How save fuel at mountain driving

get up as fast as you can, without overheating
then let'er roll down

 

i dont think there is a fuel saving meathod for pullin a grade...if there is i would love to hear it!

the longer you take the more yer gonna burn....at least thats how i figure it

 

If I can get a run at it, I try to hit it hard at the bottom. Then I let the combination of momentum and horsepower get me to the top.

I'll let my engine run down to 1150 rpm or so and then downshift. If I'm losing rpms quickly, I tend to downshift a little sooner.

I definitely let it run on the way back down, if I can do so without attracting unwanted attention to myself.

There are certain hills known to me that I will start at the top with the JakeBrake and let it hold me back on the way down.


My 2 cent's worth.

 

Engine manufacturers suggest on their modern engines that it's not the best fuel savings method to take a run at an incline, or run in a gear that produces the highest RPM while climbing, but rather in a gear higher, or a half gear higher with a 13 or 18 speed transmission, and rely on the torque instead of the horsepower.
Keeping the RPM's lower burns less fuel over the long haul, both on approach and during the climb.

I've used this suggested technique. I'm not saying it actually works, but I had the best average fleet MPG in a company of about 25 Big trucks, including O/O's. But I also used other techniques, such as not idling if not absolutely necessary -- and Mother Nature's gravity in the mountains, instead of powering on the down-side -- only to have to use the brakes sooner.

I'd run cruise control only enough to get MPG numbers, then pedal it to compare my foot to the electronics. More often than not, my foot beat the cruise control.