How do these cruisers do on sustained steep hwy climbs?

[FxFormat]

I'm submitting paperwork and is taking a month off to head out west to hang out mostly in Colorado and Utah with my buddy. This will start on May 1st, I heard a lot of roads are closed in CO during winter time hence the date. How do these cruisers do when driving steep mountainous grades? I have an 01 so it's a 4spd, we don't have any steep roads here so I haven't been able to test it out yet. I don't have armors, just sliders, and will be adding a safari rack and load it up with gear before i head out. I estimate the cruiser to weigh about 6500 lbs with me in it by the time i'm done.

I love spirited driving, i've toyed with the idea of selling the 100 and getting a 5.7L single cab tundra to do this trip but i think the cruiser is better since i can just sleep inside if i'm tired. Btw do you guys turn O/D off when driving steep grades?

 

[thebus]

i brought my 80 and it did O.K. the 100 series will most likely do better, the only thing i did notice is i had to put it in 4wd LOW for the high off road altitude climbs the computer could not compensate fast enough i guess. on road was fine enjoy the trip west!

 

[Palmer]

i brought my 80 and it did O.K. the 100 series will most likely do better, the only thing i did notice is i had to put it in 4wd LOW for the high off road altitude climbs the computer could not compensate fast enough i guess. on road was fine enjoy the trip west!

He's driving on the highway.

You turn O/D off with the little button on the side of the shifter. It's literally marked "OD off" The dashboard will also indicate with a light.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

In most cases you can set CC and enjoy the ride. The Land Cruiser does an excellent job knowing what gear you need IMO.

 

[thebus]

In most cases you can set CC and enjoy the ride. The Land Cruiser does an excellent job knowing what gear you need IMO.

as well i never felt the need to force a gear, only used to lower on descents for engine braking

 

[Spike555]

Press the PWR button and go.
If you're having trouble holding speed without hitting the rev limiter then you will need to slow down.
I think your biggest problem is going to be overheated brakes and brake fade/glazing.
With all the gear on top you're going to have a ton more wind resistance to overcome, so you may not do as well in the mountains as you'd like.

 

[CORunner]

I live in Denver CO and have a 01 100 with drawers/bumpers. Drive into the mountains a lot. The 100 is adequate in the mountains at highway speeds. On a scale to 1 to 10, I would rate it a 6. (10 being my buddy's SRT8 Cherokee and a 1 being my other buddy's 01 4 cly Wrangler automatic).

There are some tricks that I have found useful. Like above, taking it out of overdrive. One downside with the 4spd auto is you really have to hold the gas down for awhile to get the transmission to drop down a gear and then it doesn't want to stay there. I feel like at highway speeds the transmission is always trying to get into 4th gear.. So anticipate the grade and try to build momentum and/or rev the engine up to get it into 3rd before you loose speed. Also I manually shift it down to 2 on some climbs even at highway speeds. Revs are high, 4,000 rpm but it does the trick. Having said that, I mainly drive on I-70 where everyone is going over the passes at 70-80mph. If you are off the beaten path a bit with slower speeds, the 100 will be just fine.

May 1 is still a pretty early start. There will be a lot of snow on any of the higher passes and even some major roads are still closed. Even in early June we couldn't get over Tincup pass.

 

[FxFormat]

I live in Denver CO and have a 01 100 with drawers/bumpers. Drive into the mountains a lot. The 100 is adequate in the mountains at highway speeds. On a scale to 1 to 10, I would rate it a 6. (10 being my buddy's SRT8 Cherokee and a 1 being my other buddy's 01 4 cly Wrangler automatic).

There are some tricks that I have found useful. Like above, taking it out of overdrive. One downside with the 4spd auto is you really have to hold the gas down for awhile to get the transmission to drop down a gear and then it doesn't want to stay there. I feel like at highway speeds the transmission is always trying to get into 4th gear.. So anticipate the grade and try to build momentum and/or rev the engine up to get it into 3rd before you loose speed. Also I manually shift it down to 2 on some climbs even at highway speeds. Revs are high, 4,000 rpm but it does the trick. Having said that, I mainly drive on I-70 where everyone is going over the passes at 70-80mph. If you are off the beaten path a bit with slower speeds, the 100 will be just fine.

May 1 is still a pretty early start. There will be a lot of snow on any of the higher passes and even some major roads are still closed. Even in early June we couldn't get over Tincup pass.

Ooh this is good info, thanks! I have been wanting to go on Black Bear Pass for awhile now, so the main reason to head that way is to do that, but seems like May is still too early? After that we plan on going to Moab, which is a couple hours away, and doing Utah's mighty five drive to all the national parks. Probably just hover around that area for awhile then head up to Salt Lake city and then Yellow Stone after. I do want to see some snow, but not so much snow that I can't drive on the mountain passes.

 

[El Cid]

Only thing I can offer is to over do your map planning. You'll have more off road than you'll have time. So don't commit too much and give your self as many options as possible. You'll be stunned by how much Western Colorado and Utah have to offer. Weather is always a factor. I went to Moab in the summer and it was like a pizza oven too hot and I would have been happier in more wide open, scenic trails. if something is too snowy, just move on to the next place.

 

[Ohthetrees]

I took a heavily loaded 2001 (more than 7000lb) over some passes in the Sierra Nevada, and some long off pavement climbs through Death Valley. Cooling system is a strong point of this truck in my opinion, never saw the temperature gage waver.

Power is very subjective, but I feel it is more than adequate, even over big passes. But then again it doesn’t freak me out to let the engine rev, that’s where it makes the most horsepower, why not use it? Drivers of more modern vehicles feel like something is wrong if they are over 3500 rpm because they have so much horsepower and torque to spare. My ruck was very heavily loaded, maintained 65 mph without trouble, could have gone faster if I wanted, though for very steepest grades at higher altitude I had to shift to 2nd and let engine rev pretty high.

I have 33 inch tires and the four-speed, and find that everything works better if I give “hints” to the transmission, especially when I’m heavily loaded. I use the PWR button, the overdrive button, and feel free to shift into “2” or “L” if necessary. Once you get the hang of it, you can pretty much choose what gear your truck will be in at any given time, it’s almost like a manual. On a long highway climb I prefer to downshift using the OD button or shift lever rather than by pushing the throttle harder. If I let it do its own thing, it will start to feel bogged down and under powered, keeping 4th gear for too long, especially heavily loaded with 33 inch tires.

I’d leave pwr button on heavily loaded at altitude.

Then shift it like a manual:

4th = D
3rd = OD off
2nd = 2
1st = L

It becomes second nature after a while.


For long descents, you should definitely take some stress off of your braking system by downshifting for some engine braking. I can usually find a gear that gives me very close to my desired speed and I hardly have to touch the brakes. In a heavily loaded cruiser on a really long downhill you can easily cook your brakes which will warp your rotors, or worse boil your brake fluid and lose control of the vehicle. Using engine braking on a heavily laden truck is just good technique.

 

[Manhattan]

You lost me at "spirited" Seriously, even with the VVt and the 5-speed, these things are pretty underpowered. On sustained climbs, they will bounce between 3rd and 4th gear. Don't get me wrong - I love (!) my 100. But, I settled into a more "relaxed" driving style about 100,000 miles ago.

 

[geanes]

@FxFormat .... you'll be fine in your 4speed. My 98 LX has gone to CO now 3 times and climbed over every single major paved (Pikes Peak, RMNP) pass and nearly every offroad high mountain pass (Mosquito, Tincup, Imogene, California, etc.). When I went this past June (late June), nearly every single major offroad pass was closed due to snow buildup (Mosquito was only able to be topped from the Leadville side, but the eastern side was closed). Based on the current winter predictions, 2018 will get a late start for passes opening. I did a TON of trail drives though that were very entertaining. I've got tons of routes between Salida, Buena Vista and Colorado Springs triangle. All of those would be open.

 

[subzali]

Check out bushducks.com for past year history on when high passes open. Some don’t open til july

 

[Jeepster09]

I recently pulled a trailer loaded with 2 ton of rock for driveway up long steep incline with no issues at all.

 

[FxFormat]

@FxFormat .... you'll be fine in your 4speed. My 98 LX has gone to CO now 3 times and climbed over every single major paved (Pikes Peak, RMNP) pass and nearly every offroad high mountain pass (Mosquito, Tincup, Imogene, California, etc.). When I went this past June (late June), nearly every single major offroad pass was closed due to snow buildup (Mosquito was only able to be topped from the Leadville side, but the eastern side was closed). Based on the current winter predictions, 2018 will get a late start for passes opening. I did a TON of trail drives though that were very entertaining. I've got tons of routes between Salida, Buena Vista and Colorado Springs triangle. All of those would be open.

Yikes, at this point, looks like May will be a winter wonderland in CO? That's gonna put a damper on things. Probably safe to say that BBP will be closed at this time..sigh, should i just push the trip back to July then? Would suck to drive all the way out there and cannot do Black Bear since that's my number one road to go on. Did you go to Moab, how's the weather there in mid may?

 

[Evan Kapel]

Southwest Utah has great weather in May although it can be breezy. The farther south you go (and lower elevation), the earlier in the year
it becomes pleasant.

 

[geanes]

Yikes, at this point, looks like May will be a winter wonderland in CO? That's gonna put a damper on things. Probably safe to say that BBP will be closed at this time..sigh, should i just push the trip back to July then? Would suck to drive all the way out there and cannot do Black Bear since that's my number one road to go on. Did you go to Moab, how's the weather there in mid may?

May in Utah is probably ideal as it's past the "rainy" season and before the summer heat. Plenty of guys on here tread Utah throughout the year. @ikarus is one who routinely posts some AMAZING shots of his travels around Utah.

I'm not planning on heading back up to Colorado again until late June (headed to Buena Vista/Leadville area) and then again in July (whenever HIH8 takes place.....fingers crossed). July is perfect anywhere in CO.

Haven't been to Utah yet, but am planning a 1.5 week expedition that will take in Canyonlands (White Rim Trail), Arches, Capitol Reef, Bryce and Zion National Parks in late August. Have a LOT of stuff to do on the rig to prepare for that trip.

 

[ikarus]

May in Utah is probably ideal as it's past the "rainy" season and before the summer heat. Plenty of guys on here tread Utah throughout the year. @ikarus is one who routinely posts some AMAZING shots of his travels around Utah.

Yeah May is awesome. April-May is amazing weather down south, though that means that Moab is slammed. I once drove past a two hour long wait to get into Arches on Memorial Day weekend in 2015. So my advice:

100s do great on mountain roads, even on mine with 33s with bumpers, no gears. As far as the passes, you never know how the snow will be until the spring. So far we've had very little snow and the weather's been warm so the passes could be open by April. But I've been to places in Montana that aren't passable til July.. so just make sure you have backup plans in case the trails aren't open yet.

Personally I would wait til July if you're set on BBP etc. I'm not an expert on Colorado trails though.

Not that you asked for it, but here's some other advice I have haha. Plan national parks visits on Mondays-Thursdays if possible to avoid crowds, and book your hotels now cause there's usually 0 vacancies in hotels, condos, airbnb, campsites, everything is full from April-June. Then I would do more deserted stuff like 4x4 trails, BLM land, National Monuments on the weekends. Utah state parks have yurts that are super fun to stay in, but also need to be reserved early.

July - August, Moab gets less crowded but it also gets blistering hot. I usually go out in the morning and evening and nap during the day when it's 90-100. And one last thing, just make sure to monitor weather reports, mostly April-June. Flash floods in Utah are super sketchy if you're caught in a slot canyon. Pretty easy to avoid if you plan around rain storms.

Happy to help if you have any other questions.

 

[enfield]

I drove from Texas to Yosemite last summer. I'm really unfamiliar with driving steep grades, so I was really quick to hit the OD lock out button on climbs. I'd rather buy more gas than a new transmission. Sounds like I over-reacted with that though.

 

[subzali]

Black bear the last two years hasn’t opened until 7/13-7/15 timeframe.