Florida to Wyoming in my Class A

Lurker52 wrote:
I just made a trip from Florida to Wyoming in my 2001 Monaco Knight with a Cummins ISB 5.9 with 300 HP and an Allison 3000 transmission. I also am towing my 2011 Tuscan on a tow dolly. The trip was about 2300 miles. Traveling through FL. AL. MS. and MO. was pretty uneventful. I started across Nebraska from Omaha to North Platte and the rig ran fine.

After leaving North Platte west on I-80 toward Cheyenne the road started heading up hill. No big grades just a constant up hill run for like 200 miles and about 3000’ elevation gain. As the day went on and got hotter to over 90 degrees, I started running hot. Up around 200 degrees. I was getting nervous and pulled over to cool the rig down. I even called Cummins who said I would be fine as long as no warning bussers went off. That didn’t make me feel better.

I got to Cheyenne and was there for a coupe of days so I did some reading on this and other RV sites and learned that A LOT of people run at 200 or more. I still was hoping to get my temp down. My rig runs at about 185 on flat land. I even stopped and talked to a local diesel shop. Between my research and the diesel mechanic it sounded like clogged radiator fins. When I got back to my RV I crawled around under it found there was oil build up on the radiator. So after about 2 hours of hosing it down I got it pretty clean. I don’t think the 5 star resort I was at will ever notice the oil on the dirt patch they called a sight. ??

While waiting for DW to get a hair cut I noticed an RV just like mine in the Walmart parking lot. I knocked on the door and the owner was very nice and invited me in. I asked about his rig and how it preformed. He had a 315 HP motor. He said both are RVs are under powered. I think I have to agree.

The owner said he was leaving Cheyenne at night to make the grade near Laramie without overheating. He was pulling a Tahoe. I was not happy to hear this but I was not leaving at night.

I left Cheyenne about 9:00 A.M. for Rock springs the grade over to Laramie was no problem. But the other thing I learned and did was to keep my RPM at about 2200 and shift down when needed to keep them there. The rest of the day was fine. One looong grade before Rock springs the rig did get close to 200 but cooled down at the top.

My last day from Rock springs to Star Valley went fine except for a 2-3 mile 8% grade before Afton. The rig actually did OK. The temp did get up to about 200 and I was in 3rd gear before cresting the top.

I am now in Star Valley for a month before heading back to Florida. All down hill (haha) This was the first big trip with this RV. If my return trip is no more eventful than this one I will be happy.

So, a couple of things I’ve learned are, make sure the radiator is clean keep the RPM up to 22-2300 on long grades and use the shifter to keep them up and not wait for the trans to hunt for the gears and loose power in doing so.

I am interested in any advice you all may have or anything I can do to improve the ride on the way home.

Thanks, as always

JRscooby wrote:

westernrvparkowner wrote:
Should have left your contact information at that site where you hosed off the oil. I am sure the next occupants will want to send you a thank you note when they unknowingly track that oil into their rig. There are car and truck washes for a reason. But the self absorbed seldom see any reason beyond their own selfish ones.

Thank you. I'm not educated enough to give my thoughts on that, and stay in the "be nice" rule...

westernrvparkowner wrote:
Should have left your contact information at that site where you hosed off the oil. I am sure the next occupants will want to send you a thank you note when they unknowingly track that oil into their rig. There are car and truck washes for a reason. But the self absorbed seldom see any reason beyond their own selfish ones.