Okay I know it's kind of a basic question that I really should know but I'll ask it anyways.

There's a local mountain that I like to travel up for the view, altitude 555 meters (1,820 feet). On the way up the transmission overheated. You could smell it at the top. On the way down I primarily used the brakes and as expected at the bottom you could smell the hot brake pads.

So my question is this; while driving on the highway up a very long hill in my gasser Liberty with an automatic transmission and no trailer behind it should I switch off the OD and manually shift down to 2nd gear? On the way down the hill should I again manually shift down to 2nd gear and let the engine "brake" me?

By the way I've had similar issues with other vehicles up this same mountain. It's not particular to my Liberty.

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my trail & highway ride (and occasional tow rig)
04 Liberty Sport with a 2.5" lift, ProComp 245/75R16 AT's and two Hella700FF lamps (more accessories to come)

my trail queen
95 YJ with a RE 4" lift, 33" ProComp Extreme's, M8000 Winch, Lockrite Locker up front, Super35 in the rear and 4.88 gears

On the way up, if you find that your Jeep keeps shifting gears on you (like it can't hold an upshift and keeps going back and forth), you can push the tow/haul button to lock out overdrive (4th gear), or if that isn't enough, shift down to 2 to lock out 3rd and 4th. On the way down the mountain, yes, downshifting to 2 is a good idea. Depending on how steep it is, you could even downshift to 1. That will hold you back so that you don't have to use your brakes as much. 1st gear will keep you at ~20 mph or less. Hope this helps!

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2008 Liberty Sport 4x4 Automatic

Jeepin By Al 4" Lift Kit
BFG KO2’s 245/75R16
Full MOPAR skid plates
Rock Lizard Skink Super Sliders
AtTheHelm Front Recovery System & Roof Rack
M116A3 Trailer build thread: viewtopic.php?f=72&t=77997

Manually shifting can be beneficial, though you may not need to shift to 2nd. Turning off OD is dropping the trans to D or 3rd.

On uphills you may notice the transmission start hunting between gears. It's usually better to drop to 3rd on the interstates and possibly 2nd on steeper local roads.

Downhills, yes downshift to engine brake. 3rd is usually enough, but 2nd can come into play as well. Saving your brakes for when you need to slow/stop is a wonderful thing.

You will have to experiment with what gear is best where.

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Aaron

A vehicle isn't yours till you learn to wrench on it yourself.

2002 Jeep Liberty Sport (Eugene, I am the Passenger, And I ride and I ride.)
1999 Chev Astro 2WD (Green, Daily Driver)
1997 Chev Astro AWD (Grumpy "The Heep", $250 Rally Van, 335k miles, 2" lift, 31" tires)

Put in a set of air brakes those long haul semi trucks use. Also go for the train horn to top it off. Rad.

Update:

My Libby us overheating a lot lately and not the transmission this time. Particularly while crawling through the woods the water temperature climbs up to about 115 C. I suspect that the electric fan had failed again.

I'll pull it out and start a new thread on my new issue; Engine Cooling Issues

Sent from my HTC cell phone using Board Express

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my trail & highway ride (and occasional tow rig)
04 Liberty Sport with a 2.5" lift, ProComp 245/75R16 AT's and two Hella700FF lamps (more accessories to come)

my trail queen
95 YJ with a RE 4" lift, 33" ProComp Extreme's, M8000 Winch, Lockrite Locker up front, Super35 in the rear and 4.88 gears