Tips From My Towing Experiences

ChooChooman74 · **Posted:** Mon Apr 22, 2013 1:31 pm

I figure I would share my experiences towing to help others who want to tow with their CRD.

Last year, we rented a trailer to see how the CRD would do. It was not the best experience. We towed from RI to Hershey, PA. There are some good grades in between. At the time, I was towing with an Eco Tune, Stock Tires, and Stock Transmission Tune. The Liberty struggled on the hills, revving real high, and the Engine got hot. I was a little upset, and at that point, I figured I can still buy myself a trailer and stay local.

In the fall, for the new people, I broke #4 glow plug off while changing them out. I also had a turbo that went south (possibly due to broke pieces of glow plug). Well, that was a blessing, because my rockers were a mess, most likely from the previous owner. So, over the winter, she got new rockers, FT Eco Tune, and Custom Transmission tune, and Boost/EGT gauges (Still have the stock TC)

This spring I, picked up my new trailer in Albany, NY. Compared to the rental, this trailer is 6" wider and about 8" taller...means more wind resistance. Well, there was a big difference in towing. The Mass Pike (Interstate 90) through Mass fairly hilly, hilly enough that they have a truck runaway ramp. This gave me some time to play around. I have also went camping a few more times, and here are a list of things I found out.

- The GDE FT Eco made a huge difference when the TC was locked up.
- Even with the stock TV, keeping the RPMs above 1900, there was no shudder at lockup.
- In the hills, manually take the OD off. This will lock up 3rd, and RPMs will be about 2700 at 60mph. If you let the tranny downshift itself, the TC will unlock and your RPMs will be in the 3000s.
- The GDE Tranny tune holds the gear quite well.
- RPMs are a killer. EGTs at 2700RPMs were about 1200 (pre turbo). When I let the tranny unlock in 3rd, and the RPMs were mid to high 3000's, the EGTs quickly shot up to 1300+. I said, bad idea, and hit the OD button to lock the TC and Tranny in 3rd.
- Don't use the stock tires. I still have my Firestone Winterforce tires on Just for towing. Yes, they are 245/70s, compared to 225/75s, but the feel with them is totally different.

Things I need to do to improve? Mainly, get my speedo calibrated. I tow at 60, my GDE tow tune is custom and shifts about 64. My speedo being off, I need to go 63 to be doing 60. Fine line of shifting into 5th. Worst case, I will pay Keith and remap it for a few more MPH. I also need to get the TC done. I pay attention, and either let off or shift if I think it will shutter. But once I get the TC done, I may get the HOT tune from Keith.

Any comments or questions, I will try and answer them when I can.

CHOOCHOO Matt

CRD Joe · **Posted:** Mon Apr 22, 2013 9:18 pm

What does your trailer weigh? I towed a car and car trailer 5500lbs and had no problems. Im looking for a 3000lb travel trailer like an MPG.

striperman36 · **Posted:** Mon Apr 22, 2013 9:24 pm

make sure your intercooler and turbo hoses don't have leaks and are sealed well

ChooChooman74 · **Posted:** Mon Apr 22, 2013 9:46 pm

My trip to the CAT scales, I believe...well, am absolutely sure they screwed up. On weight of just the Jeep, that weight is either right of they got me out of the Jeep and standing on the scale. On the weight of the Jeep and Trailer with WDH all hooked up, I believe they got me off the scale. But, estimated weight of the trailer is 4600 pounds, full of water and propane, ready to camp.

One thing of interest, my front axle GAWR is OVER (if the scaling is correct) with just passengers in the vehicle. Maybe Jeep never adjusted the GAWR for the weight of the Diesel.

Also, just to note, the Tranny tune is not perfect. It's flaw is locking up too early when accelerating. But, to me, I can work around it.

striperman36 · **Posted:** Tue Apr 23, 2013 11:51 am

how much does your airbag setup affect the weight distribution on to all four wheels when towing?

What hitch setup are you using?

ChooChooman74 · **Posted:** Tue Apr 23, 2013 11:56 am

striperman36 wrote:

how much does your airbag setup affect the weight distribution on to all four wheels when towing?

What hitch setup are you using?

I only use the air bags to level the vehicle after the hitch is setup. I am using about 10 to 12 pounds of air.

I use the reese dual cam system. It is a bit to setup. I don't experience any sway, even with the water tank empty which causes the tongue to be lighter.

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jlgail4309 · **Posted:** Tue Apr 23, 2013 7:24 pm

ChooChooman74 wrote:

My trip to the CAT scales, I believe...well, am absolutely sure they screwed up. On weight of just the Jeep, that weight is either right of they got me out of the Jeep and standing on the scale. On the weight of the Jeep and Trailer with WDH all hooked up, I believe they got me off the scale. But, estimated weight of the trailer is 4600 pounds, full of water and propane, ready to camp.

One thing of interest, my front axle GAWR is OVER (if the scaling is correct) with just passengers in the vehicle. Maybe Jeep never adjusted the GAWR for the weight of the Diesel.

Also, just to note, the Tranny tune is not perfect. It's flaw is locking up too early when accelerating. But, to me, I can work around it.

I seen you were talking about the Tranny tune locking up too early. It that in all the gears or just 4th and 5th. would another 5 miles per hour help before locking up.

geordi · **Posted:** Tue Apr 23, 2013 8:32 pm

I took my CRD (and a BIG honkin generator and another BIG trailer) to the local Pilot truck stop and scaled it myself.

Sometimes when you call into the box, they just say "ok, I got the number" and you don't have time to get off the pad before they do. I set my CRD up before I pushed the button, and made sure I wasn't standing on the pad. Yeah, it was a weird angle.

Anyway - Stock CRD, with BFG Commercial T/A Highway tires LR-E, 10 ply. (Heavy tires!) 4300 lbs for the CRD. I had it all on one panel.
At that time, the trailer was a generator - 6840 lbs. Don't recall if I got a tongue weight for that.
The other trailer was a 7.5x20 enclosed box, fully loaded. Right at 7000 lbs, with 1200 lbs on the tongue jack! I had the tongue on its own pad of the scale.

The CRD didn't like the big trailer much, but not because of the weight. It was just too dang BIG in the front, and wouldn't be towed (empty) faster than 65mph. Even empty, that thing had too much tongue weight to make me happy. The CRD pulled the generator like a dream however, so even 7000 lbs is not a problem if the wind resistance is low. What a powerful machine... When it works.

arengant · **Posted:** Wed Apr 24, 2013 5:20 am

ChooChooman74 wrote:

But once I get the TC done, I may get the HOT tune from Keith.

Any comments or questions, I will try and answer them when I can.

CHOOCHOO Matt

I'd skip the HOT tune, IMHO...

Just a little more power than the FULL torque ECO (meaning only a little more FUN factor in my case) but worse MPG and some I have some worry on the extra stress on engine. I think it is at like 75% throttle that the extra power kicks in, so you are revving it a lot when using the extra power, causing higher EGT and such. I will keep my Hot tune until I get the stage 2 turbo (just because I don't want to ship it off again) but wish I had the Full Torque.

ChooChooman74 · **Posted:** Wed Apr 24, 2013 4:51 pm

jlgail4309 wrote:

ChooChooman74 wrote:

My trip to the CAT scales, I believe...well, am absolutely sure they screwed up. On weight of just the Jeep, that weight is either right of they got me out of the Jeep and standing on the scale. On the weight of the Jeep and Trailer with WDH all hooked up, I believe they got me off the scale. But, estimated weight of the trailer is 4600 pounds, full of water and propane, ready to camp.

One thing of interest, my front axle GAWR is OVER (if the scaling is correct) with just passengers in the vehicle. Maybe Jeep never adjusted the GAWR for the weight of the Diesel.

Also, just to note, the Tranny tune is not perfect. It's flaw is locking up too early when accelerating. But, to me, I can work around it.

I seen you were talking about the Tranny tune locking up too early. It that in all the gears or just 4th and 5th. would another 5 miles per hour help before locking up.

John, it is on acceleration, to me, it shifts and locks 3rd a little early, and the RPMs crash. I compensated by manually holding 2nd longer. Only places where it is a problem is on ramps. Them more I play with it, the more I can compensate.

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ChooChooman74 · **Posted:** Wed Apr 24, 2013 4:53 pm

arengant wrote:

ChooChooman74 wrote:

But once I get the TC done, I may get the HOT tune from Keith.

Any comments or questions, I will try and answer them when I can.

CHOOCHOO Matt

I'd skip the HOT tune, IMHO...

Just a little more power than the FULL torque ECO (meaning only a little more FUN factor in my case) but worse MPG and some I have some worry on the extra stress on engine. I think it is at like 75% throttle that the extra power kicks in, so you are revving it a lot when using the extra power, causing higher EGT and such. I will keep my Hot tune until I get the stage 2 turbo (just because I don't want to ship it off again) but wish I had the Full Torque.

When I am pulling a hill in 3rd, at 60mph and 2700rpms, I am foot to the floor.

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arengant · **Posted:** Wed Apr 24, 2013 5:09 pm

ChooChooman74 wrote:

arengant wrote:

ChooChooman74 wrote:

But once I get the TC done, I may get the HOT tune from Keith.

Any comments or questions, I will try and answer them when I can.

CHOOCHOO Matt

I'd skip the HOT tune, IMHO...

Just a little more power than the FULL torque ECO (meaning only a little more FUN factor in my case) but worse MPG and some I have some worry on the extra stress on engine. I think it is at like 75% throttle that the extra power kicks in, so you are revving it a lot when using the extra power, causing higher EGT and such. I will keep my Hot tune until I get the stage 2 turbo (just because I don't want to ship it off again) but wish I had the Full Torque.

When I am pulling a hill in 3rd, at 60mph and 2700rpms, I am foot to the floor.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

Gotcha, maybe your TCM is better

Not sure if it's the HOT tune or TCM tune that does this on mine.

Mine unlocks with foot to floor giving me your example of high EGT, but I would assume even higher EGT because the dumping of fuel...

ChooChooman74 wrote:

- RPMs are a killer. EGTs at 2700RPMs were about 1200 (pre turbo). When I let the tranny unlock in 3rd, and the RPMs were mid to high 3000's, the EGTs quickly shot up to 1300+. I said, bad idea, and hit the OD button to lock the TC and Tranny in 3rd.
CHOOCHOO Matt

ChooChooman74 · **Posted:** Wed Apr 24, 2013 9:01 pm

arengant wrote:

ChooChooman74 wrote:

arengant wrote:

ChooChooman74"]But once I get the TC done, I may get the HOT tune from Keith.

Any comments or questions, I will try and answer them when I can.

CHOOCHOO Matt

I'd skip the HOT tune, IMHO...

Just a little more power than the FULL torque ECO (meaning only a little more FUN factor in my case) but worse MPG and some I have some worry on the extra stress on engine. I think it is at like 75% throttle that the extra power kicks in, so you are revving it a lot when using the extra power, causing higher EGT and such. I will keep my Hot tune until I get the stage 2 turbo (just because I don't want to ship it off again) but wish I had the Full Torque.

When I am pulling a hill in 3rd, at 60mph and 2700rpms, I am foot to the floor.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

Gotcha, maybe your TCM is better

Not sure if it's the HOT tune or TCM tune that does this on mine.

Mine unlocks with foot to floor giving me your example of high EGT, but I would assume even higher EGT because the dumping of fuel...

[quote="ChooChooman74 wrote:

- RPMs are a killer. EGTs at 2700RPMs were about 1200 (pre turbo). When I let the tranny unlock in 3rd, and the RPMs were mid to high 3000's, the EGTs quickly shot up to 1300+. I said, bad idea, and hit the OD button to lock the TC and Tranny in 3rd.
CHOOCHOO Matt

[/quote]
For it to hold 3rd locked, you must have the OD off... At least with my trans tune.

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arengant · **Posted:** Sat Apr 27, 2013 4:10 am

ChooChooman74 wrote:

For it to hold 3rd locked, you must have the OD off... At least with my trans tune.

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I will check next time it happens, once I return from leave.

Tips From My Towing Experiences

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