I don't think that any transmission, no matter how magical, will let you
climb a grade as fast as more modern, lighter cars with more powerful
engines.

On long uphills where the semis are going marginally slower than I could
if I tried really hard, but the sedans, SUV, and giant pickups are racing
up the hill far faster than can a Vanagon with a small engine, I face
reality and move over behind a handy semi.

I also manually shift my automatic transmission into a gear appropriate
for the job. As has been pointed out before, the AT tries to stay in 3rd,
lugging the engine. Sometimes I even need to go to 1st to keep the rpms
above 2,000.

--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
Bend, OR
KG6RCR

On 8/26/2009 7:19 AM Marc Perdue wrote:

> Thanks to Loren and Mike for the replies.  I have tried doing this,
> but my van still won't go faster than 55 in 2nd gear and 3rd gear
> doesn't have enough oomph (technical term) to get me back up to 65 . .
> .  This puts me in a dangerous position as most cars are blazing up
> the mountain at 65-80 mph and the semis are struggling up at 45.
> Trying to pass one of the semis under these conditions is taking my
> life in my hands.  This feels like a poor design to me, or is there
> some kind of rationale for this that I'm not aware of?
>
> Thanks,
> Marc
>
> On Wed, Aug 26, 2009 at 10:04 AM, Mike Collum<collum@myfairpoint.net> wrote:
>> Marc Perdue wrote:
>>  The damn transmission keeps bouncing back and forth as my
>>> speed varies between 45 and 55, trying to haul my butt over the
>>> mountain.
>>
>> When I'm driving my '84 7 pass automatic in the mountains (wasserboxer
>> engine), I just manually downshift one gear and leave it there until I'm on
>> more of a level plane.  It works for me and is certainly better than the
>> frequent up/down shifts that the system would provide on its own.
>>
>> Mike
>> '84 GL 7 pass auto
>> '85 GL Westy 4 spd
>> '84 Westy 4 spd
>> '84 Westy parts
>>
>>
>