Okay, somewhat of a stupid question. I purchased a fifth wheel camper that weighs in at 6800 lbs. dry. I have a one ton, 4:10 gears. Should I not tow this thing in overdrive? Reason I ask is, if not, my rpms are going to be pretty high with not much speed. But I definitely don't want transmission damage. I've towed my boat (3000 lbs) in overdrive with no problem. But this added weight is a new question. Weigh in ,no pun intended, with your thoughts, please.(BTW, it's an automatic).

well, I re-did my thread search with different Boolean operators and found some threads to answer my question. But feel free to share your experiences.

I tow in overdrive. I have a 24 ft T.T. that weighs about 6500 pounds. The rpm's are just too high to bare for normal driving along the flats. It seems to handle the load just fine in the 3 years i've had this trailer. On the hills? It's a different story, i've done several mods and it still sucks going up the hills. I'm waiting for my copper washers and return lines for my new injectors that I'll install, and then i'll see if there is any improvement, but i doubt it.

I tow in OD. My truck and trailer are 16K combined and it does it fine.

I tow in overdrive with the 6.5 and 4l80e. 257,300 miles on the trans, and never a problem I'm always towing something, up to a 14,000 lb toy box. (That prompted the dually purchase)

I towed roughly that much (22' equipment hauler with a newer olds bravada on it) and i left it in over drive. Hills were not much of a problem as far as power but my coolant was getting pretty hot, which probably was a reasult of high egts. (no pyro)

this was with a c2500 and 3.73s

I've heard from Mike L to not tow in overdrive with the 4L80E. My truck's EGTs climb higher in OD than they do in 3rd when towing. This weekend i had maybe 4K behind the truck in the highway and in 3rd i was sitting at 400-450*F for EGTs. Put the truck in OD and the EGTs hit 6-700*. This was crusing at 55-60 mph. Coolant temp never went above 195*F however.

My truck has 3.73s and in 3rd on the highway towing i was sitting around 2,200 RPM. With the 4.10s you'll be higher in the RPM range. You may be able to tow in overdrive because of the better towing gears.

my owners manual says from gm to tow in o.d.

my owners manual says from gm to tow in o.d.

interesting. Learn something new every day. I never saw that in my manual(then again i wasn't looking for it either), unless it's in the diesel supplement section which i'm missing.

Wellllll, I'm feeling pretty comfortable with the idea of towing in OD. Just have to watch my pyro(gotta install it yet) for any temp spikes I guess.

Towing in OD is not a problem. Just be smart about it. when it is searching from 4th - 3rd and back , manually leave it in 3rd till the hill is done and then shift back to OD. This will save tha bands and friction plates from the excessive heat generated from the shifting process. Also in some situations try not to have a heavy foot when the shift points occur, this will also save your trans for a longer life.
When towing anything of weight you will need to service the trans more regularly as the trans fluid does run higher in temperature and breaks down faster.

Towing in OD is not a problem. Just be smart about it. when it is searching from 4th - 3rd and back , manually leave it in 3rd till the hill is done and then shift back to OD. This will save tha bands and friction plates from the excessive heat generated from the shifting process. Also in some situations try not to have a heavy foot when the shift points occur, this will also save your trans for a longer life.
When towing anything of weight you will need to service the trans more regularly as the trans fluid does run higher in temperature and breaks down faster.

X2 that is what I was alway's told