Going down mountains.

[rick kirby]

Going to darlington SC Tuesday and it'll be my first time driving my 37' Challenger through there.
I know it's going to add the Pucker factor, and I'm going to be xtra careful, any tips from you veterans who've drove the mountains ?

[Techn0]

Use the tow mode and let the transmission do the work. You may get up to 4000-5000 RPM but that is normal going down hills, the Triton engine is made for it. If you start picking up too much speed, use your brakes in time periods to slow down. I have been through some pretty steep mountains (5-6 downgrade) towing my car and haven't had any issues. It's going up those hills that you need more patience... and of course your blinkers.

[SuperD]

Definitely use the tow/haul mode, tap the brake to downshift the transmission for engine braking. Don't let your speed build up to anything more than you are comfortable with, take your time. Do not ride the brakes! It's not that bad and actually fairly easy. You have a big vehicle and if you're going slower than everyone else it's ok!

[Bob Denman]

Thanks for this Most Useful bit of advice!
I hadn't even given a thought to what it would take, to keep this much weight in check!

[rick kirby]

I've gone through the mountains towing a 32' 5th wheel with my truck and it wasn't horrible. This just has me nervous because that v10 is going to be just a screaming. Something I'm not used to. Lol

[Travelin' Texans]

Unless it's a long flat stretch of highway I'd use tow/haul always especially if you're towing.

[Mike in AZ]

My first trip was from the Phoenix area up to Winslow, which entailed a climb from 1,000 ft elevation to 7,000 feet. And of course, what goes up, came back down three days later!

I had not done enough research beforehand, so I was taken by surprise on the way up when I hit one long descent. I had to ride the brakes, and didn't like that at all. So I turned on the Tow/Haul function.

Initially, I scared myself with the way the engine was behaving. So I looked up some threads here while at the CG and was prepared for the trip home (mostly downhill).

As previously mentioned, tap the brakes and the rig will downshift. DO NOT tap multiple times, as you may find it downshifting more than you'd want, faster than you'd want it to.

Once I got the hang of it, the trip was fine. Also as another poster said, don't worry if you're going slower than most traffic. It's your rig, you're in control.

On the way down, I was getting passed by traffic as expected, and even by some truckers and a couple of pickup/5th wheel rigs. But there was a Fed Ex trucker behind me who seemed to like my speed, as he followed for a long way until he turned off.

[JamieGeek]

Coming back from our recent trip I noticed something you can do while on those long rolling hills.

When going uphill the cruise control tends to wait until the speed drops too much before downshifting thus causing it to downshift too far in an effort to catch back up to the set point. (I note that most discussions here involve turning off the cruise in hilly areas because of this.) What I found was that just as the coach is entering the hill and speed begins to drop if you give it enough gas at that point to downshift a little("a little" = a gear) and then take your foot off the gas the cruise will tend to hold the speed in the new gear without all the drama of a further downshift (unless the hill is either too long or too steep). You do have to wait until the speed starts to decrease a little otherwise it will simply upshift again when you remove your foot from the gas.

I found using this method makes for a relatively stress free way to maintain speed on those long hills and still be able to carry on a conversation (and to continue to use cruise control).

[captmetal]

just drive slow, put it in 2nd gear manually, take your time, on long grade there are pull off's to stop at, ( don't block the emergency pull off's)

don't worry about all fools passing you by

leave flashers on if below 45mph

[Bob Denman]

Tapping the brakes will cause it to downshift?
That is a VERY useful piece of info!

[SuperD]

Originally Posted by Bob Denman

Tapping the brakes will cause it to downshift?
That is a VERY useful piece of info!

Yes, and you should be in the tow/haul mode.

[Whirnot]

An old truckers tip, go down the same speed you went up........

[rick kirby]

Originally Posted by Whirnot

An old truckers tip, go down the same speed you went up........

That's the plan. I'm in no hurry to get to the bottom.

[Blackjeepjk]

Originally Posted by Whirnot

An old truckers tip, go down the same speed you went up........

AGREED!
I was taught by an even older trucker and started on a 58' B model Mack with twin stick then eventually road-rangers. His deal for going down was 1 gear lower than the gear you went up and no shifting.
Of course, times were different with multiple gear sticks, clutches and even axles but even now with only one stick (auto trans) I lock it into whatever was the lowest gear going up when I'm going down.
Don't worry about what's behind you it's what is coming in front of you that matters. Most steep grades have courtesy pull offs for the trucks that need to travel that road. Don't worry, slow is expected in the mountains.

[SuperD]

Originally Posted by rick kirby

Going to darlington SC Tuesday and it'll be my first time driving my 37' Challenger through there.
I know it's going to add the Pucker factor, and I'm going to be xtra careful, any tips from you veterans who've drove the mountains ?

I assume you are going to the Southern 500. I lived in Florence for many years and attended many races at Darlington, super fun! I'm jealous, wish I could go. Hope you have s Great time there!!!

[rick kirby]

Originally Posted by SuperD

I assume you are going to the Southern 500. I lived in Florence for many years and attended many races at Darlington, super fun! I'm jealous, wish I could go. Hope you have s Great time there!!!

This will be our 10th time going to darlington, I remember when it was a March race, weather getting here was always bad.
Got the grandsons hooked on that place now.
It's a great time.
And thank you, if we don't have any issues with this rig I'll consider it a great time.

[16ACE27]

Originally Posted by captmetal

just drive slow, put it in 2nd gear manually, take your time, on long grade there are pull off's to stop at, ( don't block the emergency pull off's)

don't worry about all fools passing you by

leave flashers on if below 45mph

NO! Never drive with flashers on. Not only is it illegal in most states it removes your ability to use your turn signals and may delay your brake light indication to the driver behind you.

[Joe-FL]

Originally Posted by Tfryman

NO! Never drive with flashers on. Not only is it illegal in most states it removes your ability to use your turn signals and may delay your brake light indication to the driver behind you.

A couple years ago I would have been in the "never use your flashers" camp also. When pulling fivers with diesels I generally went up the grades at 60 and came down the same with exhaust braking taking over. With these V-10's it is a different animal.

We encountered a bunch of grades during our 4 months on the road this summer. There are many distracted drivers out there running up and down those grades at 80mph plus. Now here I come along with my struggling V-10 going up one at 40mph and without flashers on you could have some close calls. This is the only time I EVER use my flashers. As a retired Trooper I can assure you a large vehicle moving under 45mph on the interstate will never be ticketed for this.

[Bob Denman]

I agree...
Make sure that they see you first: worry about the legalities later...

[blw2]

Originally Posted by Tfryman

NO! Never drive with flashers on. Not only is it illegal in most states it removes your ability to use your turn signals and may delay your brake light indication to the driver behind you.

Yep, never use the flashers while rolling. It's dangerous.


My suggestion....pull out the Ford manual and read the section re. Tow/Haul
others have explained it well, but I think it a good idea to see first hand what Ford has to say about it.

My other suggestion.... something I learned a long time ago...
patience
As soon as I get behind the wheel of a truck or towing something, I have figured out to change my whole outlook. When in a car, sometimes it's natural (although not good) to get that in a rush feeling.... to drive maybe a bit faster than necessary...to keep up with traffic....etc.
But when driving the RV or towing or whatever I just naturally seem to call up more patience in my driving