Hill Climbing on Dirt Road
Hi Everyone, I need help deciding to climb a hill or not. I have found a great location for dry camping but have concerns about getting there. The road is a dirt road which I don't mind when it is ...
Forum Discussion
I got rooked into camping at a high mountain lake a couple weeks ago. By rooked I mean that we didn't realized that we had to go up 10 miles of really steep and winding logging road to get to it.
Our trailer weighs about 14,000 pounds. Its 40 feet long. I'm pulling it with a SRW F350 truck.
I pulled it up the hill in 2WD because if the traction is good it puts a lot of strain on the drivetrain in 4WD when turning.
Some of the hills were very steep and were covered with stutter bumps. I was worried that I would spin out due to axle hop, but I didn't. It was dry, so that helped and the road didn't have much gravel on it. Not sure how I would have approached it if it was wet.
Not sure what I would have done if I spun out. There was no way to turn around. I would have had to back down and take another run.
I was fairly certain I could make it up. Luckily I had to go up once before taking the trailer up and I knew what it looked like. In spite of being confident we could make it, I was apprehensive. It was very rough with potholes. The first section was broken pavement. The second section was dirt. The dirt turned out to be better than the pavement.
I came down in 2 high as well. Inched was more like it. Max speed was 20 ish MPH, dictated by the steepness and the turns. My truck doesn't do a lot of exhaust braking at those speeds. I was wishing I had some way to do 2wd Lo so that more exhaust braking could be employed.
I had to use a lot of wheel braking to keep the rig under control. Luckily I put hydraulic disks on my trailer. They worked great. But I could smell brakes on both the truck and trailer when I got to the bottom.
Our trailer weighs about 14,000 pounds. Its 40 feet long. I'm pulling it with a SRW F350 truck.
I pulled it up the hill in 2WD because if the traction is good it puts a lot of strain on the drivetrain in 4WD when turning.
Some of the hills were very steep and were covered with stutter bumps. I was worried that I would spin out due to axle hop, but I didn't. It was dry, so that helped and the road didn't have much gravel on it. Not sure how I would have approached it if it was wet.
Not sure what I would have done if I spun out. There was no way to turn around. I would have had to back down and take another run.
I was fairly certain I could make it up. Luckily I had to go up once before taking the trailer up and I knew what it looked like. In spite of being confident we could make it, I was apprehensive. It was very rough with potholes. The first section was broken pavement. The second section was dirt. The dirt turned out to be better than the pavement.
I came down in 2 high as well. Inched was more like it. Max speed was 20 ish MPH, dictated by the steepness and the turns. My truck doesn't do a lot of exhaust braking at those speeds. I was wishing I had some way to do 2wd Lo so that more exhaust braking could be employed.
I had to use a lot of wheel braking to keep the rig under control. Luckily I put hydraulic disks on my trailer. They worked great. But I could smell brakes on both the truck and trailer when I got to the bottom.
