meleavingsoon wrote:
You might want to go the southern route to get past the mountains in Missouri and then head straight into Illinois between the mtn ranges...
Have made many a trips from North Texas to Illinois via Memphis and then take I57 up to the Mount Vernon home town area...I30 to Little Rock then I40 to Memphis then I57 to Illinois would not be a bad route either. Can't think of any long grades to deal with on that route.
I just towed our 2007 Cardinal to Midland TX in December last year for our son to live in while working in TX. The route I took was I-57 south then thru Memphis because it seemed like the flattest route.
The truck did fine and I didn't encounter any grades that even caused me to have to downshift (6 speed manual trans) so that was the route I am planning to take if I decide to try with my current truck. But the truck does have 233,000 miles so I worry it might be too much extra weight to go from the 13k pound Cardinal to the 20k Teton.
If I decide to try it I was thinking about taking about three days to make the 950 trip so as to not push the truck too hard. keep the speed to 60 or below.
Thanks
..........One thing most don't consider.......IF , you have 4w dr. , the Drive chain in the xfer case as well as the stock clutch are the weak links in the drive line . Pulling a 20,000 lb. load will exert forces on the drive chain and the stock clutch that simply overwhelm their mechanical limits . And , IF you have a chip installed the mechanical limits of the above 2 mentioned items will manifest themselves , even sooner . You will simply be climbing a moderate grade and then the tac will show the RPM's increasing while the truck is loosing speed........the clutch's ability to maintain enough friction with the engine will be exceeded by pulling an excessive load that the truck can't cope with .
...........Short trips are OK , longer trips have consequences !, jf
