Is there a difference between hunting for gears and actually shifting?

I'm curious about towing with my 05. Before this I towed with V6's and pretty much in 3rd all the time. Now with the 5.3 I wonder how much I can tow in OD. I have the factor heavy duty trailering package. So far I'm not towing anything real heavy. I will be pulling a 17' lowes fishing boat 500 miles to Canada. Is running in OD gonna be ok? Is a 500 trip in 3rd gear hard on it?

 

excessive shifting or "hunting" is bad. if you drive and either hit a hill or the transmission is continously locking and unlocking the converter, thats not good. if it just downshifts to 3rd while going up a grade and then shifts back into OD, thats ok

 

Ok, next dumb question.

Can you hear or feel "hunting"?

 

well yes i guess. you will hear the motor reving up when the converter unlocks, then rev lower when the converter relocks. only about a couple of hundred rpm difference when this happens. even more difference if it shifts to 3rd then back to OD, then converter locks, and vice versa.