Include

[smotrs]

Ok, did some more testing this last week regarding the Low, Med and High settings in both Brake On and Speed Control mode.

Speed Control

Started at a speed of about 50 MPH with the setting on High and a Speed Control set at 20 MPH. When you let off on the accelerator the system immediately drops to Tow Haul and 4th gear, almost right after that it drops into 3rd and shortly after 2nd gear. Mind you, the vehicle is still about 40+ MPH so if you don't have a trailer you'll probably have a bruise on your shoulder where the seat belt was. Med and Low were progressively less aggressive but even in the Low setting it would still drop to 2nd while you were around 35+ MPH or so.

Now mind you, I would have probably had the Speed Control set at 45 typically for that MPH. There's no reason for it being set that low when your average speed is that high. But I wanted to see how aggressive the brake was compared to the Brake On mode.

Brake On

Similar to above, started at a speed of about 50 MPH with the setting on High. Very similar to the Speed Control method above, when you let off the accelerator the system immediately drops to Tow Haul and 4th gear. Shortly after it drops to 3rd gear followed by 2nd gear. Again, speed was still about 40+ but I think it was a bit lower then what it was during the Speed Control test. Kinda hard to tell.

The Med and Low settings were definitely lower though as the Med setting was in the lower 30's before dropping to 2nd gear and the Low setting actually waited until the vehicle was in the higher 20s (around 28 I think) before dropping to 2nd gear, but much more controlled

Brake Off

Lastly, I tried with the Brake turned off to see how the truck would normally act through the downshifting. Mind you, with the brake off, it doesn't use the Tow Haul mode to slow down.

So I'm cruising about 50 MPH, and let off the accelerator. Vehicle begins coasting and gradually goes down through the gears. Didn't get it to drop to 2nd until I started applying the brakes when approaching stop lights but when I glanced at the PDA to see what the speed was it read about 25 or so I think.

Observations

Would have been much easier if there was a way to log the test, then I could have had more accurate results. Oh well. In any case, it appears that the Brake On mode with a setting of Low will give you the closest comparison to how the truck would normally slow down and go through the gears. Mind you, that's the setting I have since left it on for normal driving.

I have also noticed that when you are on a road that has a VERY slight grade, it's best to just turn it off as it will constantly be going in and out of Tow Haul due to even the slightest moderation of your foot on the accelerator to maintain whatever speed your traveling. I'm sure everyone has come across those roads where you kinda hover on the pedal because if you press it you go to fast and due to normal road friction you slow down to much. So you have to hover on the pedal to control the speed. Well, when that happens, it constantly feels like the truck is surging as it goes in and out of Tow Haul mode.

Again, these tests have been done on an unloaded truck doing normal street driving and/or freeway driving.