Quote Originally Posted by a5150nut View Post
You are in my old stopping grounds. I used to work for Operating Engineers Local 3 there in Morgan Hill. Used to lived off Monterey at Capitol in SJ. Recognized the roads on your test drive. Have you tried over Pacheco Pass yet?

That's not one of the FMG rigs that used to be at the repair shop on Monterey just north of Morgan Hill is it?
That's quite a coincidence! Yes, my rig has been at the shop (RVS) on Monterey Blvd from time to time. By the way, that shop closed down a couple of years ago. And Yes, I have been over Pacheco Pass (1300 ft) three times now. Pulls it very nicely. We went over and back on our second test run and then I went that way to show coach to others in Modesto, Ripon and Sacramento. Came back via the Altamont pass and the Sunol grade. Maintained my 60 mph all the up the Sunol grade (steep but short).

With all of that turning out well, I then had the confidence to hook up my Subaru Brat tow car and head to Oregon via my old home town of Dixon, CA (needed to stop at Pedrick Produce!). The trip north up I-5 was 583 miles and I got 13.1 mpg as measured by the DIC and verified by my carefully filling the tank once I got home to Oregon. So the real test was the Siskiyou Pass just north of the CA/OR border. It is 7 miles of 6% grade going up and 7 miles of 6% grade going down the other side with the pass at about 4,300 ft.! That followed two other passes at over and under 3,000 ft.

The run home proved two things: The first is that I now have a very responsive coach that is fun and rewarding to drive, and the second is that with the power available, I can generate heat faster than I can get rid of the heat. I knew that was a possibility when I compared the new pusher fan (and the fact that it is a pusher configuration) I installed to the one that came out of the 2006 GMC Sierra. While the coach is very drivable at present, at some point I will need to increase the heat rejection rate and that will start with a new fan with more blades, etc.. The coach has the power to climb a 6% grade at 60 mph, but needs mods to do it on long grades to control the heat issue. Coming home I just did what truckers do on grades and that is to just gear down, go slower and keep my revs up. That reduces the work on the engine which reduces heat generation and the high revs blows more air through the radiator which gets rid of more heat.

Sorry for the delay in responding, but it was because I was on the road north and doing things once I got home.