Traveling through the Appalachian Mountains
What is the best route to tow a Wildwood Extra Lite, 27' from Myrtle Beach to Ohio? I do not want to travel Rt77 through W Virginia. We are somewhat newbies (1 1/2 yrs) but have traveled a lot in ups...
Forum Discussion
I agree it depends on where in Ohio you want to go. I-77 through WV isn’t bad at all. We even jump off onto US 33 at Ripley, WV for the trip to Columbus. The steepest grades are in the 6-7% range. Perhaps the only thing to fear is fear itself, not to coin an expression.
Knowing nothing about the details of either the OP’s setup or experiences with it in the mountains, but having lived in, near, or along them my entire life, with family on both sides, and having dragged my own 21 foot TT back and forth often, leads me to wonder if perhaps, just maybe, the problem might be a wee bit more trailer than truck. To be sure, there are some steep and twisty roads in the Appalachians, but the Interstates I’ve used there keep the grades down to 6-7%. Grades of any steepness do stretch the truck and it’s where “too much TT, too little TV” first bites you. To not use I-77 through WV, you either have to cross clear over to I-75 in the south or stay East into Pennsylvania then take I-70 west, but even then, there are mountains to cross.
There are mountains in both Kentucky and Tennessee, as well as West Virginia and Pennsylvania. While it’s true WV is probably the worst of them, they will all challenge your rig. I am not familiar with the southern route, but both I-64 to I-77 and I-81 or I-95 to I-70 will send you up and down. The last of those is the flatter, but both longer and takes you through the traffic hell of DC/eastern PA.
The OP’s Nissan surely has 6 or 8 years in the transmission and I would strongly urge them to make full use of them by manually downshifting when on a grade. The engine can take a lot of load off the brakes as well as pull much better in those lower gears. The program by which the automatic transmission selects gears is strongly biased to save gas, not to drag heavy loads around. Thus over riding that program is essential when crossing mountains heavily loaded. Though I don’t know the OP, I have observed that inexperienced folks tend to not know about downshifting and/or eschew it thinking high revs from the engine are bad, or cringing when the engine feels like it is screaming.
My own TV has 6 gears, and I have found both second and third gears the most useful gears in the mountains. And that’s with a Diesel engine with a 5,000 rpm redline. Second gear and 40 mph gets me over both up and down 15% grades when towing. Third gear and 65 mph takes me up and down I-77 with only rare touches on the brakes as well as keeping up with traffic.
Knowing nothing about the details of either the OP’s setup or experiences with it in the mountains, but having lived in, near, or along them my entire life, with family on both sides, and having dragged my own 21 foot TT back and forth often, leads me to wonder if perhaps, just maybe, the problem might be a wee bit more trailer than truck. To be sure, there are some steep and twisty roads in the Appalachians, but the Interstates I’ve used there keep the grades down to 6-7%. Grades of any steepness do stretch the truck and it’s where “too much TT, too little TV” first bites you. To not use I-77 through WV, you either have to cross clear over to I-75 in the south or stay East into Pennsylvania then take I-70 west, but even then, there are mountains to cross.
There are mountains in both Kentucky and Tennessee, as well as West Virginia and Pennsylvania. While it’s true WV is probably the worst of them, they will all challenge your rig. I am not familiar with the southern route, but both I-64 to I-77 and I-81 or I-95 to I-70 will send you up and down. The last of those is the flatter, but both longer and takes you through the traffic hell of DC/eastern PA.
The OP’s Nissan surely has 6 or 8 years in the transmission and I would strongly urge them to make full use of them by manually downshifting when on a grade. The engine can take a lot of load off the brakes as well as pull much better in those lower gears. The program by which the automatic transmission selects gears is strongly biased to save gas, not to drag heavy loads around. Thus over riding that program is essential when crossing mountains heavily loaded. Though I don’t know the OP, I have observed that inexperienced folks tend to not know about downshifting and/or eschew it thinking high revs from the engine are bad, or cringing when the engine feels like it is screaming.
My own TV has 6 gears, and I have found both second and third gears the most useful gears in the mountains. And that’s with a Diesel engine with a 5,000 rpm redline. Second gear and 40 mph gets me over both up and down 15% grades when towing. Third gear and 65 mph takes me up and down I-77 with only rare touches on the brakes as well as keeping up with traffic.
