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KNickell’s Top Tip Tuesday: Transmission Gear Lockout?

Knickell

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Hello friends! Its time for another edition of Top Tip Tuesday (TTT, or Triple-T if you so prefer!)!

I was traveling down the road the other day enjoying a sublime trip in my F-150, and as I normally do (but probably shouldn't) I was pressing buttons just playing around with the truck as I continue to learn all it has to offer. I had the truck in the "Drive" gear and NOT in manual shift mode.

As I was resting my palm on the gearshift, my idle fingers begin to wonder; "What happens if I click the downshift button on the gearshift?" So I did.
Ford F-150 KNickell’s Top Tip Tuesday: Transmission Gear Lockout? 0E3AA841-B5D9-4A8C-B282-EA2D4297ADA5


The upshift (+) and downshift (-) buttons as equipped on generation fourteen Ford F-150s with the center console mounted gearshift:
Ford F-150 KNickell’s Top Tip Tuesday: Transmission Gear Lockout? C05BFB00-C868-4D7D-9DFF-CB8AC82AFFBC


After I pressed the downshift button, I noticed on the gauge cluster that the number "10" on the transmission's 1-10 gears was grayed out. I hit the "-"/downshift button again, the ninth gear also grayed itself out. There was no noticeable performance difference at this time. I was traveling at a relatively low speed, so I kept hitting the down shift button all the way until gears five through ten were grayed out. As I got down into those shorter gears, the RPMs of the engine did increase.

I pressed the "+"/upshift button, each grayed out gear returned to being white, and apparently available to use.

So of you veteran truck guys may have already known of this feature, and this is ancient news. However, being able to "lock out" certain gears while driving is pretty cool and useful!


Here is a quick color coded key for how the gears will look if you are using this feature:
White - available gears for the transmission to use
Orange - Drive mode and gear that the transmission is currently in
Gray - Gears no available for use, or "locked out" by the driver by pressing the downshift (-) button to automatic mode


Tenth gear "locked out" since I hit the downshift button:
Ford F-150 KNickell’s Top Tip Tuesday: Transmission Gear Lockout? 1623117158962


Gears 8, 9, and 10 "locked out" so the truck resorted to using seventh gear:
Ford F-150 KNickell’s Top Tip Tuesday: Transmission Gear Lockout? 54AF61AE-22FD-40A7-B7D9-A7E2D8FBC511


The transmission showing that gears 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 are all locked out since I hit the downshift. Notice the higher RPMs since I'm running in fifth gear:
Ford F-150 KNickell’s Top Tip Tuesday: Transmission Gear Lockout? 5EB5D38F-FBC6-495C-8017-A5FDC278D9A5



Just in case you guys didn't know, your trucks should be able to do this too! Have some fun with those + and - buttons!! Now get out there and happy shiftin'!!
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xtraman122

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I was playing with this today. It worked the same on my 2015 as well. Lets you limit the top gear it’ll go in if you ever need to.
 
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Knickell

Knickell

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I was playing with this today. It worked the same on my 2015 as well. Lets you limit the top gear it’ll go in if you ever need to.
Pretty cool stuff! At least for now, its not so much that I need to limit the transmission's gear selection, I just like the tactile "Click" under my thumb when I press it...... Probably not the best reason to be using it, though...?‍♂
 

ColoradoHunter

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That could come in very handy off-road. It would prevent an untimely upshift.
 

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Jack in Prescott

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So the follow-on question: If I put the transmission in Tow Haul mode, will I see #'s 9 & 10 greyed out, without me doing anything on the gear shift? Think I read something like that here a while back...

Jack
 
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Knickell

Knickell

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So the follow-on question: If I put the transmission in Tow Haul mode, will I see #'s 9 & 10 greyed out, without me doing anything on the gear shift? Think I read something like that here a while back...

Jack
Not entirely certain. Ninth and tenth gears for this transmission are just tall overdrive gears to assist with better fuel economy. If towing, you’ll probably want the lower gears for more low end power and torque, so locking out nine and ten would make sense.
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