Thread: New to towing - jerking / tugging trailer - transmission damage?

Originally Posted by corbijn

That's interesting. Does keeping the revs up help?

Yes, but thats not the main reason.

If I recall correctly the main reason is because it applies more pressure to the clutch plate assembly thingy and prevents slippage and extra wear from the heavy load. Perhaps that rings a bell with someone who knows the 6 speed box.

So whenever I know its working hard, towing, or steep windy bits, etc, I put in sport mode.

Maybe there is some play in the hitch. If you have ever towed something with override brakes you would have felt the back & forward pushing & tugging as the hitch slides back & forward activating the brakes. Does the hitch fit snugly on the 50mm ball if that is your system?

Are we sure it’s jerking/tugging? Or just a pitching sensation?

A small trailer shouldn’t be throwing it around more than rise and fall...

Originally Posted by Tombie

Are we sure it’s jerking/tugging? Or just a pitching sensation?

A small trailer shouldn’t be throwing it around more than rise and fall...

Yeah it is hard to describe the sensation, particularly when I have no idea what normal is. I will try to think of a way of describing it.

Check the tacho when it happens, do the revs fluctuate?, as mentioned, the torque converter could be the problem, towing in sport mode keeps it in 5th , and will lock the converter ( as opposed to regulated which can cause the clutch in the converter to slip due to age / wear / glazing) its much kinder to the trans.

Towing in sport mode does not keep it in 5th.
It just enables quicker kick down and holds longer.

Originally Posted by vee8auto

Yes, but thats not the main reason.

If I recall correctly the main reason is because it applies more pressure to the clutch plate assembly thingy and prevents slippage and extra wear from the heavy load. Perhaps that rings a bell with someone who knows the 6 speed box.

So whenever I know its working hard, towing, or steep windy bits, etc, I put in sport mode.

No that is not correct - Sport is no different to normal drive except the gearbox uses a different program that changes the shift points and hangs on to each gear a little longer - that is why some people think that 6th is disabled as it takes a little while to get into 6th in Sport - it just hangs onto 5th for a bit longer that is all.

The advantage in using Sport for towing is that at any given time because it hangs onto gears a bit longer the gearbox is likely to be in one lower gear than normal in undulating conditions which is more suited to towing.

garry

Originally Posted by garrycol

No that is not correct - Sport is no different to normal drive except the gearbox uses a different program that changes the shift points and hangs on to each gear a little longer ......
garry

in the context that the original poster has queried transmission damage because something funky is going on when towing I thought it would be worth mentioning the advice for towing given by a Land Rover specialist. So unless another person, a guru level transmission dude who specialises in the internal workings control functions of that particular 6 speed auto box comes along and refutes or clarifies the advanced functions I reckon it should be considered a likely factor.

Sure, it might be furphy, I might have got my wires crossed, but as my previous career was as a specialist on industrial gas turbines and all their electronic, pneumatic and hydraulic systems I am fairly confident that I understood what the guy was telling me and I reckon what he said made sense.