I have a 2004 Screw F-150 and I have a few questions that someone might be able to answer.

I just picked up my 17 foot trailer (1983 Big Foot)

1) Can you tow with cruise control on?
2) I had the brake controller installed by an RV place and when the truck
headlights are on and I press on the brakes, the back up sensors goes off
but when the lights are off this does not happen. I can maually turn off
the rear sensors via the button and all is fine. Is this suppose to happen?

Hopefully someone can aswer these questions

Thanks

 

I don't know about the backup sensor. The brake controller might be wired up wrong or the electrical system on the truck is getting confused. I'd take it back to whoever wired it up and see if they can fix it.

Yes, you can tow with cruise control as long as it's not downshifting, like when pulling a hill or something. If you're on a relatively flat area where it'll stay in the gear you're towing in, the cruise is fine. You should be able to get a feel for what the truck can handle and take the cruise off before you reach a hill that you're gonna have to work at. I generally manually shift to the next lower gear (i.e. overdrive off) before I hit a hill that I know it'll downshift on. Saves some stress on the tranny.

 

The major thing that hurts tranmissions is shifting. The guideline is to drop to a lower gear (OD off, 2nd, etc) when the trans changes gears every couple minutes. The actual experience varies by vehicle power, effective gearing, road grade, and load.

 

I'd say you have a ground problem causing the problem with the backup sensors. That or it is wired up wrong.

Good luck

 

yep.. you got sound advice. Towing with cruise on will work good on flat areas. Mountain areas or hilly.. just go to third and drop off the cruise.

 

I normally run with O/D off at around 65mph with cruise control on, only if traffic and weather allows it. This will keep the engine rpm's at around 2500-2700. I will cancel the cruise for overpasses and hills since the cruise will kick the tranny down and push the engine hard to maintain speed. If you're going to run cruise with a trailer on just remember to keep A LOT of open space in front of you.

I'm a little confused, what do these backup sensors do? Are they attached to the braking system somehow?

Russ