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SleepyBadger's avatar
SleepyBadger
Explorer
Jul 10, 2017

First mountain coming up

Will be hittin g the Bighorns soon and am still a bit confused about gears. I'm in a class c gas and it has a way to shift into m1 to m6. Owner said to keep it around 2500 rpm. So going uphill do I shift down from m6 to a lower gear m5/4/3/2/1 and the reverse it going downhill (shift up to 2/3/4/5/6)? Sorry, been manual transmission in a car my whole life.


Will be going eastbound on 16 through the Bighorns.


Thanks
  • Mandalay_Parr's avatar
    Mandalay_Parr
    Explorer
    Jul 10, 2017
    Manually shift down to maintain rpm just like a stick.
    Same for going down. Let the engine/tranny do the work and don't ride the service brakes.
    You can shift your automatic transmission just as you would a stick.
    I do it all the time even on my car. My brakes last for a very long time and never any tranny problems.
  • donn0128's avatar
    donn0128
    Explorer II
    Jul 10, 2017
    What chassis and drive train?
    Generally speaking, manually shift the transmission to maintain speed at the 2500 RPM number you were told. Going down hills the general truckers rule is go down in the same geat you used going up. DO NOT ride the brakes going down. If you do you will find yourself with no brakes. Instead, brake hard to bring yourself to 10-15 MPH below your desired speed, get off the brakes and let it coast using engine compression braking to help hold speed. Once you get above the posted speed, brake hard again. Repeat as necessary.

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