Going down steep grades with a Class C
Newbie with question about driving a 27' Motor home down steep roads. Do you use your brakes a lot or do you shift your automatic transmission to a low gear to save the brakes. I think I know the a...
Forum Discussion
My understanding of the tow/haul mode on the Fords is that with it set to t/h and you decelerate the lockup clutch in the torque converter locks up completely, so it acts/feels like a stick shift, and when you tap the brake pedal, it downshifts one gear and on the six speed, it downshifts a second time if you again tap the brakes, but the converter stays locked up the entire time, so very little heat/wear is generated during all of this.
I went down a 10% grade the other day in my View (sprinter chassis) and I slowed while on the flat before the downgrade and downshifted into 4th and rather quickly into 3rd, and still had to use some brakes (it was a fairly short downgrade, but enough that there is a runaway ramp at the bottom of the 10% where is transitions to a 7% which ends in a traffic light).
Charles
I went down a 10% grade the other day in my View (sprinter chassis) and I slowed while on the flat before the downgrade and downshifted into 4th and rather quickly into 3rd, and still had to use some brakes (it was a fairly short downgrade, but enough that there is a runaway ramp at the bottom of the 10% where is transitions to a 7% which ends in a traffic light).
Charles
