Driving info

[The Wind]

We are planning to go from Fla. to Indiana early Saturday morning. I have read things about watching the exhaust temps., trnsmission temps, ect. We plan to drive straight thru. What should we be on the lookout for? We do not have the fancy equipment that alot of you have. This will be my first time driving thru the mountains. I know to watch the speed. How will I know if I am runnung the exhaust temp to high? Are you able to use cruise control while pulling? If so, should I do it while going thru the mountains? Any info will be helpful.

[Broome101]

Only way to watch temps with you TV is to add the gauges that monitor such items as Transmission temp, exhaust temp or Pyro temp, and turbo Boost. Your TV from factory does not have any of these gauges they would have to be added aftermarket. I would not recommend towing in cruise in mountains only on flat land, also make sure you lock out your OD while driving in mountains or any hilly terrain.

[Virgil]

I would not use CC in the mountains either. It just creates a bunch of extra shifting and could easy be dangerous on descents. Also, let your TV tell you if you need to need to shift out of OD. If it shifts down often, take it out of OD. I don't think that your milage will drop much. After a few hundred miles, you will get the feel of the truck / trailer combination.

[jerryb]

I don't recall any hill between Florida and Indiana that would cause you to heat up unless you had a mechanical problem. You don't need a pyro unless you're chipped and pulling hard in real hills, and not paying atention.

[sreigle]

I do use the cruise control in mountains but in mine the tow/haul and the variable vane geometry of the turbo controls the descent and holds the speed down. If doing a lot of switchbacks or there's speed limits for slower turns at the bottom then I'll turn off the cruise. In other words, I kick the cruise off in the same situations I would on the flats. Otherwise I leave it on. Nowadays I'll sometimes turn off the cruise going up a long grade because the truck will hold the cruise speed all the way up the hill and with the price of fuel I sometimes decide to let it slow down and save the fuel.

Without the gauges you're flying blind pretty much. The turbo likely has some kind of governor and won't let you overboost so you're probably ok there. I could be wrong as I'm not sure how it worked on the 7.3.

As for tranny temp and EGT, just don't push it too hard since you don't have the gauges. If it seems to be pulling hard, just back off a little. This is where the gauges are nice. I find I almost never need to back off even on 7% grades but I watch those gauges like a hawk. On one 8 percenter I did back off a bit as EGT got higher than I'd like. About 2 mph and it was back down to a more comfortable level (for me). That was on the '03 truck. On this one I've never seen a need to back off.

If yours has the ability to turn off the overdrive or pull it down to the top gear below overdrive I'd recommend that on the steeper hills.

What route are you taking from FL to Indiana? Unless you're going through WV or western MD I don't recall any really long steep grades where you'd have to worry much about it. We'll be on the road Thursday through Sunday but maybe someone else will jump in and help out.