Eastern KY to Williamsburg VA - MOUNTAINS?
So if we leave the Ashland/ Huntington area and head to Williamsburg what route is best? We're from FL and I'm pulling a 6000lb TT with a F150 and looking at routes with WV mountains in the way. What...
Forum Discussion
flguppie wrote:
Should I start the decent in a lower gear by manually shifting it to 3 or 2nd before starting the decent and having tow haul turned on? Keeping it in 3 or 2nd gear all the way down (and if so, which is best) Or will leaving it in D (drive) and not starting out fast and relying on the tow haul to keep it geared down?
Does yours have the lock-out capability? We have the same truck from 2011 and it allows me, using a small toggle on the shift arm, to lock-out gears as needed or to put it in "manual auto" and select which gear I want to be in. When descending hills there is no one gear that works best, you just have to go by the feel of the vehicle and gear down as needed. You can use the brakes, but do not ride them - brake firmly to slow about 10mph, then if you find that you are accelerating too quickly, brake firmly again to drop 10mph and down shift to allow the transmission to work a bit more to control your speed. Keep an eye on your transmission temperature too. If you just can't control your speed without braking a lot and the transmission temp is getting high you need to drive slower in general - stay in the right lane, put your blinkers on if needed, and keep your speed down.
Don't worry about the posted speed limit. Most people don't know (or perhaps care) that there are two speed limits on highways - an upper and a lower, and just because the upper is posted at 65 or 70 does not mean that all traffic on the road must drive at least that speed. Stick to the right lane and let people with 15b shoes worry about what's going on in the show-off lane.
There are quite a few threads on how to control speed on steep grades, and many of them go into more detail that I posted here. You might want to read a bit on that, and also review your owners manual (you can read them online if you no longer have yours) on how to use the tow/haul features, manual gear selection, etc. There is a lot of good info in the manual and the best part is that it's specific to your vehicle ;)
It's not all that bad, honestly, just pay attention and don't make sudden or severe corrections. I've logged 1.4 million miles driving all manner of large vehicles and if I can mange the old US-60 route at night in heavy rain, you can deal with I-64 in a modern truck without earning any new grey hairs!
- R
