Snails crawl going up hill

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azTony

azTony

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Threads
207
Messages
3,930
Location
Arizona
Ok, I have had my Cruiser for a while now and have worked on it more than I drive it but today was time for the first drive. I have driven around town and 30 to 50 miles down the highway (flat ground) with no problems but today I was thought I was going to have to get out and push. I know these things are not speed demons but I was coming south on I-87 (Beeline Highway in Arizona) and it goes through the mountains and there were places where my top speed was 36 miles an hour going uphill. This "can not" be normal conditions as this does not even meet the minimum speed on an Arizona highway. What could possibly be wrong?

1993 LC w/181k miles on it, 315's with new 4.88's, new tune up (cap, wires, plugs, pvc, pvc hoses, air cleaner).

I can not say I was "loaded" by any means and the AC was blowing cold (thanks Murf!!) the entire time so I was not over heating. The transmission would down shift but when I was doing 36 miles an hour I had no more gas pedal to push on. I cruise on flat ground at 75 mph with no problems. Any ideas? Your help is very much appreciated.
 
What was the tranny doing?
What gear(s) were you in?
36 mph in what gear? What RPM?
Was the torque converter locking / unlocking normally?
How's the air intake hose?
 
Im not familiar with that area. Whats the grade for those hill you were driving up?
 
The grade was long gradual, I have driven them in my Tundra at 75 to 80 up that same hill.

The tranny was down shifting like crazy, I was in Drive and the RPM was around 2200 and the torque converter was locking and unlocking as expected.

I did notice that the tranny was down shifting and even when I made it to the top of the grade and started down hill it would still be in the lower gear and then shift once I was traveling a good distance down the grade (1/2 mile maybe?). I have never driven so slow going uphill and not pulling anything in my life. That was totally unexpected.
 
My 2f in a 60 stock gears and 33s would do 45-50 up that hill something is defiantly way wrong.
 
What rpm was it at? was it pegged close to the redline the whole time?
 
I can clear that hill and never drop below 60mph, 37's with stock gears. I down shift early and climb at ~4000rpm.
 
the last 2 of you cant help it can you? have to go out of the local chapter and harrass the guys. and its not even shannon! hahaha.


hey tony, try it going over the pass on I-70 in colo, then you will know what slow is!

kevins rig runs good, my 96 on 33s and stock gears had a hard time keeping up with him last year going to payson.

maybe he just knows more swear words to coax his rig up?
 
those f...ers dont have anything better to do Anton.
 
azTony said:
The grade was long gradual, I have driven them in my Tundra at 75 to 80 up that same hill.

The tranny was down shifting like crazy, I was in Drive and the RPM was around 2200 and the torque converter was locking and unlocking as expected.

I did notice that the tranny was down shifting and even when I made it to the top of the grade and started down hill it would still be in the lower gear and then shift once I was traveling a good distance down the grade (1/2 mile maybe?). I have never driven so slow going uphill and not pulling anything in my life. That was totally unexpected.
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Howdy! I kind of felt the same way in my rig the first couple of times I pulled up some hills. I was letting it get down to 2100 before I was forcing it to shift down. Everyone at the Copperstate meeting was telling me to keep it up between 3000-4000 rpm for the hills. I'm so used to driving a tractor that I was letting it get down to 2500 before I kicked it down while on the Payette run on Sat am. I didn't have any trouble keeping up with everyone, of course I do have an "egg beater" on top of the engine. So You might need to aim a little higher on your tach. I think Keven just locks his in at 4000. John
 
Tony,

go up the same hill, turn off the OD and see if you can climb it in 3,000 rpm or higher. Maybe even down shift to 2nd?

As someone told me once: flog it like it owes you money....
 
4000 rpm? These things can do 4000 rpm's? I was wondering if I have a problem with the linkage the way it felt. Nice to know I have a local chapter in my corner cheering me on....
 
azTony said:
4000 rpm? These things can do 4000 rpm's? I was wondering if I have a problem with the linkage the way it felt. Nice to know I have a local chapter in my corner cheering me on....
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Howdy! If I stand on mine from a stop light, I gets past 5000 real quick! Yea, they are kind of surprising that way. I DO get a bit of pucker going once it ever gets past 4000, even on the hills though. I am just not used to it yet. John
 
Look at the 1FZ dyno chart, at 2200 RPM it's only making ~100hp, spool it up into the power band.:hillbilly: Torque peaks at 3200 RPM and HP at 4600.
1fz_hp.webp
 
This is why I'm putting on the supercharger when I get home.
 
At the point I was going 36 I got "stuck" behind a water truck that was getting ready to turn off the highway for the construction and I had to brake in the middle of the hill. When I was pushing on the gas and it was not not moving hardly I had it to the floor but when I got pissed and pushed my toe into it I got it to downshift. I think it is a combination of things, as CycloSteve pointed out I had around 60 gallons of gas in it, my wife (don't ANYONE tell her I said that!), the dog (90 lbs), my throttle cable "may" be stretched/out of adjustment, the shift solenoids are not performing as they should (not clear on how they should but it does not seem correct, never riden in a "good" LC yet) and then there is the fact that I did not want to blow the thing up.

Thank you Kevin for posting the dyno results and I am "assuming" these are a stock 1FZ results.

Next trip up there I have no reason to have the Aux tank full so that will save me 44 gallons of weight and I need to dive into the throttle cable and adjust it to see if it is stretched.

I also need to ride in another LC of one of the local chapter (they are probably going to laugh at me since they are already having their run) for a comparison how one is supposed to drive.

Tools, you said you have stock gears with 37's and you have no problem? Is your engine stock?
 
This last weekend I drove up and then back from Sedona. The secret is NEVER letting your speed/rpm get that low. If you get stuck behind a slow moving vehicle and are unable to get your speed up on the approach to the hill then your screwed.
 
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