What would you do down over a mountain?

[Glen4X4]

Planning on getting a car that will have to be tow dollied home and going to use one of the explorers and it will be towed down over the seven mountains. I plan on trying to drive like around 20-30 MPH but not sure on how I should do this because I do not want to have a lot of stress on the breaks or really heat the transmission up by putting it in 2nd gear going down over. So what would you recommend for going down over, at the top of the mountain and toward the bottom there are pull off spots if you think I should go 2low down over but I'm honestly not sure on which way I should drive the truck down over, the car is only a 2door pontiac sunfire. Just want some experienced insight on how to tow it down over the mountain if I still had a 5spd I wouldn't worry about heating up the tranny but these 4R55E's just don't seem that great.

 

[brianjwilson]

Another tranny cooler, a transmission temp gauge, and good trailer brakes. O/D off all the time, and use 2nd if you really have to I suppose.

EDIT:
Nevermind about the brakes, I just realized you are using a tow dolly...
Brake jobs are cheap anyway, lol.

 

[Glen4X4]

Another tranny cooler, a transmission temp gauge, and good trailer brakes. O/D off all the time, and use 2nd if you really have to I suppose.

EDIT:
Nevermind about the brakes, I just realized you are using a tow dolly...
Brake jobs are cheap anyway, lol.

yeah but if you get your brakes too hot then they don't function right.

 

[blue_goose]

Although I don't have expirience with the 4 speed auto in the 1st gen, I have done this with a 1991 X 5 speed, 87 Econoline w/ the 302, 1995 Contour (towing a sailboat, those things are known for their weak trannies), and my 2002 X 4.0L towing everything from campers to cars to sailboats, usually heavily loaded. Having done this many times with the family and by myself, my preferrence is to let the tranny do the main part of the work and use common sense to tell if you are stressing it out too much or not, and use the brakes to shave off the rest of the speed. A combination of both is what I do, and you should know when you need to use the brakes and when the tranny is ok based on how hard you feel it working. A little vague, I know, but once you start downhill, you will know what I mean provided you have decent knowledge about vehicles and what the limits of yours is. If you have been going downhill for a few miles and working both hard, its a good idea to let it take a breather at the end or a little before. Also, although you are towing a car, it really isn't that heavy of a car compared to what I have seen behind Explorers. Just keep in mind that you are in a X, not a pickup. And your brakes should start to fade if you are working them too hard, and if they do then stop if you can. If you stop ASAP and let them cool off, you shouldn't hurt them.

To sum up my expirience: Downshift, then regulate speed with the brakes, and if you notice or suspect you are overworking it, pull off and let it cool down, do a walk around and check everything.

Let us know how it turns out!