Mountain driving

[lenny-shawna]

Hi All,
We are planning an out west trip this year which will include extensive mountain driving. Yellowstone, Tetons, Glacier are just a few of our planned visits.

My main concern is weather to manually shift the Allison or let her do as she wishes. I do know to use the exhaust break, go down the mountain no faster than I went up and to pump the breaks as opposed to riding them to help keep them cool.

Most of my research indicates to let the transmission decide.

So all you experienced mountaineers I would love to hear your input.

On a side note, any suggestions or must sees would be appreciated. Lastly, should I bring a dehumidifier? I was in NC over the summer and had a tremendous amount of moisture in the coach and do not want a repeat of that.

thank you in advance!

[2gypsies1]

On a big hill downshift BEFORE starting down, not midway. You shouldn't have to brake but a few times to slow it even further.

You won't have any problems with huge mountains with your motorhome.

You definitely don't need a dehumidifier in the West. 🙂

I don't know your planned route and what you want to see before getting to the major parks.

We like secondary roads but if you work your way to I-80 into Wyoming and get off at Exit 111 at Rock Springs, you would take Hwy 191 into Jackson, WY and Grand Teton Nat'l Park - no big hills on this route. You can then drive right into Yellowstone. Since you have a 43' you'll probably want to stay in West Yellowstone to tour Yellowstone.

When ready to leave Yellowstone, take Hwy 191 north into Montana. Then depending if you want to stay on the west or east side of Glacier you can take 287/89 to the east side or 83 toward Columbia Falls.

When you have your exact route planned out come back and ask about specific areas for RV parks.

[kyle86]

imgoin4it wrote:
Transmission will do most of the work, but if you are going up an incline and it is such the transmission starts "hunting",shifting up then down just manually put it in a lower gear a pick a reasonable speed for the gear and go up the hill. If you have an exhaust break start down the hill at the speed where it will maintain the speed with out increasing or without using the service brakes. You do not want to allow going downhill too fast. With a little experience this will all become second nature.

This!

If the trans downshifts and holds gear till you reach the summit, just leave it in D. However if it "hunts" gears as in downshifts then upshifts then downshifts again, or downshifts 2 gears then upshifts 1 then downshifts back down, etc, then you need to throw it in a gear where it has enough power to pull at a steady speed. I have a gas and lug it down pretty hard sometimes. On a long hill, I will drop it into a lower gear and just cruise along till it summits even if that means going 30mph or 40 mph. If the trans holds gear okay even if it slightly looses speed, then there is no reason to mess with the shifter. Like the above poster said, after a few hundred miles in the hills, you will have it figured out. If you know it's about to downshift, slowly let your foot out of the petal till it shifts, then slowly put your foot back in it and enjoy the new found power. That way it doesn't violently shift to like 4000 rpm. KEep an eye on your trans and engine temp and if the trans starts getting real warm, put an auxillery trans cooler in line with the stock one. I have a tru-cool, the big one and it's great. FWIW I only tow in "3" to keep it in the 1:1 gear where it has sufficient power to handle minor hills. Your truck may have enough power to do "d".

[imgoin4it]

Transmission will do most of the work, but if you are going up an incline and it is such the transmission starts "hunting",shifting up then down just manually put it in a lower gear a pick a reasonable speed for the gear and go up the hill. If you have an exhaust break start down the hill at the speed where it will maintain the speed with out increasing or without using the service brakes. You do not want to allow going downhill too fast. With a little experience this will all become second nature.

[Kayteg1]

I think with exhaust brake if you have to touch brake pedal on the hill it is driving error.
Even without exhaust brake you should downshift to not need brakes more often than 3 every minutes.

[Dick_B]

Mountain Directory West is a helpful reference.

[azdryheat]

We pulled a 5th wheel up there and I don't recall any serious mountain roads. The only hard road was The Road to the Sun in Glacier but big RV's were discouraged to go up there and were prohibited past a certain point - we just drove our truck up there. When I'm doing some serious grades I shift to manual and use the exhaust brake.

[Fla_Tom1]

You will slow a bit on steep grades but will make it to the top(the computer does a good job)exhaust brake will control the decent. I have a dehumidifier in our closet and keep a humidity meter on the counter .I have had a Winnebago 42qd and now an Entegra 45b (with 600hp) both slow down on steep grades,most people on the forums over worry(arm chair quarterback) drive and enjoy.