Tips for Driving an RV on Extreme Mountain Grades
Driving your RV through curvy mountain roads with their beautiful views has a charm of its own. However, these high roads have certain hazards to watch out for, especially when you are going uphill or downhill on extreme mountain grades. At Schwab’s RV World, we care for your well-being and safety, which is we’ve put together this short guide to help you properly navigate mountain roads. Come to our dealership in Leduc, Alberta for more tips from our expert technicians or to check out our wide selection of RVs for sale.
Stay Alert
The mountains offer us beautiful views which are well worth the drive, but getting lost in all the splendor can be dangerous so it’s important that you keep your focus to avoid a potential accident. Keep in mind that all motorists have different experience levels when it comes to navigating those twisty mountain roads, so always leave plenty of space around your RV. Keep an eye out for anyone driving erratically and maintain a safe distance from them.
Going Up a Hill
Taking an RV up a mountain can be a challenging task. Climbing steep grades requires high levels of horsepower and torque, which can cause the drivetrain of your tow vehicle or motorhome to heat up. To keep your engine running cooler, we’d recommend climbing grades in a manually selected gear. This will allow partial throttle climbs without the automatic up-shift. Plus, operating your engine at higher RPMs will let the cooling package run more efficiently.
Going Downhill
Recreational vehicles are heavy and all of their weight makes it easy to pick up speed, especially when going down a steep slope. It's challenging to stay in control once you start going too fast. Try to prevent this safety issue from happening and go down slopes slowly.
You don’t want to ride your brakes all the way down since the resulting friction will produce excessive heat that may lead to poor braking efficiency or even full brake failure. To prevent this, considerably reduce the speed of your tow vehicle or motorhome as you approach the downhill slope.
Use Hazard Lights
Tackling extreme mountain grades often means that you’ll need to drive your RV around 20 to 30 miles per hour under the speed limit. That’s why it’s a good idea to turn on your hazard lights. This will give other motorists a heads up about your reduced speed and they can either slow down behind you or overtake your camper.
We hope that these tips will help you safely conquer extreme mountain grades while driving your RV. If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch with us at Schwab’s RV World in Leduc, AB. We welcome all our patrons visiting us from Edmonton.