Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 22:58:09 -0700
Reply-To: Trooz <trooz@ROADRUNNER.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Trooz <trooz@ROADRUNNER.COM>
Subject: Re: Talk to me about AT's!
In-Reply-To: <86476e250707192229x74dc5b7qd57983c69d932bbb@mail.gmail.com>
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I'll second Loren's comments. I spend a lot of time in the Mammoth area
(the grade Mike was talking about) and I routinely pull it into second gear
on that climb, then again for part of the pull into Mammoth. My reasoning
is this: I have to floor it and keep it floored to do 40 mph up the Sherwin
Grade, gradually dropping down to 35 or so. If I pull it into second, I can
easily maintain 35-38 mph at about half throttle. In my mind, that has to
be a lot easier on the engine. I've never worried about the AT, and at
191,000 I guess I won't start worrying about it now.
I do that on all of the long, steep passes in the eastern Sierra: Cottonwood
Lakes, Rock Creek, Tioga Pass, etc., and, like Loren, I also use the tranny
for engine braking on the downhills.
All I've ever done to the tranny is to have the shop of the day change the
AT fluid and clean the screen every 50K or so.
Bob Trousdale
'90 Westy
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]
> On Behalf Of Loren Busch
> Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2007 10:30 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Talk to me about AT's!
>
> RE: Automatics
> Mike, about the time you were on your trip I was doing a trip
> with my '90 Westy automatic, heavily loaded, to a location I
> drive to several times a year. The last 12 miles go from
> about 2,200 feet to over 6,300 feet on narrow and very
> winding road, very slow going. I'm down to second gear from
> the start of the climb and better than half that pull is done
> in 1st gear on the automatic. And not over revving, max
> around 3,800 rpm. The automatic does just fine. The Westy
> warms up, radiator fan on and occasionally on high, what I
> call 'propeller' mode. Coming back off that mountain is
> about the same, part in 1st gear, most in second so that I
> have brakes all the way and still when I hit the bottom.
> I've never seen any reason to not use the automatic just like
> I'd use a stick (and I drove this same route many time with a
> manual in my '85. I understand the feeling about an
> automatic (am I about to blow a seal?) but I don't like to
> lug an engine when pulling a grade. I've always figured I'd
> rather stress a transmission (cheaper to
> repair) than blow an engine.
>
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>
>
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