Rollin Ollen
RVF Expert
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2022
- Messages
- 528
- Location
- Where I stop today
- RV Year
- 2011
- RV Make
- Winnebago
- RV Model
- Vista
- RV Length
- 28
- Chassis
- Ford
- Engine
- V10
- TOW/TOAD
- 2018 Wrangler
- Fulltimer
- Yes
I'm with you on grade speeds. Most folks understand that larger vehicles need a little more time to climb but lots think it should be just fine to fly down. Not so.We like the US Highways and state roads - will frequently use them instead of Interstates. But do use interstates in some cases.
Down side to state roads is they can be steeper. I think last year in Oregon we had a 8% grade but don’t recall exactly where. Tripwizard planner helps us see these ahead of time and then I review the road and how sharp the curves are - to determine if we should take a longer route around.
I like the typical rule of thumb for diesel engine braking, don’t go down faster than the engine can pull you up. If you exceed that speed than the engine braking will have no chance of maintaining the speed. And, don’t care about trying to keep up with others, do what the physics say your setup can control.
On that 8% grade, following that rule, we didn’t have any issues and as usual didn’t need to use the brakes, but we were doing around 35-40mph down that hill.
We run a gasser but I have never had any problems using the engine compression and lower gears to keep things under control. We do our best to stay off of interstates and I have yet to meet a hill that has caused my brakes to overheat.
Darrell