relic hunter wrote: My Bounder is an 05 36E (36 ft) and the problem I have is constant downshifting. If we are traveling on flat ground and get to where the road was raised enough to get over a local road, and running at 62 mph, it will downshift before you can get halfway up the grade. My wife says I need patience, I say I need help. Thanks
Are you using Cruise Control when this happens? I have found that without cruise control you yourself, with your foot on the throttle, can better control when the down shifts happen and when you do downshift, it is not as violent as it is when using cruise control, because the cruise wants to maintain that original speeed setting and will give the engine a full throttle until it gets back to that set speed. With your foot on the throttle, you are in control. Works for me, but others might have a different preference. Just a thought.
Othertonka
2004 Southwind 32VS
2002 CRV Toad
U. S. Gear Unified brake system
Retired Fire Captain, SFD
We have an 8.1 Workhorse in our 33' Damon Challenger towing a Hyundai Santa Fe & I agree 100% with othertonka. If I see hills coming up I slip out of cruise control & ease my foot into the gas & take charge of the coach until we're on level ground again. Works great, no jarring downshifts & no problems. Had to learn it the hard way though!!
Kelly & Al
2003 Damon Challenger, model 329 Chevy Workhorse 8.1 & Allison transmission. Towing '03 Hyundai Santa Fe 4 cyl 5 speed.
3 lovable doggy guys. Max, Checkers,& Cora..aka, Buddy Bear, Swamper, & Motormouse
To reply to hottubkid. No, I am not looking for a "hot rod". I had those when I was Young. And I also do not use cruise control in hilly terrain. But I am concerned that just going over the smallest rise, the coach will lose 5-6 mph . If I forget to take out the cruise, it will downshift after a 2 mph loss. This may be the best this engine will do but if it is, it is pathetic. Thanks for your replys.
What road speed are you trying to maintain? I drove a Ford V10 rig that would downshift much less if I ran a little faster. Like 60 vs. 55. If you're running close to where it already isn't sure which gear to be in, you'll get a lot of "hunting."
I had Brazel's RV reprogram, not re-chip, my 8.1 computer and also the 4.3 in my S10 toad. Last year, 9300+ miles on a trip to New England from California pulling the 4300# S10 ZR2 @ 56-58 mph and unless the overpass was exceptionally steep it stayed in cruise dropping 2-3 mph.
I don't have the mileage for the trip in front of me but there were many tanks over 8 mpg and most were high 7's. The added hp and torque are great.
Total mileage on the coach since Brazel's did the upgrade is about 14,000 and there hasn't been a hiccup yet. I would recommend them very highly.
I have a 30 foot Gulfstream and pull a 2008 wrangler I found that if I am going to climb a hill I take the unit out of overdrive and still leave it in cruise, unless the hill is really extensive this solved the problem of that hard shift which I say is actually caused be a double down shift, 1 out of overdrive and 2 out of high. This works for me and seams to help climb the hills and take some of the harshness out of the ride.
Go to IRV2.com and check out the WH forum under chassis. You will find a lot of info and even have a couple WH reps read and report on that forum. Brazel's helps to sponsor the forum.
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