Downshifting going uphill

I think I know why they took the shift bars out of them now.

 

No expert at all really but…

I watch all the gauges and listen to everything going up hills that really need to be thought about.

Start losing power/rpm your egt tends to rise and even though you might feasibly make it up some hills you have to think is it really worth putting that extra strain on the engine so just drop a gear and bring the rpm’s up a bit and your using your gearing vs all your engine grunt. Your egt will drop and you have an easier time pulling a hill without causing any unnecessary strain, if you reach the top and your lugging it at 40 mph vs using all your tools at 25 it is just better for your truck. So you start feeling yourself coming out of the power band, downshift and bring it back into optimum range. You can climb some pretty nasty stuff and your engine is just as happy when you get to the top as it would be any other day if managed correctly.

Then setup and be in a proper lower gear for the descent so you don’t have to downshift going down. Start down slow.

 

If you’re moving a Detroit 60 my truck likes riding the gear up to about 20-22 rpm so that it catches smooth at 14-16 rpm.

 

it just takes practice and knowing your truck
Go figure out what engine you have and google the power curves.

 

And...if you can shift on the flats you can shift uphill, it's just going to happen a little faster