Hot brakes and Tall trailers
I have a small light tow rig. With our weight dist. hitch with sway control, it tows amazingly well. It almost drives like I'm not towing at all... until I look at the MPG... The issue I have is with ...
Forum Discussion
naturist wrote:
Agreed. Sounds like too aggressive on the trailer brakes perhaps combined with too much depending on brakes instead of using lower gears and engine braking.
If your TV lacks a tow/haul setting on the transmission, it is up to you to gear down at the top of a hill. Having an auto transmission does not make sticking it in D and forgetting it a good option outside of the “normal” non-towing transmission program, which is set to get you into the highest gear possible and take advantage of free-wheeling down hill to maximize gas mileage.
I, too, tow with an SUV with a 6 cylinder engine. While the transmission has a sport mode, it has no tow/haul mode, so I put it into manual mode heading downhill. I can go down a 15% grade at speeds up to about 40 mph in second gear (6 speed gearbox) hardly using the brakes. A 7% grade on the interstate at 60-65 mph in third gear requires no brakes at all because of wind resistance.
2ND THIS ^^^ Get your brakes set properly and use your trans on down hills and you shouldn't have any problems.
Jay D.
