Over the mountain and through the woods

Agreda Mobile Headquarters at scenic overlook near Carson Pass CAGave the ol’ Dodge Ram 2500 a real workout this weekend haulin’ the rig over Carson Pass (8,650) and Monitor Pass (8,314 ft) from Silver Lake near Kit Carson, CA to Twin Lakes near Bridgeport, CA. Check out our new LiveWorkDream Roadtrip Maps page to see some of the crazy hairpin turns and to follow the progress of our route.

The truck had no problem accelerating up the mountains, though it sure would be nice to figure out the right combination of using the Tow Haul switch, Overdrive Off option and the lower gears. While the truck seems to handle our load just fine in drive, using the Tow Haul switch comes in handy on steep steady grades. A few times, though it seemed to abruptly drop down a gear and nearly red-line for a moment. Any tips are greatly appreciated.

The weight of the trailer didn’t seem to be an issue at all. Either the hitch is getting broken in, or I’m getting much better at handling the vehicle as we didn’t experience any of the bouncing around we had the first few days out.

Of course, we were certain to drain our freshwater tank before we broke camp so we weren’t carrying that extra weight. And we had very little waste water in the holding tanks since we are good at conserving and primarily used the campground toilets. After all, we’re used to back country camping where we did all the dishes with a pint of water.

2 thoughts on “Over the mountain and through the woods”

  1. We just bought a new 2016 ram 2500 diesel to tow our 2015 arctic fox 24j our old 2002 Yukon 2500 just couldn’t do it….
    We leave it in tow mode at all times when towing and have not had any problem. 1st trip in August was San Diego to Tahoe on 395 over those same grades.

    Our Cabinet door quick fix..insert a small piece of toothpick point into hole to fill gap and screw back together

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