Pleasureway in mountains

[Mike99]

Can anyone tell me how 2018 Pleasureway does goig up 8% grade? How about 10%. This is Pentastar 3.6l.

[rowiebowie]

Welcome to the forum Mike99!

From other posts about Promaster class b's, the owner's have no complaints. Some have reported they don't zip up steep grades, but with a gear or two down can keep up with traffic. I'm frankly surprised they are reported to do as well as they do with added weight of the class b conversion. A tribute to modern V-6 engines.

[booster]

IIRC one member did post about getting front wheel spinning on very steep grades, but I don't recall what all the conditions were.

[rowiebowie]

Originally Posted by booster

IIRC one member did post about getting front wheel spinning on very steep grades, but I don't recall what all the conditions were.

I recall that. I think they were driving up a levee or something. Not a typical roadway environment.

[booster]

Originally Posted by rowiebowie

I recall that. I think they were driving up a levee or something. Not a typical roadway environment.

The levee comment was in the same discussion, I think, but was a different poster that said he was able to drive up a levee.


It may have been in the Transit thread?


On edit, found the post.


http://www.classbforum.com/forums/f5...html#post97794

[Winston]

We have lots of 'mountain time' in our 92,000 miles of Promaster travels. Mountain performance is satisfactory, but not exhilarating. We often manually downshift - - as the transmission seems reluctant to do so - - in order to accelerate or, at times, maintain speed.

[rowiebowie]

Originally Posted by Winston

We have lots of 'mountain time' in our 92,000 miles of Promaster travels. Mountain performance is satisfactory, but not exhilarating. We often manually downshift - - as the transmission seems reluctant to do so - - in order to accelerate or, at times, maintain speed.

Your experience is line with what I've heard, and honestly, no rv is going to be happy going up grades carrying more than double it's original weight. Darned impressive that they do as well as they do.

92,000 miles! You must have seen a lot of places and have some stories to tell.

[Winston]

Sorry for the off-topic, but yes, those 92,000 miles were the end of a 6 year project encompassing nearly a quarter million overall miles to find a geocache in every county of this country. Done now (except for the former leper colony in Hawaii that has no geocaches) and looking to . . . as one writer suggested "slow down", stop, stay, smell the roses . . . relax. We're trying to 'retrain' ourselves to be lazy.

[rowiebowie]

Originally Posted by Winston

Sorry for the off-topic, but yes, those 92,000 miles were the end of a 6 year project encompassing nearly a quarter million overall miles to find a geocache in every county of this country. Done now (except for the former leper colony in Hawaii that has no geocaches) and looking to . . . as one writer suggested "slow down", stop, stay, smell the roses . . . relax. We're trying to 'retrain' ourselves to be lazy.

Had to look up geocashe.

[teck13]

An 8% grade is quite steep. Big questions are what is road surface and how fast do you need or want to be going?

As a frame of reference the grade up the Eisenhower Tunnel approaches in Colorado is 6%. Between the grade and altitude of 11,000 feet the non-turbo Promaster struggles. We have a 2019 Travato K and even if you can keep your speed up you’ll slow to 50 or so. And this is while keeping the engine revs pretty high. Thankfully the really challenging section is not very long so just stay in the right lane and it’s over quickly.

There is a similar challenge on Highway 50 to Tahoe in California. The altitude is 7,000 feet so there is more air for the van than in Colorado but the grade in parts in 7%. Traffic can make it harder to keep speed up and my observation is the Travato works really hard to stay at even 50 mph, at times dropping below that. Other than these more extreme situations the Promaster does surprising well hauling the nearly 10,000 pounds of the Travato up grades and mountain passes.

If the 8% grade is not on a highway (few national highways exceed 7%) then hopefully the speed limit is lower and you’ll be OK - the engine will have to be kept at high rpm’s to maintain power and speed - it makes some racket but the Pentastar twin cam engine is designed to run at high rpms so don’t fret it.

Traction is a separate issue. Going from a standing start on a 8% grade on a slippery surface is going to be very challenging with the front wheel drive. The grade shifts the weight over the non-driving rear wheels and it’s problematic. I have been on very steep (don’t know the grade) and windy paved roads where I very nearly get stuck trying to go from a standing start. Some wheel spin and smoke and I barely go going. Be very cautious.

[MotoBill]

Originally Posted by Mike99

Can anyone tell me how 2018 Pleasureway does goig up 8% grade? How about 10%. This is Pentastar 3.6l.

I have traveled I-26 from SC to NC, which has a 7% grade. I have a Lexor FL.
I was towing my enclosed trailer and motorcycle, about 1800 lbs, I was able to keep it at. 55 mph in 4th gear.

[shelleybeauvais]

We have a 2011 Pleasureway, have gone up real steep grades with no trouble at all, but we have an 8 cylinder.