DP going up and down mountains

Think of the up and down arrows as "desired gear". There are 2 gear numbers displayed on your monitor panel; the gear you're in and the desired gear. When you shift to D, the desired gear is 6. By hitting the down arrow, you change the desired gear. Running up through the gears, that's as far as you tranny will go. The ECM will limit the revs to prevent over-revving. If you're in 6th gear and hit the down arrow, it changes the desired gear. If the ECM determines that it can shift to that gear without over-revving the engine. it will downshift. If it doesn't downshift, use the service brake to slow down until it shifts. Don't ride the brakes, just apply the brakes (as if you were going to stop) until the downshift occurs.

Once you find your exhaust brake and start using it, you'll find that engaging the exhaust brake selects either 4th or 2nd for the desired gear. In addition to adding a small amount of back pressure on the exhaust, the transmission will behave as if you manually selected the lower gear.

Dennis covered most of it. You and I have very similar MH's. I have been up and down I75/77 many times. The exhaust brake is actuated by a foot button, it drives the transmission to seek 2nd gear. Your MH may have a rocker switch on the drivers left panel. If you hold the exhaust brake on it will slow you down till you get to 1000 rpm then the exhaust brake goes to open. Some of the hills will require going down in the same gear you went up in. The MH with out a towed will climb most of these hills at road speeds, although you might have a 300HP ISC or maybe a 330. Your goal is not to use your service brake during descent, save them for a stop. If you do use them, use them firmly then get off. Don't ride them, that wil overheat them. Take your time. You have a MH well suited for what you want to do.

Enjoy your break from winter, lots to do in my new home state. Seafood, fishing and lovely weather. Where I live we get 50-60 sometime in the winter. Key West is lovely that time of year! Enjoy!

A little late to this party but since I had the same coach as the OP, I'll weigh in here. To the OP, you're overthinking this trip. Easy to do and worthwhile but, there are no grades you'll need to do any shifting up or down for. Your exhaust brake, assuming it's original is woefully inadequate. If you are keeping the coach, I would suggest you upgrade to the PRXB brake. You'll rarely have to downshift using that EB. Excellent upgrade for your coach. For your route, simply leave the keypad in D and go. Use the foot pedal to activate the exhaust brake when starting downhill and tap your brakes if you pick up too much speed. I've traveled all over the Rockies with my Dynasty and never once downshifted. Those are much steeper and longer than anything you'll encounter on your trip south. Enjoy the trip and be safe.

P.S. Ignore all the posts that rag on you cuz you're asking questions. Keep asking away...everyone learns that way....Dennis

2chiefsRus wrote:
After reading all of your posts I believe that you would be a great candidate for the driver course at lazy days in Seffner fl near tampa. You might want to check into it. It would likely make you more comfortable driving your coach

X2 consider it the best investment you'll make on your safety AND the safety of those on the road with you. This isn't "just" a big car it's s massive piece of machinery that can cause large loss of life with simple mistakes ! While it seems like a big Van , there are several systems that in a emergency need you to understand what to do differently.
As a matter of fact I have met several folks who would benifit from that. As a commercial driver for some time ( too long) and all the training and minimum annual full day driver safety rides my company mandated, I know the benifit of training and outside eyes on bad habits.

After reading all of your posts I believe that you would be a great candidate for the driver course at lazy days in Seffner fl near tampa. You might want to check into it. It would likely make you more comfortable driving your coach

While the OP's question was about hill/mountain driving, I wonder about the info he received about there being mountains on I-95 and I-75.

We travel from western PA to central FL on a fairly regular basis and I don't recall any hills of significance on 95. I haven't traveled all of 75 so can't say what is between Tenn. and north FL.

We usually avoid the Washington DC traffic by picking up I-81 at Hagerstown, MD and following it to southern VA and following I-77 to Colombia, SC and I-26 to I-95. There is one hill on I-77 that is a little steep and somewhat long just leaving VA and entering NC called Fancy Gap. I would call that scenic and a nice drive where others would be scared by it, but that's another subject.

I think the mileage I travel may be a little longer than some other possibilities, but we find it less difficult since the only really significant traffic is from Statesville, NC to about 30 miles south of Charlotte. Depending on the time of day and a few other things that traffic can be anywhere from heavy to nearly insane. I've tried to time my drive through there over the years with some success, now I just relax and go whenever. We also have no tolls or tunnels to worry about.

The OP could drive a similar route coming from NH down to Hartford and across I-84 to Scranton,PA and south on I-81. The only toll there would be the bridge over the Hudson River and I don't recall which way you pay and which one you don't, but it's only one direction. There are several hills on I-84 in NY and PA, but I've never found them to be much of an issue.

I guess the bottom line is simply slow down to where you are comfortable and relax. I often have someone ask how long it takes me to get to or from FL and my stock answer is anywhere from 20 hours to five days. Enjoy the trip more and worry less has become my mantra.

RiceLake, good luck with the trip, you'll be fine in the few hills you'll encounter. Use your exhaust brake where possible and don't ride your service brake when needed. Push, release, push, release. It creates far less heat and overall will do a better job of slowing you down.

Also, your transmission does have the ability to be shifted manually but it is not a manual transmission. :W

Thank you to everyone for the positive responses and the condolences from those regarding the negative comments. Even though I have owned the RV for soon to be 4th years assume that I have been driving it that long as fir the first 3rd years the a RV has been in and out of shops as the RV should never been safetied but I relied on a very good friend who owns his own construction company and drives diesel trucks that the RV was okay. Very frustrating but I have stuck with it through knowledge in reading this site. I have never driven a standard so unaware. I have only been on 6 trips in the last 4 years. So to those who have concerns about myself as a driver....dont be because at least I am admitting I dont know something. ..am willing to ask...and then do more research to put into action. So....be kind those of you who are perfectionists with their knowledge.

While I certainly agree it's not nice being rude, you do have to ask yourself if someone without the most basic understanding of how a MH works is even qualified to operate one? If they don't understand basic transmission operation (even after it apparently was explained in detail, as shown above) how safe of an operator can they be?

I understand we were all new once, but the OP isn't new. On one hand I'm shocked at the lack of knowledge and seriously question the ability to safely operate his MH. On the other hand I commend him for asking questions he does not know and understand before someone got hurt. Having said that I'm back to a real :h on the shifting question after it was clearly shown it had already been explained.

On a side note, my wife has never driven our MH in her life - I don't think she's ever even sat in the drivers seat. I showed her the picture of the transmission control panel and asked her how she'd downshift it; her response - "push the down arrow".

I wish the OP luck on this trip. The hills he will encounter won't be an issue.

What's with all the snide remarks? :?

Although I've been driving our gasser for the last 8 years I have no clue as to how a pusher runs, their transmissions, exhaust brakes, etc. However, I - like the OP - do ask questions and benefit by the majority who take the time to answer them without judging the poster.

That's how we learn and how we can limit mistakes while operating our respective coaches. :C