Travel through Yosemite National Park
I'm planning on taking my 36' diesel pusher through the park next spring. I'll go straight through on Hwy 120 & notice that I'll hit 11,000 ft. The question I have is for someone who has travelled t...
Forum Discussion
thebunns....If you're just planning on driving through and not staying, I think I would go around. When you enter Yosemite from the west side, you either go into the Yosemite Valley which is always open, but does not go through to the east side, or you enter Yosemite and drive through Tuoleme (sp) Meadows to Hwy 395. As others stated, it depends on snow fall as to when the road opens. There will be a lot of windy roads, but we drive into Yosemite Valley every year at Thanksgiving with our 36' DP.
Here is what I like to do when climbing into the park from the west side. Once I start climbing and the road gets curvy, I drop down several gears, either into third or fourth and then leave it there. This prevents the coach from shifting/searching so much and losing power.
We drove down the Teton Pass by accident a few years ago and my wife went into the bedroom and prayed....I couldn't help but laugh. She didn't find it funny. My exhaust brake didn't do well and I was towing a 4500 pound truck. The truck had brakes, but you can't activate them like you would on a trailer. I did get my brakes hot, but I also learned something I never knew about the Allison transmission.
If you're using your exhaust brake and it isn't holding you back, the engine will keep increasing in rpm's and the Allison will eventually UPSHIFT. So even if you get all the way down to second gear and you're once again gaining speed, you can't stop the Allison from upshifting.
On the Teton grade, I brought the coach to a complete stop in a turn out to let the brakes cool. Once they cooled, I decided I would start out locked in first and see how far it would go before upshifting. To my surprise, the Allison will upshift out of 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th, but not 1st. I was slow, but I made it down without any issues. People will just have to wait.
Here is what I like to do when climbing into the park from the west side. Once I start climbing and the road gets curvy, I drop down several gears, either into third or fourth and then leave it there. This prevents the coach from shifting/searching so much and losing power.
We drove down the Teton Pass by accident a few years ago and my wife went into the bedroom and prayed....I couldn't help but laugh. She didn't find it funny. My exhaust brake didn't do well and I was towing a 4500 pound truck. The truck had brakes, but you can't activate them like you would on a trailer. I did get my brakes hot, but I also learned something I never knew about the Allison transmission.
If you're using your exhaust brake and it isn't holding you back, the engine will keep increasing in rpm's and the Allison will eventually UPSHIFT. So even if you get all the way down to second gear and you're once again gaining speed, you can't stop the Allison from upshifting.
On the Teton grade, I brought the coach to a complete stop in a turn out to let the brakes cool. Once they cooled, I decided I would start out locked in first and see how far it would go before upshifting. To my surprise, the Allison will upshift out of 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th, but not 1st. I was slow, but I made it down without any issues. People will just have to wait.
