Steep grades with automatic moving truck (relocate, U-Haul, trailer, trucks)

[tarheelveteran]

Hi everybody. Late June we will be moving from Charlotte to St Louis (family) in a 24' Penske with a car carrier. The truck itself will likely be a 4-gear automatic with a speed governor of 65 mph. Coming down steep grades it seems like we're expected to rely on the brake to slow us down. A lady I spoke to said it would be okay and that Penske takes good care of its trucks (which they do in my experience). I'm guessing we'll be going downhill west of Knoxville on I-40 and around Paducah KY on I-26. Is it possible to pull over and shift to a lower gear before going down? We've both driven Army 5-ton stickshifts and are not at all comfortable with relying on the brakes. Your help would be appreciated.

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by tarheelveteran

...Charlotte to St Louis (family) in a 24' Penske with a car carrier.
Your help would be appreciated.

Do you have a WalMart PAPER road atlas? Get one.
Look for symbols for rest stops and layover points.

Specific Q's should go to Penske...
but other than doing the stretch up past Knoxville in bad weather or overnight you should be fine.

If you're really concerned though...
the route through Atlanta and then up I-75 to I-24 is only 70 miles longer (per google).
That way you can avoid all the hills.

[Strate L O S S]

If it has an Allison trans with electric gear selector, then you can downshift while moving by pressing the down arrow.

If it doesn't have that trans disregard this post.

[reed303]

If the truck's shift indicator has positions marked 3, 2 or L, then it can be downshifted without stopping. (Were you thinking of some 4x4s where you do need to be stopped to shift the transfer case from Hi to Lo range ?) Just be sure to be going slow enough to not overrev the engine at time of shift. If you've driven heavy trucks, then you know to not "ride" the brakes in any case. I've seen U-Hauls on the I-70/Eisenhower Tunnel downgrades with the front rims glowing cherry red from "flatlanders" riding the brakes all the way down.

[MiddleClassAmericaDOTORG]

HI,

FWIW - gear down at the top of the hill and try to keep speeds 45 MPH or less using engine braking and occasional use of the brakes....reason for the slower speeds is it takes way more braking to bring speeds down if you let speeds get too high....if you really worry about brake fade you can come to a complete stop on the side of the road (where safe) and let the sit awhile to let the brakes cool off.

PS - Make sure the trailer brakes are working properly...THAT can make a big difference as well.

Andrew

[glamatomic]

You honestly won't have a problem!

In December, my husband and I relocated from Jacksonville, NC to St. Louis (so we took literally the same route as you're taking- just a little further for us) with a 26ft Penske Truck with Car Carrier (with my husband's Camaro on it)!

I drove my car and my husband drove the truck. Honestly, going up through the mountains around Asheville was the difficult part for DH- he could only get up to about 25-30mph! Going down mountains though was never a problem, and he never felt unsafe- he actually appreciated the fact that gravity sped him up 'down' the mountains as it helped him get 'up' the next mountain with less difficulty! He also said that he far preferred the Penske truck to U-Hauls he's driven in the past- it seemed a lot better maintained to him.

The biggest obstacle of the entire trip we actually encountered was probably navigating into our street, and then the Penske truck into the driveway. You'll be absolutely FINE!

P.S. You'll have zero problems around Paducah, it's a complete non-event!