Ummmm,
When you go up hill you will eventually loose momentum and speed, unless you apply throttle to maintain it.
Auto or Manual, overdrive or otherwise. All your cruise control is doing is applying throttle without your input.
Cruise control does not select gears or control the gearbox. That is a function of speed verses throttle, and happens automatically whether in cruise or not, (hence auto gearbox).
You can select gears that restrict the auto box to the lower ranges, but you cannot normally force it into the higher ranges.
I equate turning overdrive off to selecting the position below D on a conventional selector, you are just not getting your gearboxes top drive ratio, or the torque converter lock up.
Apart from getting your car into a better rev range before the hill, deselecting overdrive should have no effect on hill performance, because the box will just change down as it needs to anyway.
In a manual, they tended not to be recommended for towing, because they were sometimes weaker than the conventional gearbox, and thus prone to failure if used for towing.
All this should be clear in your car's manual. You have read it haven't you?
Good luck and trouble free towing to all!
MW
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