First Time Buyer...Updated 03/06/2006
This post is intended to be helpful to the first time buyer of a motor home. For those of you who don't fall into that category or believe this post is incomplete or off the mark, do us all a favor, a...
Forum Discussion
wickedinns wrote:
To: AZGl1500: We are newbies and are planning on towing. We have a book describing how to use the transmission but do you have advice for us that may be better or a little more helpful???? Sometimes words from the wise is so much more useful....Thanks very much....
Wanda:)
You probably have all you really need to know if you've been doing your due diligence.
IMO, the #1 thing to keep in mind is don't start down the grade at a speed faster than the minimum speed you will be needing to slow to.
For most of my TT/heavy loads I head down hill at 55 mph, or if the advisory sign mentions a lower speed, I slow to that speed and make sure the OD is 'off', and if necessary down shift to 2nd gear. It would be a rare hill to require 1st gear, but if that is what is needed, then I downshift to 1st gear.
My truck has an extremely tight, upgraded torque converter (97%) and even w/o a Jake/Exhaust brake, I experience very effective engine braking and don't often need to do more than just touch the foot brake occasionally.
An exhaust brake would be a nice touch, but not worth the expense for the rare times it would be appreciated.
I just redid my rear brakes and drums. I prepurchased the drums, but when the old ones were pulled off, there was not enough wear to warrant replacing them. I did anyway, #1 son only gets to work on my truck about every two years. So I called it preventive maintenance and went on. The truck has 136,000 miles currently with the OEM rear brakes on it at the time. Everything is shiny new now, front and back.
