[Walter]

When I drive North to Marathon in Coberg, I used to run into an unusual sensation. There were times while driving in the mountains that I felt like I was losing power while driving. I felt like something is wrong with the engine because the road appeared flat, but the engine was straining and I was losing speed.

Its taken me a while to figure out that even though when I was looking ahead and the road appeared flat… if I looked to the side, I could see all the trees are leaning forward!

…the road isn’t flat…. I’m on a grade that due to the environment is an illusion that appears flat. A sort of “mountain mirage” or something.

It took me quite a few trips to figure that one out!

[Archived]

Gear down early for the downhills. Keep your speed in check, the bus will gather speed quickly. On my bus if the cruise is on the Jake will not engage. I think the cruise prevents the Go pedal from returning completely to the stop. So I get out of cruise when going up and down hills.

Safe travels,

Doug

[Cody]

Keeping your RPMs up (say 1,800-2,000) going uphill helps with speed and cooling. Putting the transmission in “Mode” vs “Economy” will have it shift more quickly helping keeping RPMs up. Turning off the “OTR” A/C will give you another 30 hp or so.

Coming downhill (say 6%) shift into 4th gear and put the jake on high. Watch your RPMs (don’t go over 2,100). Don’t ride the brakes coming down a hill.

Gerald

[Archived]

From a lifelong flatlander … all of the above, over and over and over again. Very similar to towing a 11,000# enclosed trailer with an older Suburban powered by a small block engine.

If the uphill grade is steep enough and long enough and you can’t maintain “traffic speed” you’ll end up in the right hand “slow vehicle lane”. Be very, very watchful in this lane. If the road snakes around right and left while climbing the mountain, you might be fooled by how slow the semi or truck in front of you is going. Not all trucks in the mountains hauling an 80,000# load have 650hp under the hood; some are trying to do it with 385, 350, and even 335 … and they will be slow. So if you think your 40 or 45 is slow … their 25 is slower yet and you will come up on them quickly.

Once you’re in the slow lane, its likely your going to be stuck there until you reach the top of the hill. Even with the 475 to 515hp that most of us have, don’t think you’re going to jump out into the passing lane with your 40 or 45 foot coach, three foot tow bar, and 19 foot toad and then accelerate enough to get past a 53′ trailer being pulled by 15 to 20 foot tractor before the cars and high powered trucks coming up from behind run up onto you. It just isn’t going to happen … trust me. This is especially important to understand if the road twists and turns as the mountain is climbed … you can’t see back far enough to see conflicting traffic given the amount of time you’re going to be in the passing lane.

Going down the hill can be just as exciting. As you crest the mountain and start back down often everyone who has slowed down can pick up speed, but they will pick up speed at different rates for different reasons … horsepower, desire to or lack thereof, or just plain lead foot. Be careful, this can get pretty exciting as you end up with the varying speeds in the pack, cars and trucks changing lanes quickly without signalling, etc. Think of Daytona or Talledega on a restart when someone up front or mid pack misses a shift or spins the tires and the field scatters behind and around them.

Good suggestion on cutting the OTR A/C to pickup horsepower. Dumping cruise control I’m not sure on. I’ve read sometime back that cruise control will give the DD an additional 25hp. Maybe someone from Prevost or Brian Stanton from American Fleet or someone who knows the answer for sure will comment.

Be careful, be alert of what’s going on, minimize the gawking at scenery, make sure your co-pilot doesn’t distract you, and you’ll be fine. All of us have been there, done that and have made it up and over the mountains OK.

[Fred F.]

When your speed drops to 45mph turn on you flashers. Forget about speed and always control the bus. Going down is a balance between what gear you are in, RPMs and intermediate braking. If you are in 4th gear and your RPHs are rising then a short brake to reduce the RPMs.