Mountain Driving

[RANGERBOB]

Just returned from a great trip to Durango. I highly recommend Alpen Rose RV Park. Lots of shade except for really big rigs, pool, very clean restrooms and a gigantic dog park. We went bicycle riding 15 miles on the Animas River Trail and took a river trip. Getting to and from ment travelling over Red Mountain Pass as well as Molas and Cold Bank. My wife had to get to Durango early so she drove our Dakota but we towed it on the return. We didn't have any trouble and what a view from the drivers seat.

[nemo45]

Originally Posted by Fourn3833

Problem with many GPS units are that they are set for the shortest routes or fastest time. Both can get you in trouble. Some even have a setting for major highways only. To be safe, though it may take more miles (but usaully faster and safer set it to major highways only.

I bought a GPS from Garmin that has a truck mode you set the length of you rig and it will only take you on roads it can go on and it has a provision for finding truck stops. You can switch it back to the car mode if you are using your toad.

[raoulwv]

This is a response to the original post by Shorty. Better late than never I guess. Where is the PA 43 you're referring to? The PA 43 I'm familiar with is a relatively new highway in Western PA that runs north & south between Pittsburgh and the WV border. It is a multi-lane highway that is part of the PA Turnpike system with portions of it being toll. It is a good road with no grades as steep as 6% to my knowledge. Could there be another PA 43 somewhere? Was the road you were on 2 lane? 4 lane? curvy? straight? I'm trying to get feel for the type of road you were on so I can respond with some appropriate driving tips. I live in hill country and a lot of my driving is there.

[shorty]

Hi Raoulwv - yes it was PA 43 and we did go through the tolls and 4 lane highway, but somewhere heading to the WV border it turned in to two lanes ( there were homes and small shops). Then you went back into the moutains with speeds of 25 mph. There where grades as I have described. We were on this road for some time then we finally reached a truck route and the sign clearly stated all trucks trun here and use route XXXX cannot remember the route, but it eventually brought us into 70 and into Maryland.

[raoulwv]

Aahh yes, I know the type of road you were on. Curvy, narrow, steep with a few potholes thrown in. The bad news is there are lots of them out there. The good news is you shouldn't have to travel them often.
I'm pretty fanatical about planning my route before I leave on a trip. I use a road atlas (make sure it's current), but mainly I use my PC (Google & Yahoo maps etc). I seldom use the directions they provide because they can lead you astray like GPS, but the maps seem to be pretty accurate. Plus, you can use the satellite imagery to verify that a road actually exists.
When I do travel a road like you describe, I switch the tow/haul mode on to climb a hill, but usually disable and manually downshift when decending. When decending in tow/haul and you hit the brake, it will downshift whether you want it to or not, and I feel it holds the gear too long.
Since all my trips originate in the hills/mountains, I decided to add a Banks Power Pack for a little kick in the pants. Now my big turd is hot sh**. I make frequent trips south on I-79, US 19 and I-77 where there are several 5 & 6% grades and take them all at 60 - 65 mph.

[blue283]

I just got back from a trip to Glacier Park from So Cal. Some of the 7% grades we encountered definitely got my attention. We have a lot of 5-6% around us as we live in the mountains, but not any 7%.
I have the Workhouse chassis with the Allison trans and the grade brake worked very well on the shorter grades, but I turned it off on the longer grades so i could select the gear I wanted for the downhill portions. The amount of brake applied seems to determine the downshift gear amount, and I found myself in 2nd gear when I only needed 3rd which caused some over-revving of the engine rpm's. No problems once I went to the manual mode.....
As stated earlier, get on the brakes when you need them, and off them as soon as you can. They can only cool when they are not being applied, so long light braking is the worst thing you can do.
Don't let the hills discourage you, just take your time and enjoy the views!!!