F150 Towing Experiences?

[MapNerd]

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.

 

[redbaron]

I recently heard that fords suffer a problem when the battery drains while being towed, it will shift transfer case back to 2wd from neutral. This will destroy the transfer case.

Do some research on this to decide if its a real concern.

I have towed chevys for 12 years and have had good experience with them. Recently moved to my wrangler with 2 kids, wife, and a dog. Definitely a lot smaller.

 

[MapNerd]

That would definitely be bad - comically bad. What would even be the purpose of it doing such a thing, I can’t imagine.

 

[redbaron]

2018 F-150 Toad Tranny Toast - iRV2 Forums

We've got a 2018 F-150 King Ranch that we bought to use as a toad. It's been on 6 trips, and on 2 of them, we've found the battery dead after towing a few hours. Neutral tow mode was activated as per

www.irv2.com

 

[CaptainGizmo]

Whoa whoa horses! ;-)

I’ve towed my 2017 F-150 Raptor for 20,000 miles without a SINGLE issue!!!!

@Dutch Star Don just got a new Raptor and followed all the same guidelines and is another happy Raptor camper.

There are some great and LONG threads on this whole subject but I’ll summarize the best way to go.

Raptors have a NEUTRAL TOW option built into their dash controls. It’s all electronic now and works effortlessly.

I use a Roadmaster All-terrain tow bar which is rated well beyond the Raptors weight.

I have the Air Force 1 braking system which is permanently mounted and operated by the Spartan’s factory SafeHaul air system designed just for the AF1.

There is NO need for a battery charge cable!!!!
The Raptor uses NO power in the Neutral Tow mode. All the necessary power and light control is fed by the 7-pin attached to the coach.

THAT SAID...YIKES!!! I just read that other post and it doesn’t make me feel very good. But, again, we’ve been pulling our Raptor up to 6,000 miles at a time over 6 weeks and never had a hint of a dropped battery. At the most, our Raptor would stay hooked up for 2 days of towing.

The key to having the Neutral Tow is the 4WD option. The fun of a Driving a Raptor is optional.

 

[redbaron]

The issue as I understand it was the battery drained at some point during the tow. Not sure why it drained. When it drained, the electronic transfer case glitched and shifted into drive from neutral.

There are a few other cases with similar issues, and I don't know if the Raptor is different from the F150/F250, or if there are different electronic shifting modules between the various drive train options.

From my very limited research, it seems that most people had trouble convincing Ford that this was not driver error.

I am not sure what year the owner of the Ford had that I was talking to. I have asked him to come to this thread to post up the details first hand. Lets see if he chimes in.

 

[MapNerd]

I read up quite a bit on this last night after @redbaron was kind enough to clue me in on the issue. I’m inclined to think these are cases of operator error but I will say I think Ford shares some of the blame for it.

One of the stranger things about Ford’s Flat Tow setup is that if you don’t have push button start, you’re required to leave the key in the ignition, in the OFF position. It doesn’t explain why but my assumption is that this is to prevent the steering column from locking. I would presume that these incidents could all be traced to vehicles which did not have push button start, and the owners may have left the key in the ignition in the ACC position. Another possibility is that they may not have locked the doors upon leaving the vehicle, which someone said triggers the shutoff of 12V power to the vehicle electronics and switches the power input to the vehicle from the battery to the brake lighting harness being powered by the coach.

I don’t know any of this to be the case in any of these instances. It’s all pure speculation.​

I would be setting it up the same as my Jeep is set up. Roadmaster Nighthawk Towbar with an AFO braking system. I’ll be sure to get a push button start which negates the need to keep the keys in the vehicle ignition or in the vehicle at all. That should help with avoiding the issue.

According to everything I’ve read, the F150, when being flat towed properly should not be using any battery power. Lights should be powered by the 7-pin harness and brakes powered by the AFO, which is powered by the coach’s air and 7-pin harness.

I’ve been a Ford Man all my life, I just can’t see myself in a GM vehicle of any variety. Hope I don’t learn the hard way! @redbaron thanks so much for sharing that info. I hope I never experience it but it will be super helpful to know that it’s happened before so that I can be on the lookout for it.

I’ll probably more in the well equipped Lariat - King Ranch range. While the Raptor is an awesome truck, I personally wouldn’t be able to spend that much on it and then have the guts to take it rock crawling. If I get a desire to go crawling, I’ll find a place that will rent me something suitable that way when I smash it up, I dont have to care.

 

[CaptainGizmo]

Great insight, John! You bring ups some good points that I will emphasize.

YES, Push Button Start is important to make this an effortless process.

HOWEVER, as you and Ronnie speculate, there is a HIGH chance of operator error and here is why:
The sequence MUST be followed EXACTLY. I have it on a cheat-sheet, but have done it so many times that it’s now locked into memory. But, still, I’ve had it FAIL it’s sequence when all things are not aligned; whether YOUR fault or the truck’s!

If you’re not techie or thoroughly familiar with the “signs” of this process failing, you’ll be in trouble!

Also, I set my A/C to recirc, and turn it off.
Then, I switch my alarm to PERIMETER ONLY, which disables the sound sensors inside.
Finally, I take my FOB with me, after turning the Ignition off with the Button, and LOCK the doors.

Again, with a full cross check to make sure it’s in Neutral Tow and the E-brake is Off, there shouldn’t be a problem.

 

[BGMAC]

Funny with all this automated stuff how many steps you have to make and made exactly to work. With a manual system you just took the 4X4 shift handle on the floor to "N". done. LOL

 

[MapNerd]

Funny with all this automated stuff how many steps you have to make and made exactly to work. With a manual system you just took the 4X4 shift handle on the floor to "N". done. LOL

But...technology! I just don’t understand why it has to be such a strange series of convoluted steps. It’s like sending a secret signal to the car.

1. Open the tailgate
2. While holding the brake pedal, put the vehicle in neutral
3. Rotate your review mirror in a counter clockwise direction 5 times within 3 seconds
4. Wait 11.5 seconds and then press the brake pedal four times while holding down the unlock button on the passenger side.

These steps must be performed while your car is pointed True North (Not magnetic north) and only when a rainbow is clearly visible on the horizon.

 

[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.