Battle of the heavy weights

Hannibal wrote:


Any truck that can't pull a grade WOT without overheating anything needs to go back to the drawing board. Every truck I've owned over the past 25 years has seen extended WOT without any ill affects. Way back in '84, my Isuzu P'up diesel saw high rpm WOT from Virginia to Sarasota towing a box U-Haul trailer. Not even a hint of trouble. Your fear of using a truck's full potential isn't an engine weakness. Those trucks are fine. If not, they're flawed.

Driving with the diesel pedal to the floor a lot more than gas power vehicles is one of the first things a new diesel vehicle owner has to get use to.

Years ago I drove a 350 Detroit 8V71 with a 13 speed road ranger tranny. It was against the governor at 2100, drop to 1800 and you down shifted down a gear and back against the governor.

With my 2001.5 Dodge/Cummins on hills like and including the Davis Dam hill(which I have pulled a couple times), I have to come out of overdrive, at which point it is as much pedal needed to maintain the engine in or above the torque sweet spot, which is 2000-2200. 2500-2600 and near or on the floor is common for me on such hills. It is using the truck and engine as intended. So I pull such hills at 45 to 55 MPH depending on how I feel at the time and schedule of how many miles I am trying to make that day. Running above that sweet spot uses a little more fuel, but I average 12.2-12.5 on long trips, so running up a 7 mile hill fast does not effect a 1700 trip that much.

In the West if I am trying to do a 400-500 mile down, then I try to keep it in my 62-63 mph comfort zone as much as possible.

Chris