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CamJam1 · 03-28-2019, 09:06 PM

I live near Sedona AZ and drive from Arizona to the midwest or east coast nearly every year towing a car hauler. The steepest climb on the entire trip is always the I-17 grade from Camp Verde north to Flagstaff. It is a good road, just a long climb.

The other uphill grade for you headed north on I-17 will be north of Black Canyon City, and then headed north you'll have a downgrade just south of Camp Verde. None of these grades are terrifying, just hard on equipment.

I echo the thoughts about I-40 near Flagstaff. The AZ DOT should be ashamed of themselves. Another stretch that is bad is I-40 eastbound just west of Seligman. They've fixed most of it now, but there are still some bad sections. In my previous Class C I would lose at least one front hub cap every time we drove that stretch. I finally just quit buying replacements.

I-25 between Santa Fe and Walsenburg, CO is one of my favorites, which I guess is the way you came down to Az.

bigchick · 03-29-2019, 10:29 AM

i drive that route all the time. it is a great route. yes there are some downgrades as you are coming from above 7,000 feet in elevation down to about 1,300 feet in mesa. you will experience the same elevation drops and downgrades on all three routes from i-40 to phoenix (377 at holbrook, 87 at winslow, i-17 at flagstaff). but look at the flip side of it. you're now in mesa and you are going to have to go primarily up to reach i-40. if you reverse your route on 87 there are a few places where you go up and then back down, the steepest being mt. ord. but overall you are going up. we have our exhaust brake on and lower the transmission gear when doing the downgrades and don't even use the service brakes.

you've seen the route you took. the portion of 87 you traveled south from payson into mesa is four lane divided hwy. north of payson it turns into a 2 lane undivided road that primarily travels through the forest. there is a sharp turn and upgrade (going north) just north of strawberry. again you will be going up. totally doable, just don't rush.

i-17 north to flagstaff is an interstate.