Ike Gauntlet

Certainly looks questionable. Only got 3 mpg on that run.

rmoparman wrote:
Anyone seen the Dodge pulling 17,500 trailer up the Gauntlet. Man if it struggles with this weight no way it can pull 30K. Im a Dodge guy but i think none of the big 3 could tow up this grade.:)

Agreed...

Wasn't that the Space Shuttle Endeavor at 145 tons that I saw being pulled through the streets in Los Angeles by the Toyota Tundra?



LOL!

What is the gaunlet? how steep? ANY rig can stall out. I've seen an 18 wheeler stall out 1/2 mile from its destination, after pulling pretty much 60 mph from New Orleans to the Seattle area. Then it hit one of out 20+% side street grades. Stopped dead in its tracks!

Marty

Struggles?
Looks like it held 45-50 mph pulling 17000 pounds up a 7% percent grade at 11000 feet.
Not too bad if you ask me.

is there an invisible link here?
bumpy

Here is the web address

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zajeVT6C8hE

Greg B wrote:
Struggles?
Looks like it held 45-50 mph pulling 17000 pounds up a 7% percent grade at 11000 feet.
Not too bad if you ask me.

Didn't struggle at all if you ask me. The driver didn't know the truck,,so it shifted to much. If you drove that truck everyday and knew its sweet spot, that wouldn't be much of a chore for it at all.

Didn't look like much of a struggle. It amazes me how people expect a truck, with the biggest load possible, to not slow down AT ALL on a long, steep grade! 45-50 mph is pretty darn good! And, I agree on the shifting part. Driver needed to hold it in the lower gear, would have been much better for mph and ease on engine. Do not let it shift up into gear too high.

According to this site it struggled it lost speed and downshifted which the people on this site identify as the hallmark of a truck struggling on a grade.

Also it is a diesel and didn't go 65 mph up it in overdrive, I have been told over and over on this site that a diesel truck will go 65 up any hill in overdrive with the cruise on.

As far as the driver not knowing the truck, he held it to the floor the whole way, you would hope that the automatic transmission should be smart enough to know the driver wanted max effort.