As you see I have an auto with no exhaust brake. Any tips on getting down the other side with a loaded trailer? Do you guys hit the O/D lockout and go down the mountain in 3rd?

 

I don't think you'll get any effect from that without a lockup switch, can't remember if you get any from shifting down to second without the lockup switch. Don't ride the brakes, brake, release....brake, release

 

Buy an Exhaust Brake. The first time you get on a 6% grade and can't get it downshifted because the RPM's would be to hi, you will wish you had one.

Dave

 

I am gonna see how this trip goes. You can beat if it give me any grief the heck with the warranty and I will have a Pacbrake with an ATS Lockup controller. First time in the mountains with a trailer.

 

When you top a hill, back off the throttle, switch off o/d and let gravity pull you down. I run 6% all the time in az and have not had a problem yet.

 

Costal Dave is right. I've got one and I love it. sorry but "IT IS WORTH THE MONEY." (if you have the money go get it, if you don't save up for it, ypu won't regret it) I can't blow the engine brake horn enough.
I just need to get myself a trany that'll stay locked up in 1st and 2nd and I'll all but be able to all but stop the whole rigamrol. Lot's of 6+% grades in British Columbia this year and I used the brakes, with the engine brake once (locked up in 3rd). that's why I want the TC lockup in 2nd. Tell yer wife we bullied ya in to it.

 

Yes use o/d lockout. If you drop below 50 mph you can down shift to second to lock the t/c. You can down shift between 35 to 50 in second. With the t/c locked the trans will run cooler and aid in braking.

The best improvement I have made for driving in the mountains is a rear sway bar. I have much more control while towing my 13k 5er. Remember your egt run hotter in thin air. I also have a mystery switch which can help. Do a search for mystery switch and decide for yourself.

good luck

 

And keep your speed down. I try to stay around 50-55 at the max, sometimes slower depending on the grade and curves.

 

Thanks guys, This trip is kinda on short notice and I live in the flatlands. Keep'em coming. I leave out Tuesday morning. If it was a manual I would of added the exhaust brake before I drove it off the lot. Just trying to keep the powertrain warranty.

BTW, my worst nightmare is running out of brakes. I have had it happen before and I will never forget it.

 

If you don't have an exhaust brake (like most of us) you need to take the downhill slopes real slooooowwww. If you want your brakes to last expect to take the downhill slope at a speed 50% - 75% of what you would go up the same slope. This may seem slow but your brakes are not going to last you long if you descend hills faster than that. I have smoked quite a few sets of brakes before I learned. An exhaust brake is in my future but until then I descend slow.

 

Live in BC and rarely use my brakes except coming down the Coq. at the snow sheds. Most of the time to control speed I use my prodigy and brake the trailer lightly. Here's a good one, last time coming west out of Kamloops a new Ford 6.4L pulling a small fiver wanted to play. Anyone know that grade %, it is crazy steep. Let him pull up beside me. Glance at my gauges, speed 110 Kph (68 mph), rpm's 1950, exhaust 1250, boost 26, tranny 135, all systems go. Smarty on #3 and Ford boy drops the hammer. He slowly starts to pull away and waves bye. No problem, push the go pedal slowly down and my truck doesn't even downshift climbing that severe grade. Pass Super Duty, Afe and exhaust together sound like a jet plane. Another glance at the pyro 1350, too hot so I take her out of overdrive and that cools things down to 1150. Continue gaining speed now at 140 kph (87mph) . Look in the mirror and that ugly Ford front disappears from sight.

 

Others disagree with my previously posted opinions on this subject, but I think we all agree that SLOW IS THE WAY. If you have a really heavy load, you should consider going downhill as slow as 10mph or maybe even less.

Think it through. Your brakes are converting kinetic energy (energy of movement) into thermal energy (heat).

So you have two concerns with your brakes-- the amount of heat they can hold (thermal capacity) and the rate at which they can shed heat. The problem is that the better you make one, the worse the other gets. For example, big beefy cast iron rotors will hold a lot of heat, but that's also precisely why they don't cool that fast.

Descending slowly helps for two reasons. First, it reduces the heat the brakes see because there's less energy for them to convert to heat. A truck/trailer combo has FOUR TIMES more energy when you double the speed. Thus, if you cut the speed in half, the workload on your brakes goes down by 75%!
Secondly, the slower speed gives a lot more time for the brakes to shed their heat to the surrounding atmosphere.

Now the question becomes: is it better to just ride the brakes all the way down, nice and easy-- or should you "snub brake" like you see all the big rigs doing down the hill.

Well, how confident are you that your braking system is balanced? On big rigs, it's highly doubtful that every air valve is operating the same, and the likelihood of perfect synchronization of 18 separate brake cylinders is pretty slight. This is why they "snub brake" because of the imbalance-- otherwise it's likely that one wheel is doing more braking than the others, and on a long steady descent, that hot brake would get hot and fail.

But on a pickup with only 4 brakes with a hydraulic brake system (vs the air system on big trucks), the likelihood of brake imbalance is very low in my opinion, and thus it's not hurting anything to ride the brakes for longer periods of time at slower speeds.

It's a good idea, imo, though to still "snub" every 15 seconds or so (not the 2-3 sec like the big trucks), just to re-seat the pads in the housings and such. Just don't let your rig get a head of steam going.

So, go down slowly, ride the brakes for 15-20 seconds or so (maintain steady slow speed), then "snub" to a speed that's 5mph slower. Then, foot off the brakes and let the rig gain back that 5mph and go back to riding the brakes for another 15-20 seconds.

Wash, rinse, repeat and you'll be safely down the hill in only 3 times the amount of time it took to climb it!

JMO

 

I just made a pretty good haul from OH to NC pulling a pretty heavy load. I did something similar to what Hohn wrote about. I would scrub off a little more the 5 mph and then let it build back up and repeat.

The electric trailer brake worked well, so there wasn't much effort to keep a safe speed.

I have pics. in my gallery of the load of logs I hauled.

 

Don't start the down-grade at 65 mpg then try to slow down while descending. Start the down-hill no faster than you want to descend the hill, maybe even 5-10 mph slower.

 

It took only one trip pulling heavy to convince me that an e-brake is a must for pulling. Never again.

Especially the long downgrades with a stop at the bottom. With the ebrake, you use it all the way down with only minimal touching of the service brakes now and then to keep speed down. But when you get to the bottom and have to stop the load, thats when you also apply the fresh service brakes to stop you. Otherwise youre riding them off & on all the way down and they are already hot when you need to stop. That will really burn em up fast and warp the rotors when sitting with the brakes applied holding you stopped at the bottom.

Just get the ebrake and get it over with. You will be very happy you did.