Enough truck for 5th wheel?

k9jadon wrote:
Ok so help me understand please. If I climb a hill with a slightly "under powered" engine and can only do 40mph compared to 60mph with a "modern" power plant why is this a bad thing? The way I see it is this, as long as you control your RPM when climbing a hill and control your decent on the backside of the hill the only difference when comparing power plants is that one climbs the hill a bit slower than the other given the same set RPM for each engine. Why is this a big issue? I realize that the modern transmissions have hill decent control and things like this, but dang how did we do it back then when we didn't have these luxuries? My 2005 Starwood 28rl weighed about 10k fully loaded and I am sure that there were Dodge 2500 w/ 5.7 hemi trucks pulling these all day long. So as long as the axle ratings are fine, and assuming he has the right rated tires he should be fine. The only thing he gains is getting up the hill a bit faster. IMO

As I said before, drive on RPM, not speed. Look up the specs on your Hemi and see where the top HP is made and drive near there, when you need to. If your trailer brakes are properly adjusted, the trailer should stop itself and the truck stop itself...under normal circumstances. My personal practice is to let things ride until I'm as fast as I want to go, then stab the brakes fairly hard, brake down to about 10 mph below my "target", then let it ride on the engine until it speeds back up to my "target". In 14 years, it's worked well for me on the grades here in AZ, as well as on I-8 to/from San Diego and roads in E UT and W CO. Yes, I do have a diesel, but I've also towed with gassers and used the same method.

Lyle