towin advice/hwy 20/up/down mtns

[dvieira]

towin advice/Hwy 20/up/down mtns/Willits-Ft Bragg

hello...



sunday i'll be leaving to tow my 5th wheel to Caspar Beach, south of Ft Bragg, but the issue is from Willits to Ft Bragg, there's about 33 miles of up/down twisting 2 lane road, Hwy 20, here's what i have for my truck:

DTT 91% tc/vb, with the 2nd gear overdrive, i also have to mystery switch,

[ i know have to buy their box], but do i drive this road in 3rd with od off,

or do i drive it in 2nd gear or in 2nd/od, total wt truck trailer is 17,000lbs,

4 yrs ago i drove with same truck/trailer/stock transmission and overheat my tq real bad, made a well worth while trip to Abbotsford for above setup after.

so anybody have any suggestions to how i would drive over this dang road without destroying my transmission... ... ... ... ... .....



thank you



dave

 

[jandtjil]

Without 1st hand experience with a DTT trans.

I would recommend the 3rd w OD lock-out.

Let it shift as it wants/needs.

If that is the section of road I am thinking of, good luck.

I got a headache driving that section. very windy/narrow.



JJ

 

[dcamilleri]

I used to live in Willits and used to drive that road on occassion, sometimes with lights and siren rolling code 3(still can't go much faster), just be thankfull that you are'nt pulling some of the passes where I live in Wyoming cause you really wouldn't like these! Try to keep your torque converter locked as much as possible to keep heat in check. Good luck.

 

[Cryppie]

If you are at 17K GCWR (both truck and trailer), you shouldn't have any problems at all. My old truck was a '99, had a complete DTT trans, and pulled my 12K (dry wt) 5er over the pass from Reno toward Barstow (can't remember the name, but it SUCK'D), no problems whatsoever (I was over 13K on that trip). Do keep it in 3rd (no OD) in the hills, keep the RPMs up and drop to 2nd if you need to. My general rule was below 1600 was lugging both the engine and trans, but I could usually keep it in 3rd with the revs up. If you have a trans temp gauge, just keep an eye on it, one eye on EGT's, and two more on the road :-laf