going up a mountain shifting?

When I head up a mountain in 10 then I hit the clutch to go to 9th the rpms Rev very high then it falls then I put it into ninth. All I'm doing is pushing the clutch in and it revs on it own very high. Is it supposed to do this? Can I avoid this somehow? Am I doing something wrong?

 

Take you foot off the accelerator. You have to do it smoothly. Press the clutch, get off the gas at the same time, shift to neutral, let off the clutch, raise rpm's about 300 from where they were before you took it out of gear, press the clutch and put it in gear. This all has to be done in about 1.5 seconds. The longer you are out of gear the slower the truck will be, the less rpm you will need. Sounds like you are keeping your foot on the gas when you are coming out of gear.

 

When im about to go up a mountain I start downshifting so I can be at the speed while climbing it which could be 5, 4 or 3rd gear depending how heavy I am and how steep the mountain is.Then I leave it in that gearIf rpms are too high, a slight fanning of the brks will bring it down.Leave it one gear,dont shift while climbing or going down a mountain.

 

Thats horrible DANGEROUS advise. There is absolutely safe techniques for doing this and telling newbies not to do it is setting them up for possible disaster. What do you advocate if/when someone makes an error and starts in wrong gear, hang on, burn up brakes and hope? It happens, you can't kill a tool that may save your life. If you don't know how to do it, you'd better learn.

 

Whatthewhonow...?!

 

Are you using the cruise control at this time, maybe the clutch disengagement switch has failed.

 

I think pattyj means once you have reached the top and start down ..don't try and downshift...at least I hope that's what she means....go down the hill in the same gear that you were in when you crested the hill...

 

I have to agree! REALLY BAD ADVISE! I'm not going to get into the how to but
You need to be able to down shift going up hill, a lot of it is practice and getting comfortable with the truck.
While I don't condone shift going down hill you have to have control of your truck either going up or down a steep grade, if your jakes aren't holding you back and the RPMs are to high you need to get a lower gear or you'll burn the truck up. same thing going up a steep grade.
he best thing I can tell you is PRACTICE, use smaller easy grades when traffic is light or empty roads and practice shifting either up or down master your truck

 

I didn't think about that, I always turn it off when working grades.

Patty, why not downshift when climbing?

 

Clutch? There's a clutch?

I usually let the rpm dictate my shifts (Duh) anything below 1100 and I am pulling out of that gear and giving enough fuel to grab next gear. Worst thing to do is miss. As a few have already posted, it takes a lot of practice and familiarization with your tranny/truck/motor to know what it takes to effectively downshift up grades.

Now, for downhill. Engine brakes/Jakes are your best friend when traversing a downhill. Gear selection is key and ONLY go at speeds that you are comfortable with, not what other trucks are doing. Minimal braking is optimal but if you must, use the "stab" method (circa 2002). Leave truck in 10/13 etc and when rpms race to 17-19 apply light pressure to brakes to get revs down while keeping a controllable speed. I know a few O/O that use the trolley brake to go downhill because it saves the brakes on their truck. NOT RECOMMENDED. You lose a bit of control doing that and if one of those brakes seize up you're hitting the escape ramp or worse fishtailing.

JM2C