lonewolf80 wrote:

skiwhiz, a couple of years ago I toured around Mt. Rushmore and the Black Hills of SD with my then 2011 35 ft. Georgetown gasser. I was also pulling my wife's 4K lb. Kia on our 500 lb. dolly. The worst part of ascending a hill of any nature, no less some of the 9% grades around Mt. Rushmore is to have to start from a standing stop. That is exactly what happened to me, plus having to make a left-hand turn from a traffic signal to start the ascent. The Ford V10 is an amazing engine, and we climbed the grade between 35-40 MPH and the tach between 4500-5000. Easy as all get out, except for the folks behind me on this newly paved two-lane grade. Oh well.

Going down 9% grades, again encountered in and around Mt. Rushmore, Deadwood, Sturgis, SD I didn't rely on the Tow Haul Mode. I am a firm believer in using the gear to go down the hill as the gear the automatic chose to go up. So what I'm saying is I downshifted the tranny myself to the gear needed to keep it the speed I needed based on what I was comfortable with going down such steep decline's.
Even my DW who can be a scary cat barely winced. Did I say the V10 is an amazing engine already? When going down almost any prolonged decline and if braking is needed to check down your speed you "stab" the brakes somewhat hard (don't lock them up!) to drop speed. Never ride the brake to try to slowly reduce speed. Practice your technique on smaller hills so it becomes second nature to use your tranmission and brakes as a team.

Your rig will take you up any hill you encounter, and taking your time, downshift to a slower speed, get you comfortably down the hill too. Take your time, don't worry about the traffic behind you (when possible, move right) and you will be fine.

2oldman wrote:

Not sure what to do about the barking.

skiwhiz wrote:

Would like hints for driving/barking in mountains, passes etc, all help and suggestions welcome ??????

Dale.Traveling wrote:



Best advice yet. Start out slow and get in a low gear before drop over the crest of a descent. Hit the top of a 3 mile, 8% grade at 65 MPH and your going to have problems getting the speed down later.

Best way to learn and get a feel is to stick with the 18 wheelers for climbs and descent. As a beginner I would advise you to manually downshift for now. Play with the auto shift on the gentler descents. For the climbs keep the RPM up, as high as 4500 RPM, on the climbs. The high RMP has the engine coolant/oil and transmission oil moving at a high rate which helps to keep both cool. The engine is electronically limited to 5250 RPM and won't let you do anything that will exceed that number including manual down shifts.

If you do have to brake be aggressive and get the speed down fast then get off the breaks to allow them to cool. Long soft braking should be avoided as you want to avoid - THIS

ssthrd wrote:

Be prepared for the hills by being in the right gear just before going up/down steep slopes.,,,

ReneeG wrote:

Our F250 V10 was a 6.8L.