Best Truck For Mountain Driving
Hello forum, My wife and I are getting ready for full time RV living. We will be spending the majority of our time in Colorado, Northern California, Washington and other states with mountainous t...
Forum Discussion
ChuckV1 wrote:
Yep that what I have, with new head bolts, new head gasket
and a upgraded tubo (nothing happened for me to change either
I just like to be ahead of the game). To the answer have a driven a
2011 RAM, my sons, it was a nice truck but we were not pulling
anything when I drove it over 2 passes on I90.
I am also not a speed freak and don't abuse my TV and I am not
saying any of you do by no means. I run along at between 60 and
65mph. Before this 2005 F350 I had a 1978 F350 dually with a 150K
When I bought it and close to 450K on it when I finally sold it.
BTW I go up most mountain passes at about 45 to 50 in most cases
and I go down the hill in the same speed and sometimes slower than
what I came up it.
Having driven a screaming jimmy professionally myself, I was thought to run it against the governor then shift. Real trucks are made to be worked, and have drive trains that are designed to be used at the max the motor puts out. These new pickup trucks have computers that allow the driver to use them at there max without hurting them.
The Ford Torque Shift and the Aisin available in the RAM are very robust tranny. The small Allison 1000 behind the duramax maybe it's limiting issue in the HP and Torque races. When the GM numbers catch up they most likely will include a transmission announcement.
I tow with an older Dodge/Cummins that has been modified and has a beefed up tranny. At 20,500 combined it runs up the passed the Cummins12V98 references without issues at similar speeds and I average around 12.5 MPG towing. I would be one of those that passes you on I-90, as in the 4 lane area, I am motoring up it in the 3 lane out. We pulled the Grape Vine a few years back and it was like a horror movie. Really slow trucks in the 1st lane, faster trucks in 2nd lane, me doing 55MPH in the 3rd land, and cars blowing by in the 4th lane at up to 75MPH. I never saw a thing to the left of right of those 4 lanes, except some brake smoke of a couple trucks going down.
It is much easier to NOT get boxed in and trapped in the slow lane on a pass when you are going the speed of the car traffic. It just takes a very alert driver that scans the traffic well ahead of you. But again that is what a professional trained and experienced driver learns.
Chris
