driving over the passes I90 (Mullan: camper, safe, trailer)

[doug brunson]

Hi I am planning a trip from Longmont co. to Spokane , And will be pulling my race car in an enclosed trailer.. I have a f350, so going up is not a problem, but I was wondering how long I will be driving down steep slopes.

[Sage of Sagle]

Originally Posted by doug brunson

Hi I am planning a trip from Longmont co. to Spokane , And will be pulling my race car in an enclosed trailer.. I have a f350, so going up is not a problem, but I was wondering how long I will be driving down steep slopes.

When we moved here I made trips over the winter of '06-'07 towing a 30' race trailer widebody (with trailer brakes), with about 8000lbs load each trip. I had a '99 Suburban 2500 4WD 454.

We came up I-15 to I-90 westbound to Idaho each time up. I can't tell you the exact length of the downslope...I'd say maybe 5-6 miles each place (both between Lookout Pass and Mullan and between 4th of July Pass and CDA area).

Coming down these passes was not a big stress to me towing heavy with the trans in 3rd and using the combined brakes to scrub some speed at the end of some of the longer straights. But even without trailer brakes I don't think I would have overpowered my tow vehicle's brakes on either descent.

HTH...

[doug brunson]

Sage ,Thanks for the info. I'm new with pulling an enclosed.. My flatbed is easy.. I feel better about the trip!

[Sage of Sagle]

Just remember that on the passes, slow and steady gets you there. People sometimes assume that because it's cold and snowy outside they can't overheat their brakes on a tow vehicle. 70 degrees colder air temp feels dramatic to humans, but is a drop in the bucket when your brake rotors can reach temps over 1000 degrees (F). It really only aids your brakes fractionally (although there is some benefit since your pads don't heat up as much as your rotors and so they WILL cool faster in the colder air)

One important thing to bear in mind is that the critical safety issue is letting your brakes have long enough to cool between application coming down long grades. So any time you're not being followed (don't want to create a hazard!), there is nothing wrong with doing harder than normal braking down to your desired pace for the upcoming corner (in the same time you would have done your normal braking, since the kinetic forces will build the exact same heat for x amount of speed reduction regardless of time), but your brakes will have LONGER to cool between application of pad-to-rotor. It SEEMS like erratic behavior, so you don't want to do it if you have someone right behind you in your lane 'cause you'll freak them out. But if you've checked and the roadway behind you is clear, it's a way to avoid having your brakes fade more and more as you get further down the grade. I'm NOT talking about "standing on the brakes" or doing something that would cause unsafe movement of your trailer...just getting MORE speed scrubbed off faster in fewer seconds than normal.

Bottom line..."lightly dragging the brakes longer" builds the same amount of heat as harder application if you're reducing the same velocity, so give your brakes more time to cool between corners and you'll be a happier camper...

[elkotronics]

Tap your brakes, but tap them with some pull, or push, eh? Repeatedly, just don't keep them mashed down for a continuous period of time as you motor down Lookout Pass.