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Old 04-10-2018, 05:40 PM   #29
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I agree with Edge (above). I have a RAM 3500 diesel with 6 speed auto and exhaust brake and Tow/Haul option. The 5th has disk brakes, makes a hughe difference on the down grades. Living and having grownup in the Southwest and rockies I do also have many years driving our mountains. As others have said, our rigs and loads are different, so what works well for one may or may not work equally for someone else.

I almost always use the tow/haul when I'm towing the 5th. Going up grades I'll usually let the truck decide what gear it wants. That has always worked well. At the top of the grade I'll slow down, engage the exhaust brake, downshift to a lower gear and proceed. My goal is to have an easy relaxing drive down with my speed under control at all times. I'll shift up or down as the grade changes. Frequently, I make it to the bottom with no or very little use of the service brakes. Keep in mind your job is get you, your passengers and rig down safely. If traffic builds up behind me, I'll pull over when and where there's a safe place to do so or slow down in a clear straight section of road and let them pass. My job is my rig and not someone else's time line. Always operate your rig within YOUR comfort zone.

I also was told to use the same gear going down as up, but experience has taught me to use one gear lower.

With my truck and 14000+ lb 5th I can usually summit most of our passes at or near the posted speed limit and then my speed on the decent WILL be lower than the speed limit. I'm glad I don't tow with a gasser anymore.

Have fun and be safe.
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Old 04-10-2018, 05:47 PM   #30
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rarebear.nm View Post
I agree with Edge (above). I have a RAM 3500 diesel with 6 speed auto and exhaust brake and Tow/Haul option. The 5th has disk brakes, makes a hughe difference on the down grades. Living and having grownup in the Southwest and rockies I do also have many years driving our mountains. As others have said, our rigs and loads are different, so what works well for one may or may not work equally for someone else.

I almost always use the tow/haul when I'm towing the 5th. Going up grades I'll usually let the truck decide what gear it wants. That has always worked well. At the top of the grade I'll slow down, engage the exhaust brake, downshift to a lower gear and proceed. My goal is to have an easy relaxing drive down with my speed under control at all times. I'll shift up or down as the grade changes. Frequently, I make it to the bottom with no or very little use of the service brakes. Keep in mind your job is get you, your passengers and rig down safely. If traffic builds up behind me, I'll pull over when and where there's a safe place to do so or slow down in a clear straight section of road and let them pass. My job is my rig and not someone else's time line. Always operate your rig within YOUR comfort zone.

I also was told to use the same gear going down as up, but experience has taught me to use one gear lower.

With my truck and 14000+ lb 5th I can usually summit most of our passes at or near the posted speed limit and then my speed on the decent WILL be lower than the speed limit. I'm glad I don't tow with a gasser anymore.

Have fun and be safe.
Exactly. Well said!
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Old 04-10-2018, 06:18 PM   #31
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It really depends on the rig. With my current ram CTD towing 15k I generally just use tow haul, engine brake and cruise control on the freeways. It does pretty a good job most of the time both up and downhill with freeway grades which rarely exceed 6 to 7 percent. With other rigs I’ve owned getting up a steep hill was pedal to the floor, 2nd or even first gear and hope I kept forward momentum. Coming down could be scary as most gear combinations wouldn’t provide enough engine breaking to prevent the engine from going past redline and you had to use judicious brake application and hope you didn’t overheat your brakes. Fortunately you pretty much don’t have to worry about this anymore with higher powered modern vehicle with much better brakes as well. You’ll figure out after a couple hills what works good with you setup. Just make sure you error on the side of caution and slower speeds while you’re learning.
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Old 04-10-2018, 06:37 PM   #32
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Originally Posted by rarebear.nm View Post
With my truck and 14000+ lb 5th I can usually summit most of our passes at or near the posted speed limit and then my speed on the decent WILL be lower than the speed limit. I'm glad I don't tow with a gasser anymore.

Have fun and be safe.
With my 20,000 pound V-10 Ford motorhome pulling a 5,000 pound Wrangler coming up Freemont Pass on 91 I was lucky to hit the top going 4 MPH. But I did it. Thought I might have to crank the Jeep and push. I never have any trouble hitting the speed limit on the down side.
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Old 04-10-2018, 06:43 PM   #33
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You need to understand the chart showing your horsepower. You will have the most power to climb the mountain at the peak horsepower and that is always at a higher RPM than peak torque. Of course I don't expect agreement from the torque fan crowd.

Now the idea of going down the mountain in the same gear you went up is somewhat out of date. With the power of recent engines, the gear required might be quite different.
Oh the old torque vs HP debate.

Maybe it depends on what brand tires you run...

Or whether you use Syn vs dino oil...
Syn us "better" so must improve performance...

need to modify the power equation to account for the emotions as well as the physics. [emoji12]

Sorry couldn't resist... the devil made me do it
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Old 04-10-2018, 06:53 PM   #34
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When driving in the mountains is it necessary to drop out of drive to a lower gear, if so when would you do it? and also while in the mountain and with no toad can i used my tow haul switch and allow it to choose the best gears to be in.
Do some research.....as you obviously do not understand how Tow/Haul works, or how to use it. It requires some operator input.

It will not 'choose' the best gears to be in.
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Old 04-10-2018, 07:57 PM   #35
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Do some research.....as you obviously do not understand how Tow/Haul works, or how to use it. It requires some operator input.

It will not 'choose' the best gears to be in.
I don’t know what you drive but some trucks do a good job of selecting the proper gear. The only input might be the driver using more accelerator or brake and then the truck follows thru changing gears as necessary. Of course without the driver using the foot pedals, the truck cannot know if it needs to increase or decrease speed. When using cruise control, the required speed is already known.
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Old 04-10-2018, 07:58 PM   #36
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Originally Posted by lynnmor View Post
You need to understand the chart showing your horsepower. You will have the most power to climb the mountain at the peak horsepower and that is always at a higher RPM than peak torque. Of course I don't expect agreement from the torque fan crowd.

Now the idea of going down the mountain in the same gear you went up is somewhat out of date. With the power of recent engines, the gear required might be quite different.
Haha. Charts are only helpful when you know what you're looking at.
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Old 04-10-2018, 08:02 PM   #37
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If you could just share your vast knowledge, instead of such gibberish, we minions could learn something.
My point is these debates are endless and most contributions are typically touting why their position / opinion is superior.
They are far from educational...
Mostly emotional opinions...and nobody changes their position as a result.

How many torque vs HP debates are necessary to learn from?

A far better discussion would be...
For any single MH combo engine whether gas or diesel and given trans gear ratio what would be an ideal operating range for hard pull hill climbs.

To talk generalities across different combos is pointless and to confuse gas and diesel in the same discussion is pointless as they are apples & oranges.

So not much worthwhile in the way of learning.

'Nuff said
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Old 04-10-2018, 08:15 PM   #38
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In the RV if the grade is really steep I go up with my foot to the floor. When I crest the summit I go down with the Jake turned on. Usually I don't need brakes on the way down. However, I don't drive 20mph under the speed limit on the flats either.

To summarize my Allison seems to pick the proper gear on its own.






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Old 04-10-2018, 09:44 PM   #39
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Watch your gauges, save your brakes. Your rig will tell you what to do. If you see smoke coming off around your tires, you need to change your ways and hope their is no fire.
Love these conversations, but I'm done now. Thank you.
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Old 04-10-2018, 10:04 PM   #40
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Originally Posted by rarebear.nm View Post
I agree with Edge (above). I have a RAM 3500 diesel with 6 speed auto and exhaust brake and Tow/Haul option. The 5th has disk brakes, makes a hughe difference on the down grades. Living and having grownup in the Southwest and rockies I do also have many years driving our mountains. As others have said, our rigs and loads are different, so what works well for one may or may not work equally for someone else.

I almost always use the tow/haul when I'm towing the 5th. Going up grades I'll usually let the truck decide what gear it wants. That has always worked well. At the top of the grade I'll slow down, engage the exhaust brake, downshift to a lower gear and proceed. My goal is to have an easy relaxing drive down with my speed under control at all times. I'll shift up or down as the grade changes. Frequently, I make it to the bottom with no or very little use of the service brakes. Keep in mind your job is get you, your passengers and rig down safely. If traffic builds up behind me, I'll pull over when and where there's a safe place to do so or slow down in a clear straight section of road and let them pass. My job is my rig and not someone else's time line. Always operate your rig within YOUR comfort zone.

I also was told to use the same gear going down as up, but experience has taught me to use one gear lower.

With my truck and 14000+ lb 5th I can usually summit most of our passes at or near the posted speed limit and then my speed on the decent WILL be lower than the speed limit. I'm glad I don't tow with a gasser anymore.

Have fun and be safe.


Well said. Savvy advice.
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Old 04-10-2018, 10:10 PM   #41
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Originally Posted by hohenwald48 View Post
With my 20,000 pound V-10 Ford motorhome pulling a 5,000 pound Wrangler coming up Freemont Pass on 91 I was lucky to hit the top going 4 MPH. But I did it. Thought I might have to crank the Jeep and push. I never have any trouble hitting the speed limit on the down side.

Yup, been there-done that. Which is why I have the set up I do now.
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Old 04-10-2018, 10:35 PM   #42
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If one says things like "...develops more torque than horsepower" they do not understand power charts perfectly, that is for certain. No disrespect intended, but would recommend you review definition of physics properties of Force and Power and rethink the problem.

I don’t need to review anything. There is no problem. It takes hp or torque to climb a hill. Gas engines produce more hp, diesel engines produce more torque. Having had both pulling heavy loads, I choose the diesel. Got tired of pulling long grades at 15 mph.
Different strokes for different folks.
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