Do you have your overdrive off for normal driving ?

[cbxer55]

If you don’t have a gear hunting issue with the over drive on, leaving it on won’t hurt anything. Neither will leaving it off, though you might notice more fuel consumption.

At 40 mph, I doubt the torque converter is locking up.

With 4.;10 gears, it locks up at 40. Used to lock up at 45 with 3.73's. The difference between 3.73 and 4.10 is 10%. So yup,. I can feel mine lock up at 40 mph.

And yes, on both my Ranger and my Lightning (SVT-F150), I turn the OD off as soon as the engine is running. Both are fitted with 4.10 gears and shift kits in their transmissions. With OD off, both are peppy as F---, and fun to drive. I typically leave OD off unless I'm on a road that has very few STOP signs or lights. In other words, the freeway.

Both my Ranger and Lightning shift into OD very near 40 mph. If it's turned on, which is very rare. But that is again, the difference between 3.73 and 4.10 gears.

 

[97RangerXLT]

unless you are towing or driving in a hilly area or the transmission is always shifting in and out of O/D, leave it on, you will get better gas mileage.

In the 18 years I have owned my Ranger I have had to turn it off maybe 5 times.

AJ

 

[sgtsandman]

With 4.;10 gears, it locks up at 40. Used to lock up at 45 with 3.73's. The difference between 3.73 and 4.10 is 10%. So yup,. I can feel mine lock up at 40 mph.

And yes, on both my Ranger and my Lightning (SVT-F150), I turn the OD off as soon as the engine is running. Both are fitted with 4.10 gears and shift kits in their transmissions. With OD off, both are peppy as F---, and fun to drive. I typically leave OD off unless I'm on a road that has very few STOP signs or lights. In other words, the freeway.

Both my Ranger and Lightning shift into OD very near 40 mph. If it's turned on, which is very rare. But that is again, the difference between 3.73 and 4.10 gears.

I’ve had manual transmissions for so long that I’m admittedly rusty on automatic transmissions. Come to think of it, the last automatic equipped vehicle I had didn’t even have overdrive.

The 10R80 in the 2019 is a completely different animal. Still no O/D selection but it does have Sport modes and Tow/Haul. Tow/Haul probably acts as the O/D on and off.

 

[Curious Hound]

Oh, yeah. With a 3.0 pushing 35" tires, I almost never use 5th gear. I could take it out throw it away and never know the difference.

 

[cbxer55]

3.0. 4.10 gears. 26 inch tires. Still prefer OD off around town and in city.

 

[Gary DuBois]

High amounts of heat kills auto trannys.

Sometimes yes i wish it was 4wd.

could you turn your 2wd f-250 into a 4wd.

 

[Gary DuBois]

3.0. 4.10 gears. 26 inch tires. Still prefer OD off around town and in city.

Why do you prefer OD off around town and in the city ?

 

[Josh B]

I don't know what I was thinking. The 87or8 I had before had a note behind the sunviser about not using 5th under 40, or some such something, which I noted and tried to abide by, but that thing wouldn't pull 5th unless it was going down the side of a mountain, which I arranged to do on several occasions.

The 93 I immediately had to replace the clutch, which is pictured in my profile. At the same time I was using the 87 to get around town and staying busy on wrapping things up around Nashville and getting things sorted out.

When I began moving was a loaded truck and trailer and almost exactly 600 miles from my front step there to my front steps here, and I don't remember once thinking about the Big "O". I just shifted gears till it run out of em and left it there pushing 70-75. Four round trips over the next 3 or 4 months, and one more would have paid for itself, but I never once thought about or contemplated it being Overdrive

It never once balked at anything I asked it to do, or at me considering 0 to be 5.
I'm not sure where I come from on this but I grew up on motorcycles, every one of them had 5

 

[rusty ol ranger]

could you turn your 2wd f-250 into a 4wd.

Yeah, but i dont miss 4wd on it enough to go through the time, effort, and expense of doing it

 

[JohnnyO]

I always leave the OD on unless I'm going down a long steep hill, which we have a lot of here, or towing something which is rare that I do that. Better mpg.

 

[JoshT]

99 Ranger 4.0L 4x4 auto. Overdrive button doesn't get touched unless there is a trailer behind it. Even then, it often doesn't get touched unless it is actually putting a load on the engine and causing a lot of shifting in and out of OD. I don;t often tow that kind of laod with the Ranger, if I need to tow heavier I would use a bigger truck. Prior to getting the F-250 that meant borrowing it from dad, but still the better option.

You say your normal driving trip is 5 miles and 10 minutes. You're probably not even using overdrive much whether it is enabled or not.

With all due respect to your dad, he's wrong. Don't mess with the OD button. Hop in and drive unless you actually are pulling a load or something where you need it disabled.

If you were driving a manual then I'd be more inclined to agree with him, don't bother shifting into OD because you won't be in it long enough to benefit and might be lugging the engine if shifting too soon. The transmission in the truck you have is electronically controlled, and it is smart enough to select the right gear for 90% of driving conditions.

That's my 2 cent worth.

 

[cbxer55]

My 4.0 automatic Mustang hunted badly in the 40 to 45 mph speed range with OD on. Couldn't make up it's mind if it should be in 4th or OD. Even after the trans failed and I got it rebuilt, it still did it. I have a feeling if I had ditched the 3.73 gears and put 4.10's in it, that would have fixed the issue. Did so on my Ranger. But I still turn it off and leave it off until north of 45 mph. I've owned the truck 23 years, been doing it since then. Never hurt it. Also I like to downshift through the gears, OD to 3rd, 3rd to 2nd. Use the engine for braking, and a lot of times I never even need to use the brakes. Truck will turn 187,000 by Friday. Transmission has never been out of it.

I also shift my autos into neutral at long nap-inducing stop lights. My friend, who rebuilt my stangs trans, said it is good for automatics to do that. Stops the clutches from slipping while idling in gear. What do you think is happening when your sitting there with the brake on, and the engine is still trying to move the truck? Clutches are slipping to allow that to happen. In neutral or park, the fluid runs out to the cooler and back to the pan. It's catching a break from working. Could be why my trans has never been out of the truck.

 

[oldgeek]

Could be why my trans has never been out of the truck

I would get real anxious if I were to say something like that. And it usually is the first domino...

 

[cbxer55]

I would get real anxious if I were to say something like that. And it usually is the first domino...

I know what you mean (knocks on top of head). I've said it here in the past. Still rolling along just fine. I've had the vehicle since it had 10,000 miles on it. Going to change to 187,000 tomorrow. Transmission fluid has been changed multiple times, filter only once. Every time, the fluid was bright red, with no indication it needed to be changed. I cut the filter apart the one time I changed it, and there was no indication that even it needed to be changed. And that was in 2021., 21 years after I bought it.