Overdrive on or off?

[Jacob Dryer]

I've only found small hinting at this question.



I'm going to be towing a 4x8 open trailer with 2 motorcycles (sportbikes each <500 lbs) approx 600 miles round trip. No mountains not really even a whole lot of hills.



Will I hurt anything leaving the OD on? I know that if it's constantly changing to turn it off, but do you think I will have a problem?

 

[Mike Franklin]

I just got done towing a single 600 lb cruiser with a 4x8 open trailer last weekend. I was up in the shenendoah mountains with it. I didn't turn off od while I was on the freeways. The trac had no problem maintaining speed and keeping up. But in the mountains I kept od off. I was able to pull up the mountains with less lugging and control my speed better on the downhills.



Really, I think the key is to be aware of ever changing road conditions.

 

[Todd Z]

What I do is if i see the engine hunting in and out of o/d i take it off.

Todd Z

 

[Mike Franklin]

yeah.. what todd said.

 

[Eldon Webb]

My 410 rear end helps in situations like that too. I debated whether to order my Trac with it, but I am really glad I did.

 

[Gerald Pierce]

I think if you follow ToddZ's rule you will be fine. That light of a trailer, the ST will handle just fine. I towed a 3200+ lb popup with a 25occ dirt bike in the bed and left the OD on all the time except for in town starting and stopping. Dreadfully flat where I was driving (north and central fl) though, YMMV.