Towing in the mountains with a gasser????
I recently upgraded from a pop up to a travel trailer that is 5000 pounds dry. Also got a new truck...2012 Toyota Tundra.
Today i towed through some pretty steep mountains. I locked out ovrrdrive so was generally in fourth and i had a full water tank.
On some steep hills on highway i had to downshift to third to stay above 60. The truckpulled great but reved pretty high. On some backroads i had to shift into second to stay above 45. Again it reved high into the 4500 rpm range.
My question...it certainly didnt sound good for the truck but i imagine its ok. The engine and trans temp were fine. Is this better than keeping it in the higher gear?
What would cause greater wear and heat for tranny higher or lower gear in this instance?
The engine was starting to struggle in the higher gear but really screaming in the lower.
I suspect from the posts i have read that the lower gear and higher rpm is fine and probably better than struggling in a higher gear but it certainly didnt sound good
Today i towed through some pretty steep mountains. I locked out ovrrdrive so was generally in fourth and i had a full water tank.
On some steep hills on highway i had to downshift to third to stay above 60. The truckpulled great but reved pretty high. On some backroads i had to shift into second to stay above 45. Again it reved high into the 4500 rpm range.
My question...it certainly didnt sound good for the truck but i imagine its ok. The engine and trans temp were fine. Is this better than keeping it in the higher gear?
What would cause greater wear and heat for tranny higher or lower gear in this instance?
The engine was starting to struggle in the higher gear but really screaming in the lower.
I suspect from the posts i have read that the lower gear and higher rpm is fine and probably better than struggling in a higher gear but it certainly didnt sound good
