jw9927
Green Cove Springs, Fl
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Joined: 06/11/2008
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hello, i just bought my first motor home and am a little confused. you see i pulled a fifth wheel with a diesel truck and going through the mountains the truck never picked up speed on the way down and i pulled in overdrive. no it never hunted for a gear either. now the motor home is a 01 Chevy p30 chassis 454 gas. i find it does pick up speed doing down overpasses. my question is when going through the mountains i will be in direct drive not overdrive. will this be ok? should i put it in 2 on the way down? will be going from Florida to Michigan on 95 to 77 to 75....any suggestions? thank you
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Clay L
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
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Joined: 07/01/2002
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This came from the owners manual on my last motor home. It was a 1996 model with a P30 chassis.
" When Using Transmission to Brake.
Maximum Speed in First Gear is 30 MPH.
Maximum Speed in Second Gear is 40 MPH. "
The trick is to allow the transmission to supply the braking. If you have to keep hitting the brakes you need to drop down a gear.
Clay (WA5NMR), Lee,(Wife) Codi, Brandi (Shelties) and Damncat (damn cat)
Full Timing in a 2004 Winnebago Sightseer 35N, Workhorse chassis, Honda Accord toad
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jw9927
Green Cove Springs, Fl
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ok now when using the brakes then i will do a stabing of the brakes to pull the speed down....this way they will cool down correct...
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ejforwood
Littleton (Denver) Colorado
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Joined: 04/26/2006
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I have driven 75 from Ohio to Florida many times and don't remember any grades that should give you much of a problem.
I now live in Colorado. Come out here if you want some mountain fun!
Jerry, Dottie & Chan, "the little furry one"
98 Bounder 34V, 99 F-53 Ford V10 chassis
06 Saturn VUE 4I
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Deen
Vancouver, WA
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Joined: 12/07/2000
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jw9927 wrote:ok now when using the brakes then i will do a stabing of the brakes to pull the speed down....this way they will cool down correct... Yes, "stab" the brakes fairly hard, then get off them to let them cool. If you have to do it very often then you're in too high a gear.
Deen - Vancouver, WA
'02 Dutch Star 4090 (41+', triple slide)
435/1200 ISC Cummins/Banks PowerPak
'08 Honda Civic/dolly
'05 Honda Odyssey/dolly
NRA Benefactor Life Member
FMCA f47302s, Life Member: Good Sam,
Newmar DP Owners Group
51st yr of RV'ing
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bsinmich
Holland, MI
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Joined: 11/18/2000
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Between Jellico and Knoxville on I-75 there is a pretty good grade but that is the worst on the trip from Mi. to Fl. The reason you are doing the downshifting is torque. A gas engine just doesn't have the torque of a diesel. We had a 454 prior to the current 8.1 and loved both.
2003 Newmar Mountain Aire, Workhorse W22, & 2002 PT Cruiser w/Remco lube pump, Falcon 5250, & US Gear Unified Tow Brake
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jw9927
Green Cove Springs, Fl
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yes i have driven 75 many times but it gets boring so we wanted to do the 95 north to 77 then pick up 75 in ohio. i know the spot that your talking about and we regularly stop there in jellico for dinner. do you think i should stay on the 75 route then? i know the wife will be able to handle the rig on familiar roads..
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thgoodman
Emery, SD
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Joined: 06/26/2006
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JW, you may want to have a look at the Mountain Directory books that tell you where the steep grades are, how long they are, how steep (%) they are, whether the road is two lane, three lane, or four lane, if there are escape ramps, switchbacks, sharp curves, speed limits, etc. With this information, one can know ahead of time what a pass is like and make an informed decision about whether to go over or around.
Tom & Jan
Fulltimers since April '06 with 3 fur kids (George - mini Aussie, Archie - mini Poodle, Kitty - 20 yo blind cat)
1991 Beaver Contessa towing 2006 Subaru (4 down)
Started workamping Sept '07 - This isn't too bad. Think we'll do it some more.
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chuck4788
West of the Middle
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Joined: 05/10/2006
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Also remember to use at least as low a gear descending a hill as you would to climb the same grade. If you are using the service brakes too much you need to reduce speed and shift to a lower gear. I use the posted descent speed for trucks to begin all down hills. The problem is long descents with curves; just remember that you can only go down a hill too fast once but many times too slow.
Chuck
02 Beaver
505hp C12 Cat
Trailblazer toad
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lzasitko
Regina, SK Canada
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Joined: 11/30/2005
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I had a pretty good scare last year. We drove out to Victoria and on the way out went the south route (southern BC) Steep climes and steep descents. Not to many problems on the way out. On the way back we were going the Hope/Princeton route. Lots of switchbacks and steep downhill grades. Not sure how many miles the downhill section is before Princeton but seemed to go on forever. Even in 1st gear it would pick up speed. Followed what everyone said to do, use brakes as little as possible and use engine/transmission braking. I made it all the way down to about 2 km before Princeton and very little brakes left. Managed to pull into a pubs parking lot and sat there for an hour letting the brakes cool down. When I got out the rear discs were smoking a bit and you could really feel the heat. Pulled out of the parking lot and could not stop at stop sign, pumping like mad I got it slowed to a crawl and got into Princeton. even moving slowly and pumping I could get stopped. After Princeton we had about an hours drive to where we were going to stop for a few days. By the time we got there brakes were back. Took it really slow the next day but everything was back to normal or so I thought. Turns out that the piston seal on the one side was broken and leaking a bit. By the time we go back home the rear brakes on one side were done. I bought a 12 ton hydraulic/pneumatic jack and took the rear brakes all apart. Changed rear axle seals and disc and caliper on the one side, other side was fine but changed the pads and also checked and changed front pads.
I will think twice about going that way again, going number 1 has grades but not as steep as the south route.
Make sure your brakes are really good. Other thing to check is where the brake fluid reservoir is. Mine is really difficult to get at from the top. It is under the floor on the drivers side. Can get at it from below easier but can't see so have to do everything by feel. From top you have to be a contortionist to fill it. May look into cutting a hole in the floor to make it easier to get at.
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