Mountain driving with an RV behind

[JGilbert]

Okay, guys. I've been through mountains in many states towing my 39 ft rv many times with various Fords through the years. Some of those mountains have caused me to seriously pucker up. Some I've smelled the brakes before getting to the bottom.

Fast forward to present day... ... .

I now have a 2008 Dodge 5500 with 11 ft CM hauler bed that has an EZ Floater air ride hitch installed. This Dodge has an exhaust brake installed. I plan to take my RV to mountainous territory in the next few months. My question is this, what is the procedure for going down the mountain with my truck. My EB is always on, but since I've never experienced it or my truck going down a mountain with the RV behind me, I need some serious help.

Do I down shift? Leave it in auto? turn on tow/haul? lock out 5th?

Joe

 

[Hoefler]

I went over the Big Horn and the Teton last Sept with my 39' 5er in tow. Coming down on the Big Horn, I shifted to 3rd and stayed there. Exhaust brake worked very well and I never touched the service brakes. I maintained a speed of 35mph all the way down.

 

[Grizzly]

Adding to what Hoefler said, just go slow and feel your way down the hills and get used to the exhaust brake.



I still use the old rule of thumb, go down the hill in the same gear you went up the hill.

Even though I now have a PacBrake.



george

 

[CStringer]

one nice thing you'll learn as well is that when in tow/haul, if you(or the truck as well) drop the rpms below 2000, it will auto downshift to the next gear... nice to know if you start picking up speed... quick jab of the brakes to bring the rpm down will get you alot more braking hp due to the downshift

hope that made sense

 

[SNGLESHOT]

JGILBERT:
You will LOVE the automatic with the EB! Like the guys have said above already so I wont repeat. HOWEVER... The only caveat I would offer is... Use great caution using the EB in inclement weather! That sucker can cause your rear end to break loose on wet or snowy road surfaces really quick. I found that out on wet leaves... on a mountain curve here is West PA. . ... . had skid marks in my shorts really quick:-laf. I was lucky and pulled it out ok but if someone had been coming in the opposite direction... NO... I don't even want to think about that one cause I had to take the whole road to get rig and trailer going straight again. Good luck and enjoy your rig!

 

[HBarlow]

Use the tow/haul mode for normal interstate highway descent. If it is a very steep grade or you want to keep the speed down even lower, shift down to fourth/direct by pressing the button in the end of the shift handle one more time or, for extremely low speeds manually downshift to third gear but leave it in tow/haul mode.

As others warned, beware of extreme braking by the exhaust brake function breaking the rear wheels loose on slick surfaces.

 

[CStringer]

As they said, be careful with eb in bad weather. BUT, if u talk to any otr driver, the way they make it down steep grades in snow, is run the right gear and jake'ing down. It's a catch 22. If uou know what/ how your trck will react, do it. If in doubt, pull over. And wait out the storm inthe camper.

 

[jelag]

We've found that you can tow, or haul from 14K-16K lbs without the use of the service brake and go up to 18K if your careful using the exhaust brake and keeping the truck in the correct gear...

The exhaust brake is most effective when the rpm of the engine is close to 1900-2100 rpm... for the exhaust brake to be really effective on the auto you need to be in tow/haul... and like Harvey said... you might need to down shift, but the late model trucks have really good programing in the auto where you might find that it down shifts when it needs too... our 08 5500 does this very well with a full load and towing... .

We do not run the exhaust brake when we assume there will be ice on the road. . instead we take these hills very slowly sometimes 15-20 mph below posted speed limits... nothing is worse than to be in a tight turn, in the shade and find ice in part of the turn... . an accident waiting to happen... so on these roads we're really careful, other wise it's exhaust brake on all the time... .

We run these brakes on 100% of the time so when we're slowing to leave a freeway or in town at lights we run them to slow us down... our 04 pulling a 20K lb work trailer went 160K miles before the first brake job... .

Hope this helps. .

 

[JGilbert]

I still use the old rule of thumb, go down the hill in the same gear you went up the hill.

Even though I now have a PacBrake.



george

I hear people say that a lot, but if I'm driving an automatic, what does that mean for me?



Joe

 

[HBarlow]

The advice is not as important in a truck with automatic transmission because downshifting requires no more skill or effort than simply pressing a button in the end of the shifter or pulling the lever down a notch but the principle still applies.

If ascending a particular grade requires your truck to be in fourth direct (OD locked out) or even third gear it is safe to assume it will require the same gear to hold speed to descend the grade safely. The advice stated plainly means simply leave the transmission in the same gear you used to climb the grade as you start down the other side to avoid panic driven downshifts or panic braking.

The old advice was much more important to the driver of a big truck with 80,000 lbs. behind him and a manual ten speed transmision because downshifting the transmission of a big truck requires considerable more skill to avoid missing the shift and careening down a steep grade in neutral out of control.

 

[JGilbert]

Thanks Harvey, that makes sense. I'm always cautious when descending mountains, but having the EB will make for a much smoother descent I'm thinking. I'll be glad to be rid of the white knuckle rides.



Joe

 

[HBarlow]

Joe,

Once you descend your first really steep grade with your new Dodge and heavy fiver you'll be even happier with your purchase than you are already. You can descend the steepest grades on American highways with your exhaust brake engaged and in any gear of the Aisin down to second gear selected without ever needing to touch your service brake.

You can look out the windows and enjoy the mountain scenery or select another tune on the Sirius as you make controlled descents without giving the grade a serious thought. Well, not on snow or ice as the original question but you certainly can on dry pavement.

 

[JGilbert]

Oh man, I'm ready to go now.



However, we are making our way to the Rio Grand Valley right now to get out of this cold weather. We are in Victoria, TX for the next couple of nights and then will spend a week or so in the valley.



Joe

 

[DonTX]

Where in the Valley? Stop by and say hi if you get a chance!

 

[JGilbert]

Hey Don,



We are set up in Mission, TX at the Bentsen Palms Village RV Resort and will be leaving Wednesday morning. I have an 8:30 appt at Payne Dodge in the morning to get the tires rotated and balanced, alignment done, and oil changed. I'm also going to have that TSB about the knocking noise at low speeds looked at. It does indeed sound like 2x4's hitting each other.



Joe

 

[MrLuckey]

I'm also going to have that TSB about the knocking noise at low speeds looked at. It does indeed sound like 2x4's hitting each other.

Joe

- if you don't know the folks at the dealership, make sure to tell them not to use screws or nails, only a good chemical resistant glue and 2 x 4 brackets will suffice

Ok - last post of the night, I'm just getting silly now Oo.

 

[JGilbert]

The folks at Payne Dodge in the valley were not able to do the TSB on the shocks. They did n't haveany in stock. They could order the shocks, but could not give me a day for sure that they would be in. So, I will be getting the TSB taken care of elsewhere. perhaps San Antonio or Tucson. I'm thinking Tucson since we will be there for all of February and March.



Joe

 

[WStephens]

Adding to what Hoefler said, just go slow and feel your way down the hills and get used to the exhaust brake.



I still use the old rule of thumb, go down the hill in the same gear you went up the hill.

Even though I now have a PacBrake.



george

I thought that would work for me in Colorado on I 70 6th pulled the trailer just fine up the hills so I though that 5th would hold me back going down when I came out of the tunnel and the truck and trailer went to 80 mph right now. I now drop to 4th or lower and plan to get an exhaust brake before I take another trailer west again. I have been driving in the Rockies for years and this truck is the first one that breaths this well and so never experienced a run away before.

 

[Matt42]

I thought that would work for me in Colorado on I 70 6th pulled the trailer just fine up the hills so I though that 5th would hold me back going down when I came out of the tunnel and the truck and trailer went to 80 mph right now. I now drop to 4th or lower and plan to get an exhaust brake before I take another trailer west again. I have been driving in the Rockies for years and this truck is the first one that breaths this well and so never experienced a run away before.

For my work truck, I used to haul an equipment trailer with a 1998 Chevy 6. 5 diesel and 5 speed. The GCVW was about 16K. I never, ever, not even once needed an exhaust brake on downgrades because there was so much internal friction in that engine that downshifting worked fine. Because it was so massively unreliable (oh, the stories I could tell . . . ) we replaced it with a 2004. 5 Dodge 6 speed. The 'pucker factor' went up dramatically on downgrades in the American Outback because it was so free-breathing. (We also went from 7 mpg to 11 mpg. ) So we installed a Jacobs exhaust brake. It is WONDERFUL. We now haul a GCVW of 21K, still getting 11 mpg, and can actually slow down on downgrades by judicious gear selection.

With that experience, I had Fred Swanson hereabouts put a PacBrake on my own truck, and we just coasted down Wolf Creek Pass last time, chatting and enjoying the scenery.

Experiment with the gears. You are going to love the exhaust brake!