Mountain Driving in the Rockies

[Ray]

Wait - I re-read - Ralphs comment was about storage - sooooo sorry

[randallrae]

Ethanol is corrosive and in storage can separate and cause fuel system problems . Many BF owners coaches sit idle for weeks or months , so pure gas would be better in those instances .

[Ray]

I also run the tank low and fill up with non ethanol before parking it for longer than about two weeks. No sure about the rest of the country but non ethanol is easy to find around here. I dont pay much attention when traveling.

[whemme]

Power going up mountains?

I have traveled extensively on I-40 and I-17 in the states of NM and AZ where there are many 6% uphill grades. My 2002 BF 26' RSB coach with the 305 HP V10 engine pulling my 3400 lb toad climbs these hills quite well. However, one must realize that the 6.8 L V10 engine is a high revving overhead cam engine and one must be willing to rev it up to get the advertised power.

Any slight uphill grade at all will cause the 4-speed automatic transmission to shift out of overdrive into 3rd gear if in cruise control. And a 6% grade of any length will require a shift down to 2nd gear. If you can stand the roar of the engine, you can pull up these 6% grades in 2nd gear at 55 mph but you will be revving the engine to 4500 rpm which this engine is happy with - just a lot of noise!