Downshifting the 2019 Ranger

[adsm08]

I'm curious.. Sport mode is basically a manual shift mode on the 2019 Ranger, correct?

Why then is it inappropriate to use it to slow a 2019 Ranger, when you stated that you used manual mode to slow the vehicle you were driving? Isn't the transmission specifically designed for this? Are you saying it will damage the transmission or perhaps cause premature wear?

Not arguing, I see you are a Ford Tech. and I just would like to know why in one case it's acceptable, yet you feel in another it isn't.

I'd really like to hear from an actual Ford transmission tech, familiar with the actual Ranger transmission. Hear now.. vs when the transmission fails, if you get my drift.

Thanks.

IMO engine braking is to be reserved for extreme situations when the service brakes alone may not be up to the task. In the event I referenced I was descending Pike's Peak. Without a big old trailer attached you aren't going to get into much more of an extreme braking situation while still on the North American continent. I own three manual transmission vehicles and I don't engine brake with anything. I use my brakes.

Engine braking can cause premature wear to the engine, as it transfers some of that load to the crank and its bearings. I doubt it will harm the transmission much, if any.


As for an actual transmission tech who has actual hands on experience with this trans, well that's not me.

 

[Ramcharger90]

Engine braking... manually, on my terms. If you simply hit tow mode it always brakes. The reality is sometimes you want to brake, some times you want to coast and sometimes a little of both.

I've driven a stick shift since 1977, my '02 Tacoma that I want to replace has over 175,000 miles, and has the original clutch and brakes. My goal is to buy a new vehicle, and obtain similar results.

Keep that Tacoma as a spare. You will REGERT getting rid of it. Everyone I know who has ghosted their older toyokahamabru regrets it.

 

[Ramcharger90]

Also I run tow and haul down the mountains without a trailer in my 14 Ram especially when I dont really have to snub brake cuz billy big rig is jaking down the hills I can keep a safe following distance from before he lays it over.... and save the brakes

 

[8thTon]

IMO engine braking is to be reserved for extreme situations when the service brakes alone may not be up to the task. In the event I referenced I was descending Pike's Peak. Without a big old trailer attached you aren't going to get into much more of an extreme braking situation while still on the North American continent. I own three manual transmission vehicles and I don't engine brake with anything. I use my brakes.

Engine braking can cause premature wear to the engine, as it transfers some of that load to the crank and its bearings. I doubt it will harm the transmission much, if any.


As for an actual transmission tech who has actual hands on experience with this trans, well that's not me.

It's an interesting question and I'd like to see more info about the loads during engine braking. My bet is that cylinder pressures can't be as high as during combustion. Still, I'd rather service brakes than engines or gearboxes.

Trivia: European 2-cycle cars had to have freewheel clutches, since during overrun/engine braking the engine speed increased but the supply of fuel & oil didn't.

 

[gw33gp]

I have used engine braking (towing and otherwise) for many years. My current ranger has over 243K miles and the engine is still in great condition. I don't think engine braking causes excessive wear to the engine if it is not over-revved. I always keep an eye on the tach to make sure I don't over rev. The brakes take care of that. Long grades can burn up the brakes if you don't use engine braking. Once that happens all you have is engine braking and that is not very good for stopping and you can get extreme over-revving which is very hard on the engine.
My Ranger has better engine braking than most because the re-flash program on the computer does not allow as much air into the intake when I let up on the accelerator pedal. It is not as good for emissions but slows the vehicle better without braking and drops the rpm quicker when shifting the manual transmission allowing for quicker shifts.

 

[sgtsandman]

I don’t see a problem with engine braking as long as you don’t over rev the engine or go slamming into gears at too high of a speed. Engine braking is supposed to be used to control speed, not slow you down.

 

[gw33gp]

I use engine braking to slow down. It is a technique I learned in 35 years of racing with SCCA. Down shifting while braking as you approach corners is used to help save the brakes through the race. Driving on streets, I slow down many times without using the brakes. All you have to do is let up on the accelerator pedal and let the engine compression do the work.

 

[HenryMac]

I use engine braking to slow down. It is a technique I learned in 35 years of racing with SCCA. Down shifting while braking as you approach corners is used to help save the brakes through the race. Driving on streets, I slow down many times without using the brakes. All you have to do is let up on the accelerator pedal and let the engine compression do the work.

And from a handling perspective, using the wheel brakes upsets the vehicles balance in a different manner than engine braking.

Works great on a manual shift, but with an automatic, depending on how the transmission is configured, letting up on the accelerator pedal may do absolutely nothing. That's why I was asking here on the 2019 Ranger forum, to find out how it worked with the Ranger 10 speed auto.

 

[wildbill23c]

IMO engine braking is to be reserved for extreme situations when the service brakes alone may not be up to the task. In the event I referenced I was descending Pike's Peak. Without a big old trailer attached you aren't going to get into much more of an extreme braking situation while still on the North American continent. I own three manual transmission vehicles and I don't engine brake with anything. I use my brakes.

Engine braking can cause premature wear to the engine, as it transfers some of that load to the crank and its bearings. I doubt it will harm the transmission much, if any.


As for an actual transmission tech who has actual hands on experience with this trans, well that's not me.

So wait you are saying brakes are cheaper than an engine/transmission LOL. Even in the owner's manual for manual transmission vehicles it never says to use your transmission/engine to slow the vehicle, only to start out in a lower gear or use lower gears when ascending or descending a hill. Today's automatic transmission software can automatically downshift the transmission to a lower gear when it senses you are going down a hill, I've yet to see it work all that well in any gas vehicle, works somewhat in a diesel but nothing I'd really call decent engine braking.

I'll use my brakes, they're much less expensive to change, and I'll select and maintain lower gears in long descents over riding the brakes down the hill but I wouldn't be shifting back and forth that's not what that is meant for, its more so you can manually lock out higher gears when you are towing, its not a manual transmission LOL.

 

[wildbill23c]

And from a handling perspective, using the wheel brakes upsets the vehicles balance in a different manner than engine braking.

Works great on a manual shift, but with an automatic, depending on how the transmission is configured, letting up on the accelerator pedal may do absolutely nothing. That's why I was asking here on the 2019 Ranger forum, to find out how it worked with the Ranger 10 speed auto.

It has 10 gears all very closely ratio'd so downshifting it manually is pointless, you'd have to manually downshift it through 5-6 gears before you actually saw any benefits to it. All you get with these double digit gears is more wear, more heat, and faster failure due to the transmission always slipping, and shifting, you just can't feel it because the gears are so closely ratio'd that the change between one to the next is so negligible its not able to be felt and/or the transmission is setup to continually slip the clutch packs to allow an undetectable shift so you don't feel it, terrible design, if you aren't feeling the shifts you are just slowly roasting the transmission.

 

[HenryMac]

It has 10 gears all very closely ratio'd so downshifting it manually is pointless, you'd have to manually downshift it through 5-6 gears before you actually saw any benefits to it. All you get with these double digit gears is more wear, more heat, and faster failure due to the transmission always slipping, and shifting, you just can't feel it because the gears are so closely ratio'd that the change between one to the next is so negligible its not able to be felt and/or the transmission is setup to continually slip the clutch packs to allow an undetectable shift so you don't feel it, terrible design, if you aren't feeling the shifts you are just slowly roasting the transmission.

I realize I'm the new guy here on this site but I am curious, do you have a 2019 Ranger? That's why I asked this question in the "2019 Ranger" forum.

Technology moves on. While I really like the '72 350 turbo I put in my '31 Ford, I realize it's not the same technology as the 10 speed auto in these Rangers.

I drove a Ranger yesterday. You pull back on the shifter which takes it from "D" (drive) to "S" (sport) and then down shift with the button on the side of the shifter. It does downshift.... and it does slow the truck down, you can feel it and see it on the tachometer, just clicking it down once. Want more engine braking? Click it again. This transmission is designed to do that very thing, Ford calls it "SelectShift", see page 148 of the owners manual below.

As I understand it, when located in "D" (drive) the transmission may opt to skip gears, based on what is required for optimum efficiency. If you're taking off slowly it may go from first to 3rd, skipping 2nd gear. But if you mash the pedal to the floor it is likely it will not skip any gears. Using the "select shift" in "S" (sport mode) and then the SelectShift buttons you, not the technology, are sequentially shifting through each gear.

 

[Dirtman]

I've driven the mustang with the 10 speed. Exact same transmission. The mustang has paddle shift, I know the ranger just has the shifter up-down buttons but otherwise same thing.

What wild bill said is accurate. In sport mode you can manually shift but as I said before it's only partial control. It will stop you from downshifting too far. The button/paddle just stops working. The computer wont let you do anything beyond it's set parameters. So does it hurt the engine or transmission to downshift? 100% absolutely not, because the computer simply wont let you do anything that would hurt it.

The only way you're gonna find out if it's right for you is to test drive it again, put it in manual control and see how it works. Coming from a toyota manual... its gonna be a big change. But the brakes on the ranger are probably twice as strong as your current Toyota.

 

[HenryMac]

The only way you're gonna find out if it's right for you is to test drive it again, put it in manual control and see how it works. Coming from a toyota manual... its gonna be a big change.

I did, it does. Did you see post #26?

But the brakes on the ranger are probably twice as strong as your current Toyota.

I hope you are right. I've got 177,000 miles on my Tacoma... factory installed brake pads and clutch are still in it. If I get half that many miles on the Ford before it needs brakes.... I'll be pleasantly surprised.

 

[gw33gp]

I find factory Ford front brake pads last about 50K miles for me. Obviously, different drivers will get different results. I always upgrade to better performance pads at the first brake service and get better stopping power plus longer life.

 

[wildbill23c]

I realize I'm the new guy here on this site but I am curious, do you have a 2019 Ranger? That's why I asked this question in the "2019 Ranger" forum.

Technology moves on. While I really like the '72 350 turbo I put in my '31 Ford, I realize it's not the same technology as the 10 speed auto in these Rangers.

I drove a Ranger yesterday. You pull back on the shifter which takes it from "D" (drive) to "S" (sport) and then down shift with the button on the side of the shifter. It does downshift.... and it does slow the truck down, you can feel it and see it on the tachometer, just clicking it down once. Want more engine braking? Click it again. This transmission is designed to do that very thing, Ford calls it "SelectShift", see page 148 of the owners manual below.

As I understand it, when located in "D" (drive) the transmission may opt to skip gears, based on what is required for optimum efficiency. If you're taking off slowly it may go from first to 3rd, skipping 2nd gear. But if you mash the pedal to the floor it is likely it will not skip any gears. Using the "select shift" in "S" (sport mode) and then the SelectShift buttons you, not the technology, are sequentially shifting through each gear.

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No I don't have a 2019 Ranger, and never will, too much stuff in it that I don't want or need, and my aunt says they've got 4 of them already sitting in their dealership service bay with blown engines with under 1k miles on them, if that tells you anything about quality.

Today's vehicles are built with failure in mind and they're doing a great job building in the failures the over-complex engines and transmissions will be the first problems and the most expensive.

Your excerpt from the Ranger manual just shows how every electronic manual push button gear selector works LOL, my truck just had plus and minus buttons on the gearshift on the column you pulled the lever down to S mode then toggled up or down to lockout the gears you didn't want it to shift into, so you'd select S-4 and it would shift from 1st to 4th gear...that's how every single one of these systems work regardless of which brand vehicle you have they work the same. They don't skip gears, they're just so closely ratio'd you can't tell its shifting. Some will not use 1st gear when in snow mode to cut down on the amount of wheel slip I know the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Cherokee do that, I'm sure many others do that have the terrain management/terrain select modes. Some even go as far as having a couple different ratio sets (electronically controlled) for certain gears under different conditions.