Driving from Tulsa to Phoenix through Flagstaff and south on I-17. Yikes!

[Gil_J]

All great advice. I drove some really steep long descents coming from WA to Yellowstone. Start your descent at a reasonably slow speed; 45-50mph. Keep the Jake on high.

After you do this once you will realize it's not too difficult.

Keep an eye on your transmission temperature and you'll be fine. It's doubtful that you have a transmission retarder.

[Steve Bennett]

The road is wide, and the turns are not tight. You will be fine in High Jake & 5th Gear. When you get down towards Black Canyon, the turns are a little tighter. If you are not comfortable at 55-60MPH, drop down to 4th, andf it will keep you around 50MPH.

[BrianE]

Adding a bit to Steve's advice. When in any lower gear the transmission will shift up at around 2100RPM, use stab breaking to keep it below the shift point (until you're ready to shift up of course). Monitoring RPM as well as speed will allow you to use the Jake to its best advantage and keep you from shifting up before you are ready to. Slowing to about 1500RPM will cause a shift to the next lower gear.

[rahangman]

Mike & Cindy, while never a professional driver of any sort, in our 7 yrs with our bus, this past summer we elected to take US30 West from York , PA towards the PA Turnpike, being forwarned about the grades. In Arkansas & Colorado we've gained confidence, but US30 was a good challenge. Result, slow but steady and now feel much more confident that we can go about anywhere we want. Take it easy and you will do well. US 30 was not 4 lane either.