect and found the battery was dead. No response to the remote for unlocking the door. I had to call AAA for a jump to do anything. Once they got enough power going, i was able to take it out of neutral tow, but then discovered the transmission would not engage in drive. Had it towed to Ford. They told me the transmission was toast and it was user error. I opened a case with Ford and with the BBB dispute resolution team. After fighting for a few weeks I finally got Ford to pay almost half the cost. I pushed Ford for a technical explanation and all they could tell me was the system resets to 2WD if the battery dies. WTH! When the dealer went to replace the tranny they came back to say the transfer case was also bad-no surprise there. I picked it up in Gallup on my next trip out on Aug 6th and have been towing it successfully since. I now have a Bluetooth Battery Monitor and watch the (new) battery like a hawk. Voltage stays steady and even rises a bit on average. While waiting for the truck repair i tested my 7-pin connector on the RV and cable and they were good. Paid Freightliner to confirm constant 12v as well during a service visit BUT, they did say they repaired a bent pin on the RV side. This is a possible cause but I'm not sure, hard to prove but suspicious (Dont' tell FOrd).

Here's the upshot; who can believe that Ford would design this system to reset to 2WD in the case of a power failure? this is a poor design and until Ford or someone can prove that this is NOT the case, i feel they were responsible, even if i did POSSIBLY have a condition or a short perhaps that led to a power drain. Things happen, smart software should not do dumb things when unexpected failures occur. Maybe the battery itself had a failure, or maybe i left a dome light on, who knows? But in any of these cases, the system should be smart enough not to reset the transfer case.

I hope this helps future prospective buyers. If you must go with Ford, get a monitor and or backup charger. I'm looking to add this to my setup for additional assurance (towedcharger.com). Thanks redbaron for that suggestion. My battery monitor is https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GP1RXYZ/?tag=rvf01-20

I'm still thinking of switching to something with a manual xfer case like a Jeep.

 

[MapNerd]

Thanks for sharing @VTPete. Sorry that happened to you. That battery Monitor certainly looks like cheap insurance. It’s in my cart now. I think i’ll also be adding a tow charge line just for good measure.

 

[CaptainGizmo]

Thanks good info, @VTPete, even though I'm in pain thinking about it. Sounds like something that would happen to me!

Me being of the "Logic-minded" person in terms of software, algorithms, flow-charts, etc. I, too, find it EXTREMELY hard to believe that the engineers of FORD...just a small company with minimal experience or resources, would sit down at the table and say, "Hey, we've got an idea; let's have the transmission/transfer case revert back to non-neutral tow mode if the battery dies."

First of all, that's a STUPID idea for a system that is SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED for TOWING...like, as in BEING TOWED TO SERVICE after being wrecked or some other mechanical failure. So, in these events, why would they not consider the risk of this happening during a Tow-Job???

Second, and even MORE compelling, is if the system is MECHANICALLY SHIFTED by an electrical switch, how would that MECHANICAL SHIFT take place if the switch no longer have power? Not possible. For it to do that, that switch would have to be a lever/plunger that is under spring force at ALL TIMES and...IF power was lost....the spring would force a shift BACK TO DEFAULT. And, this is just not the way transfer cases and transmissions work.

So, I'd like to be proven wrong, even though it would cause me to be more concerned. Still curious to "know" exactly what happened to your rig.

For anyone...heck, maybe I'll even try it...there's a super easy test: Set your truck into NEUTRAL TOW mode, then YANK THE BATTERY CABLE! Done. Now, sit there and wait to hear a clunk. In fact, park on a HILL (yeah, make sure you set the e-brake and chock it) and after pulling the battery, see what happens when you let it coast downhill.

 

[redbaron]

I think the answer is in a slow drain. Every circuit has a minimal voltage required to function.

During a slow drain, devices fail at different points. What you are possibly seeing is that along the path from 14.1 to 10.0 something triggers the transmission to factory reset to 2wd.

Testing from 12.5 to 0 will not show the problem. You need to setup a condition where you replace the battery with a variable power source and slowly lower from 14 to 9 volts. This needs a time compenr as well, so I would suggest after doing it in a quick method, then do it over a 1 hour and then 12 hour interval.

 

[mark peterson]

Wife and I are thinking of trading in the Cherokee Trailhawk for an F150. We find the Cherokee is just too small for our current needs, and particularly too small for my knees. With two kids in the back, a dog on the floorboard and hardly any cargo space, it just doesn’t leave us with much room. There’s never been a better time to trade in a used car and I’ve got a standing offer from Carvana for the Cherokee that is just a few grand less than what I paid for it to begin with.

Of course, there’s the headache of getting a new baseplate fit and the new AF1 system and all, but I’m fine with that. I’m curious though to hear about anyone’s experiences flat towing an F150. I hear it flat tows fine, but anecdotes and things to consider for can be helpful.

I tow a 2020 ford F 150 it tows fine

 

[mark peterson]

I tow a 2020 Ford F 150 and it tows fine

 

[redbaron]

Everything was fine, until it wasn't. Understanding why problems occur goes a long way towards preventing repeat failures.

 

[VTPete]

Intellegent comments gents. My major frustration was not getting some real technical fault analysis from Ford. I asked the customer service representative for real information and all i got was the snippet that the xfer case resets after loss of power. I DON"T EVEN KNOW IF THAT'S ACCURATE. She may have heard it from another svc rep at a lunch meeting while having a good laugh, who knows! This is one of my biggest frustrations.. I can't say for sure what the fault was. I do know it was in neutral tow at the onset. We test it at every launch.

 

[MapNerd]

Man, I appreciate so much knowing about this. That tow charger sure will get added to my setup. I’m hunting down trucks right now and whenever I go take a look at one, think I might just go ahead and give it a test as suggested by @CaptainGizmo. Dealerships will let you do all sorts of stuff if they think it’ll make the sale.

Edit: On second thought, even if that test proved wrong it might not prove that this doesn’t occur if it follows the plausible suggestion of only occurring during a power drain event. A sudden loss of power incurred by disconnecting a fully charged battery might not trigger the condition, especially given there would be no power available to shift the transfer case.