Silversand : That is actually a friend's farm tractor and military trailer in the garage. He is going to have fun backing that out of there. :S. Oh, and since it is currently winter in the southern hemisphere I was writing up this during the cold dark evenings in Cape Town.
Mellow Mike : Thanks Mike. I assume you were stationed in Europe while in the Navy?
Tiger4x4RV : Going up hills is not a problem - I found that high ratio 2nd gear alled for easy acceleration up the 24% inclines. However, going down the same hill was a completely different experience. Low ratio 1st gear and the truck was still running away and had to be checked using the brakes. OK, the engine braking on my diesel truck is fairly poor, but it would be worse on a gasoline engine unless you had an electro-magnetic retarder or exhaust brake. That is why I wondered how you find your gasoline engine'd truck on such descents. Note also that my truck is part-time 4x4. Hence no central differential. That means you can't run it in 4x4 on the highway, so I had to modify it to engage low ratio without automatically engaging 4x4 at the same time. If not for this we would have been in trouble, having to ride the brakes all the way down (my truck has rear drum brakes :E)
Steve.
