Truck question

[Cheryl]

Originally Posted by Ken / Claudia

The uphill smell might be the transmission. One way to check if you over heated it is smell and look at the dip stick. Burn odor is bad, color unless changed in that truck would be a red wine color.

Thanks, I'll check with the shop as to the colour. Wouldn't the truck gauges indicate if the engine was hot?

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[Johnny's Journey]

Cheryl I have the nearly the same set up. My trailer is 25 ft also but my truck is exactly what you have. As mentioned before from yourself and other's. Up hill may have been the transmission, maybe not. There is a way to monitor the transmission temp by using the information button's on the dash. I suggest finding it and leaving the info on full time display while towing. The transmission temp will climb with those 3:42 gears out back. As far as driving in M (manual) I recommend using M4. This will help a lot on the down hill to prevent speed up's even though your foot is off gas pedal. Back to M but up hill now. Don't be afraid to down shift it to M3 if needed (will help eliminate sudden down shifts and up shifts) and take your time climbing all the while monitory the transmission. And of course look into the brakes. Truck, trailer, and their functioning together as mention by other's. Oh, play with the manual shifting function/option with trailer not attached so you can get familiar with how it works and what it can do as far as assistance in towing. It's not hard. Slow and easy at first and easy does it. Your 1500 may say 9200 lbs but my drivers seat say's no way. Not with 3:42's any ways.

[chuckster57]

Once you know which wheel/button does what on the controller you should be able to do it by feel. It just takes time behind the wheel. We were all new and nervous at one time. Practice, practice, practice.

I'm currently talking a friend through pulling a Reflection 303 ( 11,000 pound fiver) from Tennessee back to Sacramento and he's never towed anything more than a utility trailer to the dumps.

[Cheryl]

Originally Posted by Johnny's Journey

Cheryl I have the nearly the same set up. My trailer is 25 ft also but my truck is exactly what you have. As mentioned before from yourself and other's. Up hill may have been the transmission, maybe not. There is a way to monitor the transmission temp by using the information button's on the dash. I suggest finding it and leaving the info on full time display while towing. The transmission temp will climb with those 3:42 gears out back. As far as driving in M (manual) I recommend using M4. This will help a lot on the down hill to prevent speed up's even though your foot is off gas pedal. Back to M but up hill now. Don't be afraid to down shift it to M3 if needed (will help eliminate sudden down shifts and up shifts) and take your time climbing all the while monitory the transmission. And of course look into the brakes. Truck, trailer, and their functioning together as mention by other's. Oh, play with the manual shifting function/option with trailer not attached so you can get familiar with how it works and what it can do as for as assistance in towing. It's not hard. Slow and easy at first and easy does it. Your 1500 may say 9200 lbs but my drivers seat say's no way.

Thanks! That's why I wanted to go with a lighter trailer and prefer to drive with empty tanks and a light load. I watch everything that goes in.

I will keep the info transmission monitor on. So the M setting is like being in drive? Just looking through the manual, so what does M1 through 6 indicate? you use M4 for downhill and M3 for uphill? The steeper the grade, the higher the number?

Heading to Windermere through the mountains without the trailer so I can test it this weekend.

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[Cheryl]

Originally Posted by chuckster57

Once you know which wheel/button does what on the controller you should be able to do it by feel. It just takes time behind the wheel. We were all new and nervous at one time. Practice, practice, practice.

I'm currently talking a friend through pulling a Reflection 303 ( 11,000 pound fiver) from Tennessee back to Sacramento and he's never towed anything more than a utility trailer to the dumps.

Lol! So all these adjustments need to be done while driving or can I set the boost while stopped? I've been driving everyday since I was 16 so I'm a careful confident driver. This is different but I'm sure with time it gets easier. I do wish the controller was higher up but they told me it needed to be there as there was no where else.

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[Johnny's Journey]

Originally Posted by Cheryl

Thanks! That's why I wanted to go with a lighter trailer and prefer to drive with empty tanks and a light load. I watch everything that goes in.

I will keep the info transmission monitor on. So the M setting is like being in drive? Just looking through the manual, so what does M1 through 6 indicate? you use M4 for downhill and M3 for uphill? The steeper the grade, the higher the number?

Heading to Windermere through the mountains without the trailer so I can test it this weekend.

M can be like D (drive) in some regards. Example, I like towing always in M4 (just my own preference) most of the time (flat areas). In M4 the truck will up shift from a stop up to only 4th gear (the last gear before either over drive gears 5 and 6 come in) and will down shift on it's own as you come to a stop. Still works like an automatic but only 4 speeds. About M3 up hill. I press the minus button and it down shifts to 3. I do this ahead of time when I know the grade is more the 4th can handle. Once at the summit I'll press the plus button and back to 4th it will shift to. Yes, play with it and see what happens. I'm sure you'll be pleased with the findings. Good luck.

[Cheryl]

Originally Posted by Johnny's Journey

M can be like D (drive) in some regards. Example, I like towing always in M4 (just my own preference) most of the time (flat areas). In M4 the truck will up shift from a stop up to only 4th gear (the last gear before either over drive gears 5 and 6 come in) and will down shift on it's own as you come to a stop. Still works like an automatic but only 4 speeds. About M3 up hill. I press the minus button and it down shifts to 3. I do this ahead of time when I know the grade is more the 4th can handle. Once at the summit I'll press the plus button and back to 4th it will shift to. Yes, play with it and see what happens. I'm sure you'll be pleased with the findings. Good luck.

Thanks! Trailering is quite fun.

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[mtofell]

You've got to be able to reach a trailer brake while driving. Plain and simple. If you can't, park the trailer until you have someone relocate it to where you can. This is like driving a car where you can't reach the brake pedal.

Aside from the adjustments being talked about, there is a lever to be able to apply just the trailer brakes (without the vehicle brakes). This is CRITICAL in a situation where your trailer starts to sway. Applying the trailer brake only creates tension between truck and trailer and stops the sway.

At the risk of sounding harsh, rolling down a mountain pass is not the time to be learning your equipment. Aside from yourself, there are a lot of other people out there counting on you to have this stuff figured out BEFORE heading out.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by Cheryl

Thanks, I'll check with the shop as to the colour. Wouldn't the truck gauges indicate if the engine was hot?

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I'm not familiar with your dash layout but yes, you should have a gauge (I hope) that would show if your "engine" was hot. That could be because of a problem with the coolant or engine oil (not full). The smell should be a tell tale of what's going on; coolant, oil, trans fluid, brakes all have a distinctive smell that tells you what it is right away. If you don't know what those smells are you have to look for overheating or leaks. If your truck can monitor trans. temp you need to watch it along with your engine temp. If it was brakes, and it was going uphill, your trailer brakes could be out of adjustment.

I'm afraid that you're working your truck very hard on those kinds of grades with a 3.42 ratio. A 3.42 isn't really a towing ratio and combined with 7000 lbs. and long steep grades there's no telling what it may be doing.

[Cheryl]

Originally Posted by sourdough

I'm not familiar with your dash layout but yes, you should have a gauge (I hope) that would show if your "engine" was hot. That could be because of a problem with the coolant or engine oil (not full). The smell should be a tell tale of what's going on; coolant, oil, trans fluid, brakes all have a distinctive smell that tells you what it is right away. If you don't know what those smells are you have to look for overheating or leaks. If your truck can monitor trans. temp you need to watch it along with your engine temp. If it was brakes, and it was going uphill, your trailer brakes could be out of adjustment.

I'm afraid that you're working your truck very hard on those kinds of grades with a 3.42 ratio. A 3.42 isn't really a towing ratio and combined with 7000 lbs. and long steep grades there's no telling what it may be doing.

Thanks! I'll check into the fluids. And gauges.

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[chuckster57]

Originally Posted by mtofell

You've got to be able to reach a trailer brake while driving. Plain and simple. If you can't, park the trailer until you have someone relocate it to where you can. This is like driving a car where you can't reach the brake pedal.



Aside from the adjustments being talked about, there is a lever to be able to apply just the trailer brakes (without the vehicle brakes). This is CRITICAL in a situation where your trailer starts to sway. Applying the trailer brake only creates tension between truck and trailer and stops the sway.



At the risk of sounding harsh, rolling down a mountain pass is not the time to be learning your equipment. Aside from yourself, there are a lot of other people out there counting on you to have this stuff figured out BEFORE heading out.

I agree, if you can't reach the controller to manually apply trailer brakes it needs to be moved. Mine on the bottom of the dash, but over by the go pedal so I can see and operate it if needed. It sounds to me like the dealer either didnt have the proper harness to allow the controller to be placed in a better location or they were too lazy. On any case I would insist that they relocate it so you can see the display and operate it while driving.

[Jeepshots]

Cheryl, the M mode for the transmission is a manual mode. You're setting the highest possible gear that the transmission is allowed to use when you jump into the M numbers. So, M3 means the transmission can only shift as high as 3rd gear. Going up hill, you want the engine in the power band (range of RPMs) and that's usually pretty high. The transmission wants to shift to keep the engine in the low RPMs. By restricting it to M3, it has to stay in 3rd gear (or lower, depending on speed). If you select M5, that means fifth gear is the highest it'll shift to. It's really just a gear limiter - can't shift higher than whatever M number you've set it to. So you use it to keep the engine RPMs up high. This gives you some braking assistance going down hill, and power going up hill. Just gotta go slower, that's all.

Second thing - the reason they wanted to install the brake controller down under the dash is that the controller needs to be flat, so it can feel the acceleration/deceleration, hills and what not. My blind suggestion (because I don't know the inside of your truck) is to locate a place on the dash that's flat, and relocate the brake controller there. In my Durango, I mounted the controller between the driver's A-pillar and the instrument cluster hump of the dash. there was just enough room and it was flat enough to work. I bought some industrial velcro, and used that. Ran the wires down beside the dash. That way, i could unplug it, rip it off the dash and store it in the glove box when i wasn't towing. But it was easy to hook back up when i needed it. Chuckster and the others are spot on - the controller must be moved to where you can manipulate the controls while you're driving. Might be worth taking it back to the installer (if possible) and having them move it. They just took the easy way out. If there's no other possible place, look at changing controllers. That manufacturer (I can't spell it and am too lazy to look it up) makes one that can mount in just about any orientation, as long as it's facing forwards in some manner. And that means it can be higher up the dash towards you since it opens up mounting options. That's the one I had...

[chuckster57]

Prodigy doesn't care at what angle it's mounted, only requirement is in line front to back with the body line of the tow vehicle. Pendulum style controllers need to be set and adjusted for the weight to swing. ONE of the main reasons I bought my prodigy when they were first introduced .

[Desert185]

Originally Posted by Jeepshots

Cheryl, the M mode for the transmission is a manual mode. You're setting the highest possible gear that the transmission is allowed to use when you jump into the M numbers. So, M3 means the transmission can only shift as high as 3rd gear. Going up hill, you want the engine in the power band (range of RPMs) and that's usually pretty high. The transmission wants to shift to keep the engine in the low RPMs. By restricting it to M3, it has to stay in 3rd gear (or lower, depending on speed). If you select M5, that means fifth gear is the highest it'll shift to. It's really just a gear limiter - can't shift higher than whatever M number you've set it to. So you use it to keep the engine RPMs up high. This gives you some braking assistance going down hill, and power going up hill. Just gotta go slower, that's all.

Second thing - the reason they wanted to install the brake controller down under the dash is that the controller needs to be flat, so it can feel the acceleration/deceleration, hills and what not. My blind suggestion (because I don't know the inside of your truck) is to locate a place on the dash that's flat, and relocate the brake controller there. In my Durango, I mounted the controller between the driver's A-pillar and the instrument cluster hump of the dash. there was just enough room and it was flat enough to work. I bought some industrial velcro, and used that. Ran the wires down beside the dash. That way, i could unplug it, rip it off the dash and store it in the glove box when i wasn't towing. But it was easy to hook back up when i needed it. Chuckster and the others are spot on - the controller must be moved to where you can manipulate the controls while you're driving. Might be worth taking it back to the installer (if possible) and having them move it. They just took the easy way out. If there's no other possible place, look at changing controllers. That manufacturer (I can't spell it and am too lazy to look it up) makes one that can mount in just about any orientation, as long as it's facing forwards in some manner. And that means it can be higher up the dash towards you since it opens up mounting options. That's the one I had...

The P2 that she has doesn't need to be mounted flat. It self compensates.

[chuckster57]

Originally Posted by Desert185

The P2 that she has doesn't need to be mounted flat. It self compensates.

Looks like we were typing at the same time.

I bought my prodigy when Tekonsha touted 2nd generation. Mine is old enough that it has red LED display and will not work with electric over hydraulic.

[ctbruce]

Cheryl, It sounds like you had the dealer install the controller? If do, I'd take it to a trailer place and have them mount it for you. They do this install a lot more than a dealer does and you should get better results. Good luck.

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[Cheryl]

I really appreciate all this information. Took the truck through the mountains without trailer and tried the manual gears. My first car was a Volkswagen fastback and then the Westfalia so I'm familiar with a stick shift. I suppose this is similar. One question, coming down a hill, I geared down. Then into 2nd then 3rd, and then we were flat. I stopped to put it back into drive, as i didn't think i could go from 3rd to D direct? Haven't tried going up yet but seems like i want the rpms fairly high ( especially with a trailer) going up?

I'll be taking the truck to a trailer shop to check on the position of the brakes. It will be good though to go in with this extra information. Much appreciated. I was just told that once they were set you were good to go.

I did take a trailering course but of course, we didn't do mountains. . Also practiced driving a truck for a year before getting a trailer.


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[Johnny's Journey]

You can shift it up or down manually to any desired gear while driving. Just so you know M6 is just like being in D and will shift automatically as if in D. I strongly suggest you become very familiar with using M before towing. Down shifting it at the wrong RPM going down hill can result into some bad things.

[Rusty]

Just some constructive criticism here, don't take it wrong Cheryl.

You should have taken the truck and trailer combo for a drive around the Foothills area, and/or the prairies outside Calgary, there are miles of roads that you can tool around for hours on a Saturday or Sunday to get used to how it feels, plus with the winds that we can experience here can in certain places be quite jarring, last weekend we came back from Cold Lake and the wind coming from the west just outside Red Deer was very strong, the fifth wheel was bobbing and weaving quite dramatically, passed quite a few Travel Trailers that were dancing dangerously close to other vehicles.

The wind in the mountains can be a lot for some to handle, and if you are a newbie to towing a trailer it can be downright scary.

So a less traveled road in the prairies would be a great start to 1) setting up the brakes, 2) learning how to tow.

I know when I first started pulling a fifth wheel I went to a WalMArt/Mall parking lot to practice basic backing practices. Mind you I also drove a 5 ton cargo while in the Army in Germany.......

Happy camping. Check out Waiporous outside Ghost River some of the best camping around the Southern Alberta area, only thing is there are no services, which suits us just fine.

http://www.redrocksawmills.com/index...unds/waiparous

[canesfan]

Originally Posted by Cheryl

Lol! So all these adjustments need to be done while driving or can I set the boost while stopped? I've been driving everyday since I was 16 so I'm a careful confident driver. This is different but I'm sure with time it gets easier. I do wish the controller was higher up but they told me it needed to be there as there was no where else.

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WHY did they put the controller down there??? That is total nonsense that it HAS to be down there. The prodigy can be mounted at a pretty steep angle. I forget the exact number. I have mine mounted to the right of the steering column on the bottom slope of the dash. It is just to the right of my right knee. I can grab it easily if I need to and adjust it easily when I need to. If I had to guess it's probably at a 75* angle or so. There is NO reason that I know of why it needs to be down by your brakes pedal. It SHOULD be where you can reach it...EASILY...at all times.

Edit - I just read some more posts, the Prodigy does NOT need to be mounted flat front to back, only side to side. As Chuckster said it needs to be in line with the vehicle side to side, but front to back angle does NOT need to be flat by any means.

Edit 2 - The original Prodigy was 70*, the P2 is a full 360* vertical mounting.