Dallas to Angel Fire, NM - Enough Power?

[High Road Travelers]

Originally Posted by Betr2Trvl

As I said in the above post, I’m hesitant to get involved in these discussions, because without a real dialog, and having an idea of how much someone understands, I’m concerned I’ll overlook something.....


Tow Haul, imperative that you use it, and understand how it functions. At a given speed, if you apply the brakes at some point the tranny with downshift. You need to get a feel for that..... how much brake to get it to downshift, and how much downshifting you need for a given target speed. Again, this is a time to be more aggressive with your actions.

You also need to understand that TH will not let the engine over rev, so while that is a good thing, it’s also a bad thing. Because, the revs rise as you pick up speed, and if you get the shift point, it will shift, revs will quick drop and you’ll immediately start picking up speed, likely at the point you don’t want to go faster. So you need to get a feel for that, and stay ahead of the shift point as you go down grade by applying the brakes hard, and quickly slow down back to your target speed and then get off the brakes ASAP, all before the tranny shifts. If you manually put it in a gear, it will not automatically upshift.

Regards

Betr2Trvl, your posts have been extremely helpful information. I have printed them and highlighted parts and will take this with me on my big trip to CO this summer. Thanks for the detail and clarity; just what us beginning mountain drivers of gas motorhomes need to know.
My one question is; do you think on a long steep downgrade it is better to start off manually in 1st or 2nd gear, or put it in drive and use the brake to force a downshift when needed?
Thanks very much,

[Waiter21]

do you think on a long steep downgrade it is better to start off manually in 1st or 2nd gear, or put it in drive and use the brake to force a downshift when needed?

RPMs is my friend. I need them to produce power. I don't want the transmission automatically up-shifting and losing power just when I'm making progress. This isn't exact, but to give you an idea of how rpm effects power: at full throttle, my V10 will produce twice as much power at 4000 rpm as it does at 2000 rpm.

When on long steep inclines, I manually downshift to a gear and slow to a speed that I can hold 3500 - 4000 rpm.

I do the same when descending steep inclines. I slow to a speed and manually downshift to a gear / speed that will hold 3500 - 4000 rpm. I call this my target speed. If I'm slowly creeping up in speed, maybe 5 - 10 mph in 15 - 30 seconds, I'll do moderate to hard braking to slow back down to my target speed. If I'm building up speed to fast, I'll slow down further to a lower target speed and downshift to a lower gear. Make sure to check the rear view mirrors for people following to closely before you do this sudden braking. DO NOT RIDE THE BRAKE.

[High Road Travelers]

Originally Posted by Waiter21

RPMs is my friend. I need them to produce power. I don't want the transmission automatically up-shifting and losing power just when I'm making progress. This isn't exact, but to give you an idea of how rpm effects power: at full throttle, my V10 will produce twice as much power at 4000 rpm as it does at 2000 rpm.

When on long steep inclines, I manually downshift to a gear and slow to a speed that I can hold 3500 - 4000 rpm.

I do the same when descending steep inclines. I slow to a speed and manually downshift to a gear / speed that will hold 3500 - 4000 rpm..

Thanks Waiter21 and Betr2Trvl. I think I have a good understanding of the "ups and downs" of mountain driving now.
Thanks,

[Betr2Trvl]

Originally Posted by wog099

Betr2Trvl, your posts have been extremely helpful information. I have printed them and highlighted parts and will take this with me on my big trip to CO this summer. Thanks for the detail and clarity; just what us beginning mountain drivers of gas motorhomes need to know.
My one question is; do you think on a long steep downgrade it is better to start off manually in 1st or 2nd gear, or put it in drive and use the brake to force a downshift when needed?
Thanks very much,

Re downshifting. It’s pretty easy to just keep it in tow haul and use the brakes to get it to downshift, even to 2nd. You’ll get a feel for it.

To get down into first, it seems a bit finicky as to just how much brake and how slow you have to be to get the final shift into 1st. It’s at that point I decide if it’s time to just drop it into 1st manually. So in that case, you should have a feel for how slow you want to be when you decide to manually shift it so that you don’t jolt the drive train as much. But it’s a smoother shift when it does so automatically, so that’s usually what I am trying to do.

Ive found its really not too often you’ll need to get to 1st to control your decent speed, (think about it, we’re talking your target decent speed is somewhere between 15 and 30 or 35mph..... ) and even then it’s usually not for very long given varying degrees of incline on any decent; obviously the longer a decent is, usually the more variation in grade, just the way it works out, and you’ll want to bump up to 2nd or even 3rd one way or the other somewhere along the way. On the other hand, US89 eastbound into Garden City was pretty much 1st gear almost the entire decent.

Regards, and be safe. Understanding your rig and how it handles and how to drive it effectively is so very important, even more so on significant grades. Try things out along the way too; get a feel for the drive train on moderate grades controlling your decent speed so it becomes an incremental transition in the real mountains. Even on a flat road, that maybe you wouldn’t normally be in tow haul, try it in TH and pay attention while you are braking when coming to a full stop in TH to help you get a feel for the lower speed shift points / speeds and braking effort for downshifting.

[PanJH]

Originally Posted by Waiter21

My ole 1999 F53 with the 275hp V10, 4 speed tranny, and towing a toad makes the trip no problem..

I'm not running up and down at the speed limit. I manually force a downshift and hold lower gears and high RPMs for both climbing up and for the additional braking going down.

The best test for me is US-82 between Alamogordo and Cloudcroft. No problems going up or down.

My favorite warning sign they have these posted 60 miles away along US-82.

We also used to have a 1999 V-10 Pace Arrow Vision 36b and pulled a toad. Had no problems getting to Angel Fire.