Best route to avoid mountains in WV
Look for the best route from Virginia to Ohio to avoid the mountains in West Virginia. I used water and it took me through the worst mountain roads. I am pulling a For Flex with my 2022 Forest River G...
Forum Discussion
First, what happened that you "lost the brakes". Were you riding the brakes and as they overheated, they started to fade? Or was it a catostrophic failure where they were fine and something failed suddenly?
Either way, it would be worth having them checked by a professional. Explain what happened, so they know what the issue was when checking it out.
If it was from riding the brakes, learn to use your gears. By sticking to a lower gear, the drivetrain will spin the engine at a higher RPM and the energy to spin the engine faster will help slow you down.
- There should be a tow/haul mode that should always be activated when you are driving (you don't run a MH without load). Generally, this will do a pretty good job picking an appropriate gear.
- If you know you are going to be going down a steep hill, you can override and pick a lower gear at the top of the hill. It's easier to keep the speed under control if you don't let it get going too fast in the first place.
- It's no big deal and wont hurt the engine if it's spinning at 3-4,000RPM but it will be providing a lot of braking power.
You should have a braking system for the Ford. That gives you 4 more brakes to spread out the load.
If you are geared down and you still feel you are going too fast, you want to apply the brakes hard, so you slow down by 10-20mph and then release and allow it to build up speed. That allows the brakes to cool down between uses, so if you do really need them, they aren't overheated already.
To give you an idea of what happens when you ride your brakes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4fQUMT0ul0&pp=ygUSYnJha2VzIGdsb3dpbmcgcmVk
Assuming you were taking the freeway across WV, it shouldn't have been a white knuckle ride. Learn and practice downshifting on more moderate hills, so you have a better idea of what to expect when downshifting.
Either way, it would be worth having them checked by a professional. Explain what happened, so they know what the issue was when checking it out.
If it was from riding the brakes, learn to use your gears. By sticking to a lower gear, the drivetrain will spin the engine at a higher RPM and the energy to spin the engine faster will help slow you down.
- There should be a tow/haul mode that should always be activated when you are driving (you don't run a MH without load). Generally, this will do a pretty good job picking an appropriate gear.
- If you know you are going to be going down a steep hill, you can override and pick a lower gear at the top of the hill. It's easier to keep the speed under control if you don't let it get going too fast in the first place.
- It's no big deal and wont hurt the engine if it's spinning at 3-4,000RPM but it will be providing a lot of braking power.
You should have a braking system for the Ford. That gives you 4 more brakes to spread out the load.
If you are geared down and you still feel you are going too fast, you want to apply the brakes hard, so you slow down by 10-20mph and then release and allow it to build up speed. That allows the brakes to cool down between uses, so if you do really need them, they aren't overheated already.
To give you an idea of what happens when you ride your brakes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4fQUMT0ul0&pp=ygUSYnJha2VzIGdsb3dpbmcgcmVk
Assuming you were taking the freeway across WV, it shouldn't have been a white knuckle ride. Learn and practice downshifting on more moderate hills, so you have a better idea of what to expect when downshifting.
